James Horsley (4 January 1890 – 13 February 1976) was an English

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 for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

in 1913 and for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

from 1914 to 1925 Horsley was born at

Melbourne, Derbyshire Melbourne () is a market town and civil parish in South Derbyshire, England. It was home to Thomas Cook, and has a street named after him. It is south of Derby and from the River Trent. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was ...

. He made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire in June 1913 against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, when he took 2 wickets in the first innings, but never had the chance to bat. He managed three no balls and two wides in the match. In his second match 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 ...

he was stumped for a duck, took no wickets, and bowled four wides. He played one more match for Nottinghamshire against

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 ...

, when he took a wicket but gave away no extras. In 1914 Horsley switched to his native county Derbyshire and played a full pre-war season. He managed five five-wicket innings against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, Yorkshire with 6 for 77,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

with a spectacular 6 for 17, and

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 ...

. Against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

he bowled and in return was bowled by

Johnny Douglas John William Henry Tyler Douglas (3 September 1882 – 19 December 1930) was an English cricketer who was active in the early decades of the twentieth century. Douglas was an all-rounder who played for Essex County Cricket Club from 1901 to ...

and in the Leicestershire match had a match haul of 10 wickets. Cricket was then interrupted by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but he was back in the 1919 season with three 5 wicket innings, in one of which, he took 6 for 78 for Yorkshire. He then took 6 for 55 and 6 for 62, including a hat-trick, in a match against the Australian Imperial Forces XI giving him a match total of 12 wickets. This win by 36 runs was the only victory achieved by a county side against the Australians during their tour. Horsley was able to capitalise on the absence in the match of

Billy Bestwick William Bestwick (24 February 1875 – 2 May 1938) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1898 and 1926. He was a medium-fast bowler who took over 1,400 wickets for the county, including 10 in one innings. From his wild tem ...

who had returned to bowl for Derbyshire that season. In Derbyshire's low season of 1920 Horsley played just one match and did not play at all in 1921 and 1922 when he played some games in the Lancashire League for Burnley. In the 1923 season he was back with Derbyshire and for the remainder of the career he was sharing the bowling with two of Derbyshire's best bowlers, Bestwick and Arthur Morton. His best season was 1923 with seven 5-wicket innings and an average of 16.17. He took 7 for 48 in the initial game against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, 6 for 29 against Northamptonshire – a 10 wicket match, 5 for 40 and 5 for 48 in a match against Somerset, 5 for 58 against

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

, 5 for 69 against Yorkshire and 6 for49 against Leicestershire. In the 1924 season he took 6 for 42 against Yorkshire. In his last season of 1925 he took 6 for 94 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 ...

, 6 for 66 against Essex and 5 for 36 against Kent. Horsley was a right-arm fast-medium bowler and took 287 wickets at an average of 20.26 and a best performance of 7–48 with nineteen 5-wicket innings and three 10-wicket matches. He was a right-hand batsman and played 132 innings in 87 first-class matches with an average of 13.67 and a top score of 66.James Horsley at Cricket Archive
/ref> Horsley returned to Lancashire League cricket and then spent two summers with Aberdeenshire. He became a professional for several clubs in Northern Ireland until the Second World War.
/ref> Horsley died at Derby at the age of 86. Horsley married May Straw at Nottingham in 1911. He was related to J H Young who played for Derbyshire between 1899 and 1901.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsley, James 1890 births 1976 deaths Derbyshire cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers English cricketers People from Melbourne, Derbyshire Cricketers from Derbyshire English cricketers of 1919 to 1945