Richard Cameron North Palairet (25 June 1871 – 11 February 1955) was an English

cricketer 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 ...

who 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

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 ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. After his playing days, he became a prominent cricket administrator, acting as secretary at

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London ...

and being joint manager, with

Pelham Warner Sir Pelham Francis Warner, (2 October 1873 – 30 January 1963), affectionately and better known as Plum Warner or "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket, was a Test cricketer and cricket administrator. He was knighted for services to sport in ...

, of the

English cricket team in Australia in 1932-33 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 ...

which became embroiled in the

Bodyline Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia. It was designed to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's leading batsman ...

controversy. As a cricket player, Palairet was overshadowed by his brother, Lionel, who played for the same two first-class sides and was regarded as one of the stylish batsmen of the 1890s and the early 1900s. Their father, Henry Palairet, played first-class cricket twice for

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) in 1868 and 1869. Richard Palairet's first-class record indicates that he was a useful right-handed batsman, but probably no more than useful: as a schoolboy at

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...

he had been more successful than Lionel, but a soccer injury at Oxford restricted his movement and his fluency. He often opened the innings, though less frequently for Somerset, where his brother was ensconced at No 1, than for Oxford. In 112 first-class matches, he made exactly 4,000 runs at an average of 21 runs per innings; he scored only two centuries in a career that lasted 12 years. His highest was 156 against

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 ...

at the

County Ground, Taunton The County Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as Cooper Associates County Ground, and nicknamed Ciderabad, is a cricket ground in Taunton, Somerset. It is the home of Somerset County Cricket Club, who have played there since 1882. The ground ...

in 1896 when he put on 249 for the second wicket with his brother, who made 154. In the winter of 1896–97 he was a member of a touring team to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

led by

Arthur Priestley Sir Arthur Alexander Priestley (9 November 1865 – 10 April 1933) was an English Liberal Party politician and cricketer. After three unsuccessful candidacies he held a seat in the House of Commons from 1900 to 1918. At cricket, he played for Mar ...

; a second touring side to the West Indies that winter was led by

Lord Hawke Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke (16 August 1860 – 10 October 1938), generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer active from 1881 to 1911 who played for Yorkshire and England. He was born in Willingham by Stow, near G ...

. After that tour, his appearances in first-class cricket became less frequent. Palairet played his last first-class match in 1902, but came back into the game as secretary of Surrey from 1920 to 1932. He stood down from that post to become joint manager on the Bodyline tour. He was president of Somerset County Cricket Club from 1937 to 1946.

Education and military service

Palairet was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, ...

before attending

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

. He served in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

including

Waziristan Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziristan which are now districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Waziristan covers some . ...

(1919) between 1914 and 1919 with the 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment during the

First World War 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 ...

. Palairet was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1917. Cricket archive – Richard Palairet
Retrieved 2 September 2012

References

External links

*

at www.cricketarchive.com carries full statistical details of his career and the matches he played. *

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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 ...

, 1956 edition, Obituaries section, details his career and his style {{DEFAULTSORT:Palairet, Richard 1871 births 1955 deaths Oxford University cricketers Somerset cricketers English cricket administrators Somerset County Cricket Club presidents People educated at Repton School Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Devonshire Regiment officers Gentlemen of England cricketers English cricketers A. Priestley's XI cricketers