George Dickinson (1828 – 14 June 1913) was a New Zealand cricketer 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

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

from 1864 to 1874. He was later a first-class

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

Cricket career

Born in

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 ...

, Dickinson played in the first recorded cricket match in

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 / ...

in December 1851, when he was 23. The match took place in Hagley Park, between a Working Men's Eleven (Dickinson's team) and a Christchurch Cricket Club Eleven, as part of the celebrations marking a year since the foundation of Christchurch. Dickinson was one of the most successful batsmen and bowlers in the match. He appeared in a similar celebratory match 20 years later, this time for Old Chums against New Chums, and once again succeeded with both bat and ball. An accurate slow round-arm bowler, able to break the ball either way off the pitch, Dickinson played in the first seven

first-class matches 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 ...

in New Zealand, representing Canterbury in their annual match against

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 ...

beginning with the inaugural match in January 1864. His best figures against Otago included 3 for 7 in 1864 and 3 for 17 in 1867, but his most successful match was in 1869, when he scored 30 in the first innings, took 4 for 43, then made 8

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

in the second innings to help Canterbury avert defeat. He umpired four first-class matches in New Zealand between 1873 and 1885.

Personal life

Dickinson was one of the first settlers in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, which is now a northern suburb of Christchurch, where he had a farm to the south of the St Albans Creek. He called his farm St Albans in memory of his cousin

Harriet Mellon Harriet Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans (alternate spelling: Harriot; née Mellon; 11 November 1777 – 6 August 1837) was a British banker and actress who eventually starred at Drury Lane. She was successively the wife of banker Thomas Coutts ...

, an actress, who had become the Duchess of St Albans in England. When residents were looking for a name for the district, he suggested St Albans, and it was adopted. He served on the St Albans borough council for 14 years. Dickinson's first wife, Marianne, died in April 1884. His second wife, Janet, died in March 1895. He died suddenly at his home in Westminster Street, St Albans, on 14 June 1913, aged 85. He was survived by his third wife, Jessie.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, George 1828 births 1913 deaths Cricketers from Sheffield Canterbury cricketers New Zealand cricketers British emigrants to New Zealand