Richard Stoakes Jones (14 March 1857 – 9 May 1935) was an English lawyer and a

cricketer 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 ...

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

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 ...

. He was born at

Dymchurch Dymchurch is a village and civil parish in the Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. The village is located on the coast five miles (8 km) south-west of Hythe, and on the Romney Marsh. History The history of Dymchurch began w ...

and died there as well.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 298–299.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 7 August 2022.) Jones was educated at

Chatham House School Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school in Ramsgate, Kent, England, formed as a result of the merger of the boys-only Chatham House Grammar School and girls-only Clarendon House Grammar School in September 2011. Cha ...

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

and at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

. On graduation from

, he qualified as a solicitor and then practised in his home town for more than 50 years up to his death.

Cricket career

A right-handed middle-order batsman, Jones played in first-class matches in 1877 with little success for both Cambridge University and Kent. His record in 1878 was similar, and although he made 66 for Kent against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, six other innings produced only 40 runs between them. He was given a more extended run in the Cambridge team in the 1879 season, although not notably successful, and was also picked for the

University match The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world. Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorga ...

against

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 ...

, but failed to score in his only innings. Later in the same season, however, he made 82 playing for a "Gentlemen of Kent" side in a game 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 ...

which was captained by

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English cricketer who is widely considered one of the sport's all-time greatest players. Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class career spanned a record-equalling 4 ...

. The following year he did rather better and in the Cambridge University match against the Gentlemen of England, he scored 124, his only first-class century. That brought him his second University match, but he was little more successful than in his first, scoring 1 and 2. After leaving Cambridge, Jones appeared fairly often for Kent up to 1886 and played a few times for MCC as well; he made occasional useful scores but his highest in these years was 83 for Kent against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, a match which Kent managed to lose after making Lancashire

follow on In cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team who batted f ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Richard Stoakes 1857 births 1935 deaths English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Kent cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers People educated at Chatham House Grammar School Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Gentlemen of Kent cricketers People from Dymchurch