Lord Dalmeny - Gentleman Cricketer

The Sixth Earl of Rosebery, KT, PC, DSO, Me, who as Lord Dalmeny captained Surrey County Cricket Club from 1905 to 1907. A distinguished soldier, administrator and politician (his father was a Liberal Prime Minister), Lord Rosebery was a keen sportsman, and though he will be best remembered as perhaps the major figure of the British Turf in his lifetime, his relatively brief indulgence in county cricket was notable. He had scored 52 for Eton against Harrow in 1900, and at the age of 20 he hit a memorable 197 against MCC. He began playing occasionally for Surrey in 1904 after having played for Buckinghamshire in 1901, twice for Middlesex in 1902, and for Surrey against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia in 1903. By 1905 his forceful batting and obvious qualities of leadership prompted the Surrey committee to offer him the county captaincy. At 23 he was an immediate success, and Surrey's revival began. The notion of his acting as caretaker captain until J. E. Raphael became available later in the summer was put aside, and he held the reins until August, 1907, when other activities compelled him to retire as captain. He scored two hundreds for Surrey, both in 1905 at The Oval: against Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Driving fiercely, he added 260 with J. N. Crawford for the sixth wicket in the former match. This was the season of J. B. Hobbs's debut for the county, and Lord Dalmeny, who actually preceded him in the batting averages, awarded him his cap after his second match. Also of significance that year was Lord Dalmeny's approach to the Prince of Wales with the suggestion that the county cricket club adopt the Prince of Wales feathers as its crest, a request which was granted. In his three years of county captaincy his average was in the twenties and he twice passed 1000 runs. Surrey- finished fourth, third and fourth in this period. He also played for Scotland against the Australians. In 1929 Lord Dalmeny succeeded to the title of Lord Rosebery upon the death of his father. He was president of Surrey from 1947 to 1949 and president of MCC 1953-54. (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)