John Henry Ponsonby-Fane (21 July 1848 – 11 September 1916) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

first-class

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 and noted

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

. The son of

Spencer Ponsonby-Fane Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane, (''né'' Ponsonby; 14 March 1824 – 1 December 1915) was an English cricketer and civil servant. He was born in 1824 in Mayfair, the sixth son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough. Cricket Ponso ...

and Louisa Anne Rose Lee Dillon, he was born at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

in July 1848. He was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, where he was in the cricket eleven. After leaving Harrow he became a clerk in the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

office. Ponsonby-Fane 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 the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

during the

Canterbury Cricket Week Canterbury Cricket Week is the oldest cricket festival week in England and involves a series of consecutive Kent home matches, traditionally held in the first week in August. It was founded in 1842, although a similar festival week was first hel ...

in 1869. He would go on to play six further first-class matches for the

Gentlemen of Marylebone Cricket Club A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ...

between 1870 and 1875. He was described by '' Scores and Biographies'' as "a good, steady batsman, a most effective lob-bowler, and an excellent

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 ...

". This was translated into first-class cricket with Ponsonby-Fane scoring 161 runs in his seven first-class matches, with a highest score of 53. His lob-bowling yielded him 13 wickets at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 16.07 and with best figures of 5 for 37, which came for Gentlemen of Marylebone Cricket Club against Kent in 1874. He kept wicket once in first-class cricket, for the MCC in 1869, with him making two stumpings. Besides playing first-class cricket, Ponsonby-Fane also played minor matches for

I Zingari I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the ' ...

, which had been founded by his father and uncle, Frederick Ponsonby, amongst others. After leaving the service of the Privy Council, he became a partner in the bank Herries, Farquhar & Co., remaining with the bank following its acquisition by Lloyds. He had married the eldest daughter of Harvie Farquhar in 1875. From a young age he had developed a keen interest in

mollusca Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

. His collection mainly consisted of Helicoid land shells, Bulimoid groups and terrestrial operculates. He was a regular student at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and he assisted Edgar Smith at the museum with the shell gallery. Ponsonby-Fane was a member of the

Malacological Society of London The Malacological Society of London is a British learned society and charitable organisation concerned with malacology, the study of molluscs, a large phylum of invertebrate animals divided into nine or ten taxonomic classes, of which two ar ...

and acted as its treasurer for several years. He was well known within the society as a source of great knowledge in the field, which he regularly imparted. He wrote very little material on the subject, but did contribute notes on the land shells of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, British fauna, descriptions of four Helicoids, and critical remarks on ''

Libera Libera may refer to: * Libera (mythology), a Roman goddess of fertility * Libera (choir), a boy vocal group from London * ''Libera'' (film), a 1993 comedy film * "Libera" (song), a song by Italian artist Mia Martini * ''Libera'' (gastropod), a ...

'' and '' Sculptaria''. He mainly wrote in association with

James Cosmo Melvill Sir James Cosmo Melvill (8 June 1792 – 23 July 1861) was a British administrator who served as the last secretary of the East India Company. Life Born at Guernsey, he was the third but eldest surviving son of Philip Melvill (1762–1811), ...

, assisting him in the description of over 200 new spieces. He also collaborated with Ernest Ruthven Sykes, helping to describe new species from

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

and

Buru Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Ma ...

. He was in good health until after he was 30, after which his health gradually deteriorated, with Ponsonby-Fane suffering from

neuritis Neuritis () is inflammation of a nerve or the general inflammation of the peripheral nervous system. Inflammation, and frequently concomitant demyelination, cause impaired transmission of neural signals and leads to aberrant nerve function. Neuri ...

of the spine. As his health deteriorated his participation in the Malacological Society declined, especially so in his later years. He died at

Brympton d'Evercy Brympton d'Evercy (alternatively Brympton House), a grade I listed manor house near Yeovil in the county of Somerset, England, has been called the most beautiful in England. In 1927 the British magazine '' Country Life'' devoted three articles ...

near

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

in September 1916. Several family members were also first-class cricketers, including his son

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponsonby-Fane, John 1848 births 1916 deaths English people of Irish descent People from Westminster People educated at Harrow School English civil servants English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English bankers English malacologists Ponsonby family 19th-century English businesspeople