George Charles Heenan (13 September 1855 – 24 October 1912) was a New Zealand

cricketer 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 ...

, schoolteacher and geologist.

Personal life

Heenan was born in India, grew up in

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and was educated in England at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

and

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He moved to New Zealand in 1880, and held positions as a schoolteacher in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and in the

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

region, where he was headmaster at Waipuku and

Ōpunake Ōpunake is a small town on the southwest coast of Taranaki in New Zealand's North Island. It is located 45 kilometres southwest of New Plymouth. Rahotu is 16 km to the northwest. Manaia is 29 km to the southeast. State Highway ...

. He resigned from his position in Ōpunake in early 1903. He was living with his wife Maude in Waipuku in 1894. In 1910 or 1911 he travelled to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

with Annie Stanley and her son

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

, who may also have been George's son. He died in

in 1912. A legal notice in 1914 described his profession as "geologist and art polisher". Annie and Patrick stayed in Burma until 1922 or 1923, when they moved to England.

Cricket career

In 1882–83 Heenan scored 126 in Wellington senior club cricket, one of only 14

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

in all New Zealand senior club cricket (there were none in first-class cricket) that season. He made his first-class debut for

in 1882–83 and played regularly as a batsman over the next few seasons. In early 1886 a local paper described him thus: "Very uncertain bat, but once set, gives a lot of trouble; puts a lot of timber into his cutting and driving; fair field, but erratic; very nervous, to which alone is attributable his want of confidence." Playing against

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

in April 1887 he scored 146 not out, which was the first century for Wellington in first-class cricket. On the first day of the match, Hawke's Bay made 164, and Heenan went to the wicket with Wellington's score at 103 for 4. When he brought up his century the score was 250 for 7, and he was 110 not out at the end of the day's play. His innings was marked by powerful cuts. In the five first-class matches in the 1886–87 New Zealand season there were only five other fifties, and no other score above 81. Heenan played a few matches for

in the 1890s, but with only moderate success. When Taranaki were dismissed for 35 and 29 in their match against Hawke's Bay in 1891-92, he was their top scorer, with 9 in the second innings. He also served as a selector for the Taranaki team.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heenan, George 1855 births 1912 deaths People from Bhagalpur Wellington cricketers Taranaki cricketers New Zealand schoolteachers People educated at Cheltenham College Alumni of King's College London 19th-century New Zealand scientists 19th-century New Zealand sportspeople