Joseph Henry Scattergood (January 26, 1877 – June 15, 1953) was an American

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, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Scattergood was one of the

Philadelphian cricketers Philadelphian is most commonly used to describe someone who is from (or a resident of) the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. * List of people from Philadelphia "Philadelphian" may also refer to: * Old Philadelphians, members of the First Fami ...

that played from the end of the 19th century through the early years of the next.

Early life and education

Scattergood was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, to a prominent

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

family. He began his sports career as a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

, but was converted to a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

while a student at

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...

. While at Haverford, Scattergood also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and served as the treasurer and secretary of his class. In 1895, he graduated from Haverford with honors in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

before going on to more schooling at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Following his time at Harvard, Scattergood began a long career as a businessman and philanthropist in the Philadelphia area. It was also at this time that he began playing for the Philadelphian cricket team.

Cricket career

Having toured in England in 1896 with the visiting team from Haverford, Scattergood's

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 ...

debut came against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

on the Philadelphian's 1897 tour of England. Gloucestershire won the match by an innings and 26 runs. In the first innings, Scattergood achieved his high score of 13 and batted for 5 not out in the second innings. He made one catch to dismiss

Charlie Townsend Charles Lucas Townsend (7 November 1876 – 17 October 1958) was a Gloucestershire cricketer. An all-round cricketer, Townsend was classically stylish, left-handed batsman, who was able to hit well despite his slender build. His off-side strok ...

. Scattergood played three more matches on this tour before returning to the United States to play visiting side from England. Scattergood also joined the Philadelphians on their Philadelphian cricket team in England in 1903. He played through the middle of the tour and ended his first-class career with a match against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

on July 13–15. Unfortunately, Scattergood was injured shortly after taking the field and replaced. This was the end of a very successful career. The English cricketer

Gilbert Jessop Gilbert Laird Jessop (19 May 1874 – 11 May 1955) was an English cricket player, often reckoned to have been the fastest run-scorer cricket has ever known. He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1898. Career Jessop was born in Cheltenham, Gl ...

declared that "the wicket-keeping of Scattergood was every bit as remarkable as was the bowling of

Bart King John Barton "Bart" King (October 19, 1873 – October 17, 1965) was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. King was part of the Philadelphia team that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak ...

John Lester John Ashby Lester (August 1, 1871September 3, 1969) was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a teacher. Lester was one of the Philadelphian cricketers who played from the end of the 19th century until the ...

wrote that the keeper's "services to cricket extended far beyond his play. Always a defender of the faith, and one of those who strove hardest to stem the decline, he is still an influence in keeping it alive."

Mountaineering

Scattergood was a founding member of the

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 24,000 members. Its vision is to create "a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes." The Club is housed in the American Mountaineerin ...

. He is credited with

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

s in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

of Mount Vaux,

Chancellor Peak Chancellor Peak is a mountain summit located in Yoho National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Vaux, to the north-northwest. Both are part of the Ottertail Range. Chancellor Peak is a ...

Wapta Mountain Wapta Mountain is a mountain located in the Canadian Rockies between Emerald Lake and Yoho Valley in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada. It stands just north of the ridge containing the Burgess Shale fossil beds. Along with The Vice Pres ...

, the north summit of Mount Victoria, and Mount Mollison. In the

Selkirk Mountains The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia which are part of a larger grouping of mountains, the Columbia Mountains. They begin at Mica Pe ...

he climbed

Mount Sir Donald Mount Sir Donald is a mountain summit located in the Rogers Pass area of Glacier National Park in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Its good rock quality and classic Matterhorn shape make it popular for alpine rock climbers, a ...

Eagle Peak Eagle Peak is the name of 44 mountain peaks of the United States including: *Eagle Peak (Alaska) * Eagle Peak (Admiralty Island), in Alaska * Eagle Peak (Washington), a summit in Mount Rainier National Park *Eagle Peak (Mariposa County, California), ...

, and

Avalanche Mountain Avalanche Mountain, is a mountain summit located in Glacier National Park in the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Macdonald, to the north. Mount Sir Donald is to the southeast, and Eagle Peak is ...

Personal life

In 1906, Scattergood married Anne Theodora Morris in

Villanova, Pennsylvania Villanova is a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It straddles Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County and Radnor Township in Delaware County. It is located at the center of the Philadelphia Main Line, a series of Philadelphia suburbs lo ...

. The two had five children.

Death

Scattergood died in

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Wynnewood is a suburban unincorporated community, located west of Philadelphia, straddling Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The community was named in 1691 for Dr. ...

on June 15, 1953.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scattergood, Henry 1877 births 1953 deaths Philadelphian cricketers Haverford College alumni Harvard University alumni Cricketers from Philadelphia American cricketers Wicket-keepers