John O'Connor (23 February 1867 – 13 July 1936) 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 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 ...

in 1900. O'Connor was born in

Pinxton Pinxton is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire on the eastern boundary of Nottinghamshire, England, just south of the Pinxton Interchange at Junction 28 of the M1 motorway where the A38 road meets the M1. Pinxton is part of the Bolsover ...

(registered as Oconer), the son of William O'Connor a coal miner from Ireland and his wife Mary. At the age of 14 he was a coal mine ganger. O'Connor's playing career began in 1893 with

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, his first match being against the MCC. He played regularly for Cambridgeshire until 1899 in the Minor Counties Championship and in other matches against MCC. O'Connor also umpired seven first-class cricket matches involving

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

between 1894 and 1896. O'Connor's last game for Cambridgeshire in the 1899 season was against MCC when

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

took seven Cambridgeshire wickets although not his. O'Connor made his debut first-class appearance for Derbyshire in the 1900 season in May against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

when he took 5 wickets in both innings at 5–56 and 5–69. Except in the next match he took a regular haul of wickets for the rest of the season, although he never came near his initial performance. His best batting score was 17 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 ...

in a 177-run Derbyshire victory at the start of June. O'Connor was a right-arm off-break and medium-pace bowler and took 24 first-class wickets at an average of 15.79 and a best performance of 5 for 56. He was a right-handed tail end batsman and played 14 innings in 9 first-class matches with a top score of 17 and an average of 6.11.John O'Connor at Cricket Archive
/ref> O'Connor umpired two minor county matches in 1902 and one in 1903. He played another minor county season for Cambridgeshire in 1912 and started umpiring first-class matches for Cambridge University again. Apart from a break in the war years he took one or to matches per season, usually against

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

or the Army. O'Connor died in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

at the age of 69. His son Jack O'Connor was born at Cambridge in 1897 and played cricket for England and Essex. His brother in law Herbert Carpenter played for Essex.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, John 1867 births 1936 deaths English cricketers English people of Irish descent Derbyshire cricketers People from Pinxton Cricketers from Derbyshire Cricketers from Cambridge Cambridgeshire cricketers