Frederick George Hugh Clayton (5 January 1873 – 20 March 1946) was an English first-class

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 str ...

er. In a first-class career which spanned from 1893 to 1902, he appeared mostly for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

, making nine first-class appearances.

Life and cricket career

Clayton was born at

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

in January 1873. He was educated at Harrow School, before attending

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

. While studying at Oxford, Clayton made his debut in

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 officia ...

for

against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1893. He played first-class cricket for Oxford University until 1896, making six appearances, in addition to playing one first-class match for the

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey ...

''against'' Oxford University in 1895. He scored 151 runs in six matches for the university, with a high score of 66. With his right-arm

medium pace Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowling, he took 7 wickets with best figures of 3 for 144. He also played

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for Oxford, playing alongside Harry Foster in 1895 when the pair defeated

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. He did not succeed in getting a

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while at Oxford. He later toured

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with the Oxford University Authentics cricket team, playing two first-class matches against

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

and the Parsees at

in November 1902. He scored 148 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 49.33 during the tour, including making his highest first-class score of 68. He also bowled impressively on the tour, taking 10 wickets at 18.20 apiece, with best figures of 7 for 70 against Bombay. In addition to playing at first-class level, he also played minor counties cricket for

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

between 1896 and 1906, making 75 appearances in the Minor Counties Championship. He remained associated with Northumberland even after he stopped playing, serving at the club secretary from 1897 to 1923, treasurer from 1903 to 1945 and president from 1935 to 1945. He died at Warkworth in March 1946.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton, Freddie 1873 births 1946 deaths Cricketers from Newcastle upon Tyne People educated at Harrow School Alumni of University College, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Northumberland cricketers Oxford University Authentics cricketers English cricket administrators