Ian Stanley Akers-Douglas (16 November 1909 – 16 December 1952) 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 and

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 ...

player. He was a right-handed batsman 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

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 ...

between 1929 and 1938. He was born in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

and died at his home in

Frant Frant is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, on the Kentish border about three miles (5 km) south of Royal Tunbridge Wells. When the iron industry was at its height, much of the village was owned ...

. Akers-Douglas' father was the second son of

Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston, (21 October 1851 – 15 January 1926), born Aretas Akers, was a British Conservative statesman who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 until he was raised to the peerage in 1911. He notably serve ...

. His maternal grandfather was

Stanley Christopherson Stanley Christopherson (11 November 1861 – 6 April 1949) was an English amateur cricketer and cricket administrator most notable for having been President of the Marylebone Cricket Club from 1939 to 1946. He played first-class cricket mainly ...

, who played cricket once for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and his great-uncle was

Percy Christopherson Percy Christopherson (31 March 1866 – 4 May 1921) was an English sportsman who played rugby union as a threequarter for Blackheath and represented England at international level. Christopherson also played cricket, making two first-class appe ...

who played twice for Kent. He was educated at

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 ...

and

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 ...

. His cricketing career began with one match for the Kent Second XI in the 1928

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

before making his first-class debut for Oxford University in 1929. He played in three matches for the university before making his Kent debut in the same summer against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. He played four further County Championship matches for the team in the 1929 season. Akers-Douglas returned to play for Oxford in 1930 and made four appearances for Kent in the County Championship during the 1930 season. He spent 1931 and 1933 out of the team, save for one single first-class match, though 1932 saw him score his debut century for the side, his career-best first-class score of 123. He played frequently during 1934 and 1936, but in 1935, 1937 and 1938 played just a single first-class game in each year. Following the close of the 1938 season, Akers-Douglas played just one further cricket match for Kent, against the Rest of England. Akers-Douglas was also a champion

player. He won the British Open Championship in 1933 and the British Amateur Championship in 1933, 1933 and 1934, and was runner-up in the Amateur Championship in 1930, 1931, 1935, 1938 and 1946. Akers-Douglas was married twice. His first marriage, to Joan Holroyd Toms, in 1933, produced a daughter, and ended in divorce in 1943, in which it was alleged his wife had committed adultery with

Geoffrey Lowndes William Geoffrey Lowndes Frith Lowndes (born William Geoffrey Lowndes Frith; 24 January 1898 – 23 May 1982), known as Geoffrey Lowndes, was an English first-class cricketer. He played first-class cricket from 1921 to 1936, the majority of whi ...

.County Cricketers In Divorce Action. ''

Dundee Evening Telegraph The ''Evening Telegraph'' is a local newspaper in Dundee, Scotland. Known locally as the ''Tele'' (usually pronounced ''Tully or Tilly''), it is the sister paper of '' The Courier'', also published by Dundee firm D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. It w ...

''. 14 May 1943. p. 5 He married Phyllis Rosemary Parsons in 1945, and they had a son and a daughter. He died as a result of a shooting accident at his home in December 1952.'' Wisden'' 1953, p. 937. His cousin Eric Akers-Douglas, 3rd Viscount Chilston, died in 1982 without children, so Ian Akers-Douglas' son Alastair (born 1946) became 4th Viscount Chilston.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akers-Douglas, Ian 1909 births 1952 deaths English cricketers English racquets players Kent cricketers Kent cricket captains Oxford University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Free Foresters cricketers People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Non-international England cricketers Firearm accident victims Accidental deaths in England Deaths by firearm in England Cricketers from Kensington People from Frant