Francis Joseph Shacklock (22 September 1861 – 1 May 1937) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

in 1883 and between 1886 and 1893, for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in 1884 and 1885, for MCC between 1889 and 1893 and for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in New Zealand from 1903 to 1905. Shacklock may have been the inspiration for the naming of

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

's character

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

. Shacklock was born at Crich,

, and by 1881 was a professional cricketer living in Kirkby in Ashfield,

. He made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire in September 1883 against MCC when he took a wicket in the first innings and four in the second innings but failed to score a run. Shacklock joined Derbyshire in the 1884 season and played regularly. In the 1885 season against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in August he took 8 for 45 in the first innings, and 5 for 87 in the second innings of the same match. He shared the top wicket tally for the season with

William Cropper William Cropper (27 December 1862 – 13 January 1889) was an English cricketer and footballer who played cricket for Derbyshire County Cricket Club between 1882 and 1888 and football, as a centre forward, once for Derby County. He was one of ni ...

. Shacklock took 59 wickets for Derbyshire at an average of 16.74 and a best performance of 8 for 45. In 1886 Shacklock rejoined Nottinghamshire and played 117 matches for them over the next eight years. For Nottinghamshire he took 360 wickets at an average of 18.74 and a best performance of 8 for 32. After 1889 Shacklock played for the MCC against the universities and also for sides selected by Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper

Mordecai Sherwin Mordecai Sherwin (26 February 1851 – 3 July 1910) was a professional association football, footballer and cricketer who played in goal for Notts County F.C., Notts County and as a wicket-keeper for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, Nottingh ...

. In 1903 Shacklock moved to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

where he coached in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

and played for Otago. He remained in New Zealand and moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, where he was the principal coach to the

Canterbury Cricket Association Canterbury is a first-class cricket team based in Canterbury, New Zealand. It is one of six teams that compete in senior New Zealand Cricket competitions and has been the second most successful domestic team in New Zealand history. They compete ...

in the early 1920s. He died in

in 1937. The name of Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous character, Sherlock Holmes, is said to have been inspired by the combination of Shacklock and Sherwin.Times Review of Lawrence Booth, ''Arm-Ball to Zooter – a Sideways look at the Language of Cricket'', Penguin, 2006
/ref> His fellow fast bowler at Derbyshire was

William Mycroft William Mycroft (1 February 1841 – 19 June 1894) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire and MCC between 1873 and 1886. He was a left-arm fast bowler with a great deal of spin and a dangerous yorker that was ofte ...

and the pair Shacklock and Mycroft were prominent in a match against MCC at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in June 1885. Conan Doyle, who was an active MCC member, published his first Sherlock Holmes story two years later. Holmes' brother in the stories was named Mycroft.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shacklock, Frank 1861 births 1937 deaths English cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Otago cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers Players cricketers People from Kirkby-in-Ashfield Cricketers from Nottinghamshire New Zealand cricket coaches H. Philipson's XI cricketers South Island cricketers