Henry Howell Secretan (25 February 1855 – 16 June 1911) was an English-born 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 played

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

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. ...

from 1877 to 1886. After attending

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

, Secretan migrated to New Zealand in the 1870s and began working soon after his arrival for the

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

office of the

New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company provided investments and loans for trade and commerce in New Zealand and Australia. Notable people * James Beard, the 1889 New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Building architect * John Logan Camp ...

. He worked for the company in several towns in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

until 1894, when he helped found the Canterbury Hall Company, acting as secretary until just before his death. As well as being a prominent cricketer, he was one of the pioneers of lawn tennis in the

region. Described as "a stylish batsman, with a fine art" and "a beautiful bat, as free as a mountain bird", in his six first-class matches Secretan made a highest score of 72, in an innings victory over

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in January 1885, when his teammate

Frederick Wilding Frederick Wilding (20 November 1852 – 5 July 1945) played first-class cricket for Canterbury in the 1880s and 1890s. He also played tennis and was a noted athlete. Early life Wilding was born in Montgomery, Wales in 1852. His father, J ...

made 104, only the second

century 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 New Zealand first-class cricket. In 1880-81 Secretan had scored 30

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 ...

, Canterbury's highest score in the match, when the touring Australians beat Canterbury by an innings. The report in the ''

Lyttelton Times The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a libera ...

'' said Secretan's innings "made good his claim to be the best batsman in New Zealand". His first wife, Marion, died in September 1889, aged 29. He married Ellen Coster in July 1890. He died at his home in the Christchurch suburb of Fendalton in June 1911, aged 56.

References

External links

*
Henry Secretan at CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Secretan, Henry 1855 births 1911 deaths People educated at Marlborough College New Zealand cricketers Canterbury cricketers People from Blackheath, London Cricketers from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Cricketers from the London Borough of Lewisham English emigrants to New Zealand 19th-century New Zealand sportspeople