Montague Mordaunt Ainslie (8 May 1823 – 22 March 1896) was an English barrister and a

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 active in the 1840s, making ten appearances in

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 ...

Early life and education

Eldest son of Montague Ainslie, sometime of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

,Men-at-the-Bar: A Biographical Hand-list of the members of the various inns of court, including Her Majesty's Judges, etc, 2nd edition, Joseph Foster, Hazell, Watson, and Viney Ltd, 1885, p. 4 and Sophia Mary, daughter of George Poyntz Ricketts, he was born at Humeerpore in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. His brother

William George Ainslie William George Ainslie JP (9 January 1832 – 10 February 1893) was a British Conservative politician, magistrate, ironmaster and stockbroker. Early life Born in 1832 in Bengal, India, and educated at Sedbergh School,Obituary of William George ...

was a businessman and politician.Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed & Official Classes, eighth edition, Kelly & Co., 1882, p. 8The Law Reports, vol. XXVIII, ed. G. W. Hemming, William Clowes & Sons Ltd, 1885, p. 89 Ainslie attended

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

, where he captained the college cricket team, before matriculating at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

in 1841; he graduated B.A in 1845. Entering

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

on 22 November 1845, he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 20 November 1850.

Legal career

Ainslie had a successful career as a barrister; from the 1860s until 1871, he was counsel to the

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

, and was examiner of election recognizances.

Cricket

While at Oxford he played

for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, making his debut against 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) at

Bullingdon Green Bullingdon Green was a cricket ground south of Oxford, England. It was associated with the Bullingdon Club and was an important site in the early history of cricket in Oxford. The ground operated as a first-class cricket venue in 1843, hosting t ...

in 1843. He played first-class cricket for Oxford on seven further occasions up to 1845. He later made two further appearances in first-class matches, playing ''for'' the MCC against Oxford University in 1847, before playing for the

Gentlemen of Kent 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 ...

against the

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey ...

in 1849. A poor

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

of unknown-handedness, Ainslie scored 98 runs in his ten first-class matches,

averaging 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, ...

just 5.44. As a bowler it is known he took 4 wickets, however due to incomplete records, it is only known that he took a maximum of 3 in one

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

Personal life

Ainslie inherited his father's property, Hawkshead, at Grizedale,

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, Cumbria, Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern ...

, on the east side of

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

(the estate, per some accounts, reckoned to be part of Lancashire),Accounts of the County Treasurer and the Other Public Officers of the County Palatine of Lancaster; with the Report of the General Finance Committee, 1854–55, pub. Philip and George Addison, Preston, 1855, p. 62 where he died on 22 March 1896. He was a

Justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

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 ...

References

External links

* 1823 births 1896 deaths People from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of Kent cricketers 19th-century King's Counsel Cricketers from Himachal Pradesh 19th-century sportsmen English barristers {{England-cricket-bio-stub