Herbert Whitfeld (15 November 1858 – 6 May 1909) was an English amateur sportsman who played association football and county

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. In football, he helped

Old Etonians This is a list of notable former pupils of Eton College, a 13–18 public fee-charging and boarding secondary school for boys in Eton, Berkshire, England. Former pupils of the school are known as Old Etonians. Former pupils Politics *Robert ...

win the 1879 FA Cup Final and was on the losing side in

1881 Events January * January 1– 24 – Siege of Geok Tepe: Russian troops under General Mikhail Skobelev defeat the Turkomans. * January 13 – War of the Pacific – Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos: The Chilean army ...

as well as making one appearance for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1879. In cricket, he played for

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

whom he captained in 1883 and 1884. He was later a director of

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Early career and education

Whitfeld was born in

Hamsey Hamsey is a village and civil parish in the Lewes (district), Lewes district of East Sussex, England. The parish covers a large area () and also consists of the villages Offham and Cooksbridge. The main centres of population in the parish are now ...

, near

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

in East Sussex and was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

where he developed an interest in all forms of sport and played for the college football team in 1877. He was also a member of the college cricket eleven from 1875 to 1877, being captain in his last year. He went up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1877 and earned

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

in cricket in every year between 1878 and 1881 and in football in 1879, 1880 and 1881. He also represented the university at athletics, as a medium distance runner, and in

real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

where he was partner to

Ivo Bligh Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley (13 March 1859 – 10 April 1927), styled The Honourable Ivo Bligh until 1900, lord of the manor of Cobham, Kent, was a British nobleman, parliamentarian and cricketer. Bligh captained the Engla ...

, who was to become the captain of the England cricket team.

Football career

On leaving university, Whitfeld joined the

and in

1879 Events January * January 1 ** The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The United States Note is valued the same as gold, for the first time since the American Civil War. ** Brahms' Violin Concerto is premiered in Leipzig with Joseph Joachim ...

he helped the Old Boys reach the final of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

for the third time in five years. Whitfeld played as an outside-forward and scored in each of the three matches against

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to ...

in the fourth round and against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in the semi-final. In the final, played at the

Kennington Oval Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

on 29 March 1879, the Old Etonians met

Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers was from its foundation in 1869 a leading English sports organisation in the two dominant codes of football, association football and rugby union. It was a prominent club in the late 19th century but is now defunct. The club play ...

, for whom this was the first appearance in the final. Although Clapham dominated the early stages of the final, with Norman Bailey having two attempts on target, Whitfeld continued to run at the Clapham defenders with little assistance from his colleagues. After a goalless first-half, the only goal of the game came after 59 minutes, when

Charles Clerke Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Charles Clerke (22 August 1741 – 22 August 1779) was an officer in the Royal Navy who sailed on four voyages of exploration (including three circumnavigations), three with Captain James Cook. When Cook was killed ...

scored from close range following a run from

Harry Goodhart Harry Chester Goodhart (17 July 1858 – 21 April 1895) was an English amateur footballer who played as a forward in four FA Cup Finals for Old Etonians, before going on to become Professor of Humanity at the University of Edinburgh. Early li ...

. The old Etonians thus claimed the cup for the first time in what was considered to be "the poorest FA Cup Final to date" with Whitfeld being "the most skilful player on view". Whitfeld's solitary England appearance came when he was one of five new players selected for the match against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at the

on 18 January 1879. The match was played in a blizzard and both captains agreed to play halves of only 30 minutes each. This was the first match between the two countries – Wales had previously only played three international matches, all against Scotland, including a 9–0 defeat in March 1878. England's two goals came from Whitfeld and fellow débutante,

Thomas Sorby Thomas Heathcote Sorby (16 February 1856 – 13 December 1930) was an English amateur footballer who made one appearance for England. Football career Sorby was born in Sheffield, the fourth of ten children of Thomas Austin Sorby (1823–1885) ...

, with William Davies scoring for Wales. According to the football historian, Philip Gibbons, "England were surprised by the level of skill shown by the Welsh team". In the following year, Clapham Rovers gained their revenge, defeating the Old Etonians in the Fifth Round, but the Old Boys reached the final again in

, with Whitfeld scoring twice in the 10–0 victory over Brentwood in the First Round. The

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

was played at the Kennington Oval against the Old Carthusians on 9 April 1881; this was the Old Carthusians first appearance in the final and the Old Etonians, on their fourth appearance, were expected to win comfortably. In the event, the Old Carthusians won convincingly, with goals from Edward Wynyard, Edward Parry, and

Alexander Tod Alexander Tod was an English amateur footballer who scored for Old Carthusians in its 1881 FA Cup Final win. Career Tod was born on board the ship HMS Trafalgar, the son of Lieutenant Alexander George Tod of the Madras Light Infantry and ...

. Whitfeld was also a member of the Wanderers, and played in their final match on 18 December 1883.

Cricket career

While he was at

, Whitfeld represented the university from 1878 to 1881. His first match came against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

in May 1878 when he scored a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

; despite this, the university won the match by 10 wickets. In June, his unbroken 81 helped the university to a resounding victory over

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

by an innings and 112 runs. In his first

varsity match A varsity match in Britain and Ireland is a fixture, especially of a sporting event or team, between university teams, usually the highest-level team, or varsity team, in that sport. The University Match in cricket between Oxford University an ...

, he scored a total of 27 runs to help Cambridge defeat

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

by 238 runs. He made his first appearance for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

against Kent in July 1878, scoring only two runs as Sussex were defeated by an innings and 36 runs. His only first-class

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

came in May 1880 when he scored 116, partnering

(90) to 150 for the first wicket and Richard Jones (124) to a stand of 121 for the second wicket 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, Surre ...

. The university scored a total of 593 in a drawn match. His first match as captain of Sussex came when he took over from Frederick Greenfield for the county's final match of 1882 against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

; Nottinghamshire won the match by 10 wickets. Whitfield retained the captaincy for the next two years with his final match as captain coming in August 1884, when his 41* was not sufficient to prevent

winning by four wickets. His first-class cricket career was now coming to an end and he made only one further appearance for the county, in August 1885. In all, he made 23 appearances for Cambridge University and 39 for Sussex in a career that spanned twelve seasons. He also played for

I Zingari I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the ' ...

and

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

as well as other representative sides. His last first-class match was for I Zingari in 1889.

Later career

After leaving university, Whitfeld joined

and became a local director based in

, East Sussex. He died at nearby

Chailey Chailey is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located 7 miles north of Lewes, on the A272 road from Winchester to Canterbury. The Prime Meridian passes just to the east of Chailey. The parish consis ...

on 6 May 1909 aged 50.

Family

His brother,

Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...

played two first-class matches: one for Sussex in 1878 and another for GN Wyatt's XI in 1886. and his nephew,

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

played three matches in 1908.

Honours

Old Etonians *

winners:

finalists:

References

External links

Cricket career at cricketarchive
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfeld, Herbert 1858 births People from Hamsey 1909 deaths People educated at Eton College English men's footballers England men's international footballers English cricketers of 1864 to 1889 English cricketers Sussex cricketers Sussex cricket captains Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Old Etonians F.C. players Cambridge University A.F.C. players Cambridge University cricketers I Zingari cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Wanderers F.C. players Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Men's association football forwards Cricketers from East Sussex