Reginald Hankey (3 November 1832 – 25 August 1886) was an English

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 ...

er, active from 1853 to 1860. Born at

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Hankey 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 captained the First XI in 1850, and at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace roundarm bowler who was mainly associated with

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 ...

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) and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, and made 18 known appearances in first-class matches. He played for the Gentlemen in 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 ...

series. He made his highest first-class score of 70 for the Gentlemen against the Players at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in 1857, when he was the highest scorer on either side in a match the Players won by 13 runs. Hankey was renowned for the stylishness of his batting. His contemporary

William Caffyn William Caffyn (2 February 1828 – 28 August 1919), known as Billy Caffyn, was an English cricketer who played mainly for Surrey County Cricket Club and various England representative sides. He played in 200 first-class cricket matches, 89 of t ...

wrote:

If it were possible to see Dr Grace and Mr Hankey at the wickets together, each well set, and each unknown to the spectators, they would in all probability pronounce Mr Hankey the finer batsman of the pair. There was, in my opinion, no hit on the board which Mr Hankey was unable to make equally as well as Dr Grace or any one else; and so it was with many others of the old players.

Caffyn went on to say that Grace surpassed all others because he made fewer mistakes, "and would continue to occupy the wickets long after his companion had been compelled to retire to the pavilion". Hankey was unable to play more than a few matches of first-class cricket owing to the requirements of his work in the family banking business. He died aged 53 in 1886 in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. His cousin Frederick Hankey also played first-class cricket for MCC, and was later an MP.

References

External links

CricketArchive profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hankey, Reginald 1832 births 1886 deaths English cricketers English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Oxford University cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Surrey cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Gentlemen of Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers

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External links