Kenneth Lotherington Hutchings (7 December 1882 – 3 September 1916) was an English amateur

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

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

and the

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

between 1902 and 1912. He was primarily a batsman who played a major role in three of Kent's

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

wins in the years before

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 ...

and who played seven

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

for England. He was chosen as one of

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1907. Hutchings was killed in action during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

whilst serving with the

King's Liverpool Regiment The King's Regiment (Liverpool) was one of the oldest line infantry regiments of the British Army, having been formed in 1685 and numbered as the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot in 1751. Unlike most British Army infantry regiments, which wer ...

in 1916.

Early life

Hutchings was born in Southborough near

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

, the fourth son of Dr Edward Hutchings who was a keen cricketer.Kenneth Hutchings - Cricketer of the Year 1907
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1907. Retrieved 2016-02-21.Hutchings, Kenneth Lotherington
Tonbridge at War. Retrieved 2016-02-21.Lewis P (2013) ''For Kent and Country'', p.216. Brighton: Reveille Press. He was educated at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

where he played in the First XI for five years between 1898 and 1902,Deaths in the war, 1916
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1917. Retrieved 2016-02-21.Wilde S (2013) "1907 Five cricketers of the year" in ''Wisden Cricketers of the Year: A Celebration of Cricket's Greatest Players'', pp.58–60.
Available online
captaining the school in his last two years there and also playing

rackets Racket may refer to: * Racket (crime), a systematised element of organized crime ** Protection racket, a scheme whereby a group provides protection to businesses or other groups through violence outside the sanction of the law * Racket (sports equ ...

for the school in 1901 at

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...

.Steed HE (ed) (1911) ''The register of Tonbridge School from 1826 to 1910 : also lists of exhibitioners, &c. previous to 1826 and of headmasters and second masters'', p.316. London: Rivingtons.
Available online
retrieved 2017-11-18). In 1902 he

averaged In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean ( ) or arithmetic average, or just the ''mean'' or the ''average'' (when the context is clear), is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by the count of numbers in the collection. The colle ...

63 runs per innings, including a score of 205.

Cricket career

Hutchings made his

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 ...

debut in 1902, playing once for Kent in the 1902 County Championship.First-class matches played by Kenneth Hutchings
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-21. He played fluently in 11 Championship matches in 1903 and toured America with Kent, playing against the

Gentlemen of Philadelphia The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, t ...

, but only made three appearances in total for the County in 1904 and 1905, scoring two half centuries.Burnton S (2016
The forgotten feats of Kenneth Hutchings, a life cruelly cut short at the Somme

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-09-13. His first full season for Kent in 1906 was the most productive of his career. His "ultra-attacking batting" saw him score 1,454 runs for the County 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 60.58, a major role in Kent winning their first County Championship title. He led the county in runs scored despite only playing in 18 games out of a possible 25 during the season. He scored four centuries and played, according to ''

'' with "amazing brilliancy" whilst ''

'' described him as "the most brilliant" of Kent's batsmen in a team with very strong batting.Quoted in Burnton S (2016) ''

Op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

'' He was picked for the

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

match and was chosen as one of Wisden's

in 1907. Hutchings was selected for the

to tour Australia in 1907–08, making his

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

debut in December 1907 at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

.Test matches played by Kenneth Hutchings
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-22. He scored his highest Test score of 126 at

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on the tour, reaching his hundred in 126 minutes, his second fifty taking only 51 minutes.Barker R & Rosenwater I (1969) ''England v Australia: A compendium of Test cricket between the countries 1877-1968'', p.110. London: B.T. Batsford, Sandford N (2014) ''The Final Over: The Cricketers of Summer 1914'' p. 113.
Available online
Hutchings never completely recaptured his form of 1906 and ''Wisden'' wrote that he "did not fulfil all the hopes formed of him", although he scored over 1,000 first-class runs in every English domestic season between 1906 and 1911.
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-22. His best seasons, other than 1906, were in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

and 1910 when Kent won consecutive County Championships,Heffer S (2016
From the cricket field to the battlefield, we honour the fallen
''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', 2016-07-04. Retrieved 2016-09-13. and he was picked for two Ashes Tests in England in 1909. His form failed him in 1912 and he was dropped from the Kent First XI in June and did not play first-class cricket of any kind after the end of the 1912 season.

