John William Allman Marchant (9 October 1841 – 22 December 1920) was a New Zealand

Surveyor-General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor gen ...

and first-class cricketer.

Early life and surveying career

John Marchant was born in

Belgaum Belgaum (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma''; also Belgaon and officially known as Belagavi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located in its northern part along the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous ...

, India, where his father, Dr Allman, was a surgeon with the 4th King’s Own Regiment. G. H. Scholefield (editor), ''A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'', Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1940, Volume II, p. 54. He was educated at

Queenwood College Queenwood College was a British Public School, that is an independent fee-paying school, situated near Stockbridge, Hampshire, England. The school was in operation from 1847 to 1896. History of the site In 1335 Edward III gave the Manor of East T ...

in Hampshire, and after the death of his father he adopted his stepfather's name. He assisted his stepfather on railway construction in Brazil, before joining the colonial survey staff in Victoria, Australia, where he obtained his surveying qualifications in 1862. Marchant moved to Invercargill in New Zealand in 1863 and practised as a surveyor. In 1865 he joined the

Lands and Survey Department The Department of Survey and Land Information (DOSLI) is a former department of the New Zealand Government. It was formed in April 1987 as a restructuring of the Department of Lands and Survey. The Department of Lands and Survey was established ...

and surveyed the boundaries of the Nelson district goldfields. In 1875 he became deputy inspector of surveys under the native land acts, and in 1876 New Zealand’s first geodesical surveyor. In 1879 he was appointed chief surveyor of Wellington district, in 1884 commissioner of

crown lands Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

, and in 1902

Surveyor-General of New Zealand Surveyor-General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The foll ...

. He retired in 1906. He also served on the Scenery Preservation Commission until his retirement. In 1882 he and a colleague observed the transit of Venus from a station they set up in the Wairarapa. Their observations formed part of the worldwide gathering of information on the event.

Cricket career

While living in Invercargill, Marchant is believed to have scored the first

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 any form of cricket in New Zealand, when he made 117 in 1864 in a Town versus Country match in Invercargill. An all-rounder, noted for the brilliance of his slip fielding, he captained Wellington in two first-class matches at the Basin Reserve in Wellington in 1873-74. In the first, he took six wickets and two catches in a narrow loss to Auckland. In the second he took three catches in each innings, two wickets with his bowling, and made a useful 20 in the second innings of a low-scoring

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match against Nelson. Between these two first-class matches, he played for Wellington in a one-day, two-innings match against Hawke's Bay in January 1874. In Hawke's Bay's second innings he took 9 for 21 and also took three catches, two off his own bowling and one in the slips. He was one of the leading figures in the conversion of Basin Reserve from swampy land into a cricket ground. He contributed all the necessary surveying work and oversaw the addition and placement of soil, all at no cost.

Personal life

Marchant married Maria Elise Wright in St Peter's Church,

Te Aro Te Aro (formerly also known as Te Aro Flat) is an inner-city suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It comprises the southern part of the central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and covers the mostly fla ...

, Wellington, on 10 June 1868. They had five sons and six daughters, one of whom was

Maria Elise Allman Marchant Maria Elise Allman Marchant, also known as Ella Allman-Marchant (28 October 1869–15 November 1919) was a New Zealand school principal. She was born in Wellington, New Zealand, one of eleven children of John William Allman Marchant, who la ...

, a noted school principal. He died at the Bowen Street hospital in Wellington on 22 December 1920.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, John 1841 births 1920 deaths People from Belgaum New Zealand cricketers Wellington cricketers New Zealand surveyors