George Moreton Buckston (12 March 1881 – 24 November 1942) 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

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1903,

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) and

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 ...

between 1905 and 1921. Buckston was born in

Hope, Derbyshire Hope is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Peak District, in England. The population at the 2011 Census was 864. It lies in the Hope Valley, at the point where Peakshole Water flows into the River Noe. To the north, Win Hill and Lo ...

and was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He scored 45 and 4 for Eton v Harrow 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 1900. He played for

from the 1903 season during which he played five games. He played one first-class game for MCC in 1904 which was against Derbyshire and then joined Derbyshire in the 1905 season. Buckston made his County Championship debut for Derbyshire against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. Derbyshire won the match by an innings margin, Northamptonshire limited to just 52 runs in their first innings. Buckston played no further matches during the 1905 season, and Derbyshire finished third-bottom in the Championship. Buckston played a greater role during the 1906 season, playing eight County Championship games, and making his career-high total score of 96, though Derbyshire finished bottom of the table, and Buckston played the 1907 season at the club. Buckston served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a

Derbyshire Yeomanry The Derbyshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, which served as a cavalry regiment and dismounted infantry regiment in the First World War and provided two reconnaissance regiments in the Second World Wa ...

captain in

Salonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

.Bygone Derbyshire – County Cricket Club's new dawn
/ref> He ended the war with malaria. Buckston returned to the Derbyshire team in the 1920 season. He played as an opening batsman seeing off competition for the position from Leonard Oliver who was deputising for the captain John Chapman for much of the season. Derbyshire lost 17 of the 18 matches, with one abandoned, in 1920. Buckston offered to take over the captaincy for 1921. Under him, Derbyshire won five of their matches and rose to the 12th (out of 16) position. "Having achieved his mission", wrote Will Taylor, the Derbyshire secretary, "Buckston refused to be dissuaded from his decision to retire". He was forty and his performances were affected by his lack of recent experience and the effects of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. On his retirement, he was elected the chairman of the committee. Buckston was a right-handed batsman and played 75 innings in 39 first-class matches at an average of 11.83 and a top score of 96. He was an occasional wicket-keeper and took eight catches and one wicket by stumping.George Buckston at Cricket Archive
/ref> Buckston lived at Sutton-on-the-Hill and was

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

in 1926. He died at Sutton-on the Hill aged 61. Buckston's son,

Robin Buckston Robin Henry Rowland Buckston (10 October 1908 – 16 May 1967) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1928 and 1939 and for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1929 and 1930. He captained the Derbyshire team ...

, played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1928 and 1939, and was designated club captain during his final three years within the team. Buckston's brother-in-law, Henry Allsopp, played first-class cricket for Cambridge University during 1876.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckston, George 1881 births 1942 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War I English cricketers Derbyshire cricket captains Cambridge University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Derbyshire Yeomanry officers People from High Peak, Derbyshire Cricketers from Derbyshire High Sheriffs of Derbyshire People from South Derbyshire District