Style of play

Kenneth Hutchings Vanity Fair 14 August 1907

Hutchings was regarded as a hard hitting and graceful batsman. Commenting on his 1906 permanence, ''Wisden'' writes that "the consistency of his batting was not less astonishing than its brilliancy". It goes on to say that "Batting so remarkable and individual as his, has not been seen since

Ranjitsinhji Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 to 1933, as Mah ...

and

Trumper Trumper is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Notable People * Gillian Trumper (1936–2019), Canadian politician * Lutz Trümper (born 1955), German politician *Simon Trumper (born 1963), English poker player *Victor Trumper (187 ...

first delighted the cricket world", comparing him to two great cricketers of the time, although his obituary is clear that he did not fulfil the potential that the 1906 season clearly showed. He was considered an attacking batsman who could score all around the wicket with "a style that is entirely his own". He scored quickly when on form and was an "ideal cricketer". His cover drive was considered particularly effective and hard hitting as well as attractive –

A. A. Thomson Arthur Alexander Thomson, (7 April 1894 at Harrogate, Yorkshire – 2 June 1968 near Lord's in London) was an English writer best known for his books on cricket, for which he used the byline A. A. Thomson. He wrote nearly 60 books in all, inclu ...

wrote of him: "Though a crabbed unemotional Northerner, I sometimes think that if one last fragment of cricket had to be preserved, as though in amber, it should be a glimpse of K. L. Hutchings cover-driving under a summer heaven."Quoted in McCrery N (2015) ''Final Wicket: Test and First Class Cricketers Killed in the Great War''
Available online
. According to

David Denton David Kipling Denton (born 5 February 1990) is a retired Zimbabwean-born Scottish rugby union player. He played in the back row, but could also play in the second row, and represented Edinburgh in the Pro12, Bath, Worcester Warriors and Leices ...

and

George Hirst George Herbert Hirst (7 September 1871 – 10 May 1954) was a professional English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1891 and 1921, with a further appearance in 1929. One of the best all-r ...

, he hit the ball harder than any other player of their time (and they were contemporaries of

Gilbert Jessop Gilbert Laird Jessop (19 May 1874 – 11 May 1955) was an English cricket player, often reckoned to have been the fastest run-scorer cricket has ever known. He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1898. Career Jessop was born in Cheltenham, ...

, one of the harder hitting batsmen of the Golden Age of cricket).''Barclay's World of Cricket'', 2nd Edition, 1980, p.388. London: Collins, .

Military service and death

Hutchings worked at

Wiggins Teape Arjowiggins is an independent paper manufacturer based in Scotland. History The company's origins go back to 1761 when Buckland Mill in Dover in Kent commenced operations. Meanwhile, in France, in the middle of the 20th century there were fou ...

, a paper manufacturer near

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

, when he played for Kent, working alongside Keith Barlow who played twice for Kent and went on to be the Chairman of the company.Lewis ''

'', p.102. At the start of

he was working for another paper manufacturer in Liverpool and living at Freshfield in

Formby Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census. Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under "For ...

.Duffy T (2016
Remembering the Formby men who died at the Somme
''Southport Visiter'', 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2018-09-25. He enlisted within a few days of the start of the war, serving in the

and was sent to France in April 1915. He was attached to the

Welch Regiment The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of ...

for a time and promoted to Lieutenant in December 1916. From July 1916 he served with the 12th battalion the King's Liverpool Regiment.Renshaw A (ed) (2014) "Lt Kenneth Lotherington Hutchings" in ''Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914-1918'' pp.240–241.
Available online
. Hutchings was killed in action on 3 September 1916 at

Ginchy Ginchy () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Ginchy is situated on the D20 road, some northeast of Amiens. The graphic below shows the community in relation to nearby places. ...

in northern France during the

Battle of Guillemont The Battle of Guillemont (3–6 September 1916) was an attack, during the Battle of the Somme in the First World War, by the British Fourth Army against the German 2nd Army near the village of Guillemont in northern France. The village is on ...

as part of the

. He was hit by an artillery shell and, according to ''

'', killed instantly. At the time of his death he was described as the most famous cricketer to have died in the Great War, with the ''

'' writing that "one of the greatest cricketers has been taken from us".Sawer P (2015
The cricket greats who fell in World War One
''

'', 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2016-02-21. His body was never recovered and his name appears on the

Thiepval Memorial The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the ...

.Hutchings, Kenneth Lotherington

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

. Retrieved 2016-02-21. After his death, members of his regiment fashioned a wooden cross with a metal plaque as a memorial to the officers who had died at Ginchy, including Hutchings' name on the plaque. After the war the cross was moved to Formby. A restored cross, with the original metal plaque, stands in the churchyard of

St Peter's Church, Formby St Peter's Church is in Green Lane, Formby, Sefton, Merseyside, England, and is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool. It was built in 1746 to replace a chapel on another site that had been destroyed in a storm. The ch ...

.Formby - St. Peter’s Church, Merseyside
Returned from the Front, 2016-09-05. Retrieved 2018-09-25.Lewis ''op. cit'', p.354. All three of his brothers played cricket for

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

and served in the war, all being wounded or injured in the process.Sport Remembers: One of the greatest England cricketers has been taken

Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...

, 2016-06-13. Retrieved 2016-09-13. Two of his brothers,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

also played first-class cricket for Kent.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchings, Kenneth 1882 births 1916 deaths People educated at Tonbridge School British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme England Test cricketers Kent cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year English cricketers People from Southborough, Kent Gentlemen cricketers Military personnel from Kent Missing in action of World War I Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers British Army personnel of World War I King's Regiment (Liverpool) officers Welch Regiment officers Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team cricketers