Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane, (''né'' Ponsonby; 14 March 1824 – 1 December 1915) was an English

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 civil servant. He was born in 1824 in

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, the sixth son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough.

Cricket

Ponsonby played for both Middlesex 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 later administered Somerset and Harrow Cricket Club. He was a nephew of the Rev. Lord

Frederick Beauclerk The Reverend Lord Frederick de Vere Beauclerk (8 May 1773 – 22 April 1850), a 19th-century Anglican priest, was an outstanding but controversial English first-class cricketer, the leading "amateur" player of the Napoleonic period. Lord Freder ...

and had played with

William Ward William or Willie Ward may refer to: Sports * William Ward (American football) (1874–1936), American football coach at the University of Michigan in 1896 * William Ward (Australian cricketer) (1863–1948), Australian cricketer * William Ward (c ...

. He took part in the first Canterbury Cricket Week, and was one of the three founders of I Zingari in 1845. He was Treasurer of MCC from 1879 until his death in 1915, by which time he had been a member of the club for 75 years. He several times declined the offer of becoming President. While Treasurer, he began the MCC Collection, subsequently known as the Lord's Museum and Library.

Government service

Ponsonby joined the

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in 1840. He was Private Secretary to three Foreign Secretaries: Lord Palmerston 1846–1851, Lord Granville 1851–1852, and Lord Clarendon 1853–1857. In 1856 he brought from Paris the definitive copy of the

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for the Crimean War. Later he was Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office 1857–1901, Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State 1901–1915 and Bath King of Arms 1904–1915.

Family

Ponsonby-Fane married, on 7 October 1847, Honourable Louisa Anne Rose Lee Dillon (1825–1902), daughter of Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon. Lady Ponsonby-Fane died at their estate on 18 July 1902. They had eleven children: *

John Henry Ponsonby-Fane John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

(22 August 1848 – 11 September 1916), married Florence Farquhar on 14 October 1875 and had issue; he later became a malacologist and a banker.Obituary ofJohn Henry Ponsonby-Fane; Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond. 12, p. 217
*Lt. George Richard Ponsonby, RA (25 April 1850 – 5 February 1871) *Helen Emily Cristal Ponsonby (26 July 1851 – 17 January 1852), her second middle name having been given in memory of the Prince Consort's Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851 (according to 27 August 1851 letter by Jemima, Lady St Germans – Helen had been baptized the day before, on 26 August 1851). *Robert Charles Ponsonby-Fane (6 June 1854 – 16 November 1909), married Mary Maclachlan on 17 July 1877 and had issue. *Constance Louisa Ponsonby-Fane (23 March 1856 – 4 May 1930), married William Robert Phelips on 1 January 1881 and had issue. *Margaret Maria Ponsonby-Fane (4 November 1867 – 14 December 1953), married Rev. Hon. Arnald de Grey, third son of Thomas de Grey, 5th Baron Walsingham, on 17 April 1882 and had issue. *Clementina Sarah Ponsonby-Fane (27 July 1859 – 15 September 1934), married Sir Edmund Turton, 1st Baronet, on 9 August 1888. *Eleanor Hariett Ponsonby-Fane (26 December 1861 – 2 September 1878), drowned in a boating accident at Brympton d'Evercy. *Sydney Alexander Ponsonby-Fane (26 February 1863 – 27 August 1940), married Audrey Catherine St Aubyn, daughter of John St Aubyn, 1st Baron St Levan, on 10 June 1893 and had issue. *Hugh Spencer Ponsonby-Fane (5 December 1865 – 13 May 1934), married Anitha Magdalene Feuerheerd on 8 November 1894 and had issue. *Theobald Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane (27 April 1868 – 14 May 1929), married Bertha Edwards on 10 August 1892. In 1875, he changed his surname to Ponsonby-Fane upon inheriting the estate of Brympton d'Evercy from his aunt, Lady Georgiana Fane. He spent the remainder of his life there improving the gardens until he died in 1915, after which the estate passed to his eldest son, John.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponsonby-Fane, Spencer 1824 births 1915 deaths Principal Private Secretaries to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Companions of the Imperial Service Order Cricket players and officials awarded knighthoods Middlesex cricketers Surrey cricketers Younger sons of earls English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Somerset County Cricket Club presidents Surrey Club cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Fast v Slow cricketers Gentlemen of Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of the South cricketers Married v Single cricketers Non-international England cricketers