Henry George Siedeberg (13 July 1877 – 21 May 1945) was a New Zealand

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 represented the national side and was several times the national

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions of ...

champion.

Early life and family

Harry Siedeberg was one of several children of Franz Siedeberg, a German-Jewish architect who had migrated to New Zealand in the 1860s, and his Irish wife Anna. Harry's elder sister Emily was the first New Zealand woman to graduate in medicine. Harry attended

Otago Boys' High School , motto_translation = "The ‘right’ learning builds a heart of oak" , type = State secondary, day and boarding , established = ; years ago , streetaddress= 2 Arthur Street , region = Dunedin , state = Otago , zipcod ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. He married Florence McConnochie in St Stephen's Church in Dunedin on 22 November 1911.

Cricket career

Siedeberg played for the Carisbrook and Albion cricket clubs in Dunedin. "He has any amount of patience, and he possesses a strong defence," the ''

Otago Witness The ''Otago Witness'' was a prominent illustrated weekly newspaper in the early years of the European settlement of New Zealand, produced in Dunedin, the provincial capital of Otago. Published weekly it existed from 1851 to 1932. The introduction ...

'' declared in 1898. He made his first-class debut for

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 ...

in 1899–1900 and played several matches as an opening batsman and occasional slow bowler without distinction until 1902–03, when he was Otago's top-scorer in an innings defeat to the touring English team Lord Hawke's XI, making 21 and 52. His next fifty was in the first match of the 1904–05 season, when he made 88, the highest score on either side in Otago's innings victory over Wellington. His innings took two and a quarter hours and was marked by powerful driving. It was the highest score by a New Zealand batsman in 1904–05. He also top-scored for Otago in their next match, making 40 in a low-scoring loss to

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. ...

. He was selected in both of New Zealand's matches against the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

later in the season, but along with all his team-mates he failed with the bat and Australia won easily each time. Siedeberg made his highest first-class score in the first match of the 1905–06 season, when he made 28 and 90 in a victory over Canterbury. He batted two and three-quarter hours for his 90, and added now to his powerful driving was a "stroke he picked up from that master batsman

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, swinging at a ball pitched on the off, and getting it away to leg", which brought him several boundaries. Once again he made the highest score of the match. In March 1906 he made Otago's first century against a touring team when he scored 102 against

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground ...

in a three-day non-first-class match. He batted in the middle order from 1906–07. He broke the record for the highest score in senior Dunedin cricket in January 1907 when he scored 223

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 ...

. He appeared once for New Zealand against MCC in 1906–07, and twice against Australia in 1909–10, but with little success. In 1914–15 he took 10 wickets in the match (4 for 22 and 6 for 30) as he and Jack Crawford dismissed

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

twice on the third day after the second day had been lost to rain. He played his last matches for Otago in 1921–22 at the age of 44.

Other sports

Siedeberg was the New Zealand Billiards Champion in 1916, 1917, 1919 and 1921. He held the world amateur losing hazards record

break Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest ...

of 667, and made more breaks of 100 to 600 than any other amateur in the British Empire. He was forced to give up the game when his eyesight weakened. He was later President of the New Zealand Billiards Control Association. He also played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

for Otago, played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

in Dunedin, and was proficient in gymnastics and athletics. In later years he took up

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

, and in 1926 he was a member of the New Zealand champion four.

Work

Siedeberg worked for the Victoria Insurance Company and the Queensland Insurance Company before establishing his own business as a financial agent.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Siedeberg, Harry 1877 births 1945 deaths New Zealand cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers New Zealand Jews New Zealand people of German-Jewish descent New Zealand players of English billiards Jewish cricketers Otago cricketers Sportspeople from Dunedin People educated at Otago Boys' High School Cricketers from Dunedin New Zealand male bowls players South Island cricketers