Gerard Simpson
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Gerard Amyatt Simpson (30 March 1886 – 22 February 1957) was a Scottish-born
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 whose four-match first-class career spanned from 1911 to 1931.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part Two: 1919–1939'', pp. 135–136.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 8 August 2022.)
Born in Trinity, Edinburgh,Gerard Simpson
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
Simpson emigrated to Argentina as a young man, becoming one of the many British expatriate workers in South America at the time. He made his debut in Argentine cricket's annual "North v South" match during the 1906–07 season, opening the batting for the North in both innings, alongside Lancastrian
Harold Garnett Harold Gwyer Garnett (19 November 1879 – 3 December 1917) was an English-born first-class cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club and Argentina. He was killed during World War I in the fighting at Cambrai, France F ...
. When a Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team toured Argentina during the 1911–12 season, Simpson played a single first-class match for the Argentine national side.First-class matches played by Gerard Simpson (4)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
He came in fifth in Argentina's first innings, scoring 26 runs, and was promoted to third in the second innings, behind openers Neville Jackson and
Evelyn Toulmin Evelyn Murrough O'Brien Toulmin (13 August 1877 – 7 January 1945) was an English people, Anglo-Argentine people, Argentine cricketer. Toulmin was a left-handed batting (cricket), batsman who bowled right-arm Spin bowling, slow. The son ...
, scoring another 10 runs before being run out. That match, played at the
Hurlingham Club Ground The Hurlingham Club Ground is a cricket ground located in the Hurlingham district of Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina. Owned by the Hurlingham Club, it was inaugurated in 1890 with the first cricket game held in Hurlingham, the first international ...
, was the first of three Argentina–MCC fixtures played on the tour. During the First World War, Simpson briefly returned to Britain, where he served as a
second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
in the
Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...
. He continued playing in North v South fixtures in Argentina either side of the war, and also appeared for
Rosario Athletic Club Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most po ...
in the Argentine Cricket Championship. Simpson also appeared twice more for the Argentine national side during the 1921–22 season, when Brazil toured the country.Miscellaneous matches played by Gerard Simpson (41)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
While in England in 1922, he appeared in a single match for the
Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...
's second XI, which at the time played in the
Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...
(the Second XI Championship not being established until 1959).Minor Counties Championship matches played by Gerard Simpson (138)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
Simpson's last recorded match in Argentina came during the 1922–23 season. He did, however, represent an "Anglo-Argentine XI" in England in 1926, in a match against the 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 ...
. During the 1929 season, aged 43, Simpson played two County Championship matches for Kent – one against Yorkshire at
Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...
and one against Lancashire at
Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
.County Championship matches played by Gerard Simpson (3)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
There was consequently a gap of 17 years, three months, and 14 days between his first and second first-class appearances. Simpson's fourth and final first-class match came two seasons later, against Lancashire in the 1931 County Championship, by which time he was 45 years old. He was at that stage a regular for Kent's second XI, and continued playing for them after the Second World War, despite having turned 60 during the war. Overall, Simpson played 138 Minor Counties Championship matches for the Kent Second XI, with his final match coming against Devon in August 1949, when he was 63. He died in Chartham in February 1957, aged 70.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Gerard 1886 births 1957 deaths Argentine cricketers Kent cricketers Royal Field Artillery officers Scottish cricketers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Cricketers from Edinburgh British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from Edinburgh