Henry Royston (12 August 1819 – 30 September 1873) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

first-class

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 and cricket

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'', ...

. Royston was born at

Harrow on the Hill Harrow on the Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) and is located some half a mile south of the mod ...

in August 1819. A professional all-round cricketer, he began his 25 year association with the

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) in 1843, making his debut in

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 the club against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

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 ...

. Throughout the 1840s, he played for a number of club sides and played his first-class cricket almost exclusively for the MCC, except for two appearances for an England XI in 1845 and 1847. He first played for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

in 1850, debuting for the county in first-class matches against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. He also made first-class appearances for several other teams, including the Players in the

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

match, for the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

in the

North v South The North of England and South of England cricket teams appeared in first-class cricket between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often in matches against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, Marylebone Cricket Club (M ...

fixture and for a United England Eleven amongst others. His four appearances for Middlesex were sporadic and spread over a period of twelve years, with his final appearance coming just two years before the formation of

Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...

. It was for the MCC that he played the vast majority of his first-class matches for, making a total of 51 appearances between 1843–61. In these matches he scored 974 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 12.02, with a high score of 60. Standing 5 foot 6 inches tall and bowling right-arm roundarm slow, he also took 91 wickets for the MCC at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 11.28, with best figures of 8 for 44. He took

five wickets in an innings In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Taki ...

on five occasions and took

ten wickets in a match In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bowle ...

once. His appearances in club cricket continued into the 1850s and early 1860s, demonstrating that Royston was a sought after player, with him making guest appearances for the personal teams of many leading cricket figures of the day, including Sir Frederick Hervey-Bathurst, Robert Grimston and

Roger Kynaston Roger Kynaston (5 November 1805 – 21 June 1874) was an English first-class cricketer who was Honorary Secretary of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1842 to 1858. As a player, Kynaston was active from 1830 to 1854. He played mainly for MCC ...

. Besides playing, he was a well known

, standing in 133 first-class matches between 1846 and 1872. Away from cricket, Royston was by trade a confectioner. He died at

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

in September 1873.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Royston, Henry 1819 births 1873 deaths People from Harrow on the Hill English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English cricket umpires Middlesex cricketers Over 36 v Under 36 cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club and Metropolitan Clubs cricketers Over 30s v Under 30s cricketers Non-international England cricketers United All-England Eleven cricketers Players cricketers North v South cricketers Confectioners