Harry Surtees Altham (30 November 1888 – 11 March 1965) 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 st ...

er who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. His ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' obituary described him as "among the best known personalities in the world of cricket". He died of a heart attack just after he had given an address to a cricket society. Altham was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

and

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

, and served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a Major with the

60th Rifles The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United S ...

. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Military Cross (MC), and was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

on three occasions. He was a schoolmaster and a cricket coach at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

, a position that he held for thirty years, and was also the

housemaster {{refimprove, date=September 2018 In British education, a housemaster is a schoolmaster in charge of a boarding house, normally at a boarding school and especially at a public school. The housemaster is responsible for the supervision and care ...

of Chernocke House. Altham's son,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

, played in two first-class matches for Oxford University in 1947.

Playing career

Harry Altham was a right-handed batsman. The Repton side which he captained in 1908 has been described as possibly the strongest school eleven of all time. His first-class career lasted from 1908 to 1923. He played for

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

from 1908 to 1912 and also 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 ...

, obtaining a

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in 1911 and 1912. On joining the staff at Winchester College, he moved from Surrey to

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

and played for Hampshire from 1919 to 1923. Altham played in 55 first-class matches in all, scoring 1,537 runs at an average of 19.70. He made one century, a score of 141 against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

in 1921.

Administration

Altham served on the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influe ...

(MCC) Committee from 1941 until his death in 1965. He was Treasurer from 1949 until 1963 and President in 1959. He was a member of the Hampshire Committee for over forty years and the President of the club from 1946 until his death. He was also Chairman of the English

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selectors in 1954.

Historian

Altham's celebrated ''History of Cricket'' began as a serial in ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...

'' magazine and first appeared in book-form in 1926. Revised editions appeared in 1938, this time in collaboration with E.W. Swanton, and then in 1947 and 1948, both with Swanton and in 1948 including an introduction by

Pelham Warner Sir Pelham Francis Warner, (2 October 1873 – 30 January 1963), affectionately and better known as Plum Warner or "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket, was a Test cricketer and cricket administrator. He was knighted for services to sport in ...

. A further revised edition (now in two volumes, the first by Altham covering the period until 1914 and the second by Swanton covering from 1914 onwards) appeared in 1962 and is listed below, along with his histories of

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England ...

and the MCC, and of Hampshire: *''Hampshire County Cricket: The official history of Hampshire County Cricket Club'' (Phoenix House, 1957). *''A History of Cricket'' with EW Swanton (two volumes, Allen & Unwin, 1962, ). A paperback edition appeared in 1968. *''Lord's and the MCC'' with

John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, OBE (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's ''Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he be ...

(Pitkin, 1967, ). Swanton himself clarified the nature of Altham's contribution to ''A History of Cricket''. "In the obituary written in the factual, anonymous vein generally adopted by Wisden," he wrote, "I notice for the first time what can only be described as a howler. The second paragraph of the piece begins: 'Altham collaborated with E. W. Swanton in a book, ''The History of Cricket''...' ... The first edition of ''A History of Cricket'' (note the indefinite article) was written by Harry when I was a boy. It was twelve years later, in 1938, that he honoured me by asking me to collaborate with ''him'', in a Second Edition. This I did, and so continued with three subsequent editions, as the junior and subservient partner, until the last appeared in two volumes some three years before his death." The ever-modest Altham, however, provided his own verdict (in the book's fourth edition in 1948): "This not-inconsiderable labour I could not have undertaken by myself, but I was fortunate enough to secure the collaboration of Mr. E. W. Swanton whose broad shoulders readily sustained by far the greater part of the burden." Writing in 1956, A. A. Thomson said of the ''History of Cricket'' that it was "a massive record of the game from first beginnings out to the undiscovered ends, written with authority and affection, accuracy and charm". A collection of Altham's writing, edited and revised by

Hubert Doggart George Hubert Graham Doggart (18 July 1925 – 16 February 2018) was an English sports administrator, first-class cricketer and schoolmaster. Background Doggart was born into a sporting family at Earl's Court, London, the elder son of t ...

, was published after his death, namely ''The Heart of Cricket: A memoir of H.S. Altham'' (Hutchinson 'The Cricketer', 1967).

Coaching

As well as coaching at Winchester for many years, Altham was Chairman of the MCC Youth Cricket Association and President of the English Schools Cricket Association. He was appointed Chairman of a Special Committee to inquire into the future welfare of English cricket in 1949, saying, "If only we can get enough boys playing this game in England, and playing it right, it is quite certain that from the mass will be thrown up in some year or another a new Compton, a new

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, a new

Jack Hobbs Sir John Berry Hobbs (16 December 1882– 21 December 1963), always known as Jack Hobbs, was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Mast ...

, and, when that happens, we need not worry anymore about our meetings with Australia." Perhaps most important of all, Altham was the author of the first edition of the ''

MCC Cricket Coaching Book The ''MCC Coaching Manual'' is the popular name for ''The MCC Cricket Coaching Book'', a manual of cricket skills produced by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The book outlined the traditional approaches to batting, bowling and fielding. It was ...

'', published in 1952.

Honours

He was made a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in 1957.

References

ALTHAM, Harry Surtees
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)

Bibliography

* Altham, H.S.; Swanton, E.W.: ''A History of Cricket'' (George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1948). * ''Barclay's World of Cricket – 2nd Edition'', 1980, Collins Publishers, , p50, p135. * E.W. Swanton, ''Cricket from All Angles'', Michael Joseph Ltd, 1968, , pp261–263. (An obituary that originally appeared in the ''

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''.)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Altham, Harry 1888 births 1965 deaths Cricket historians and writers English cricket administrators English cricket coaches Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Free Foresters cricketers English cricketers Schoolteachers from Hampshire Oxford University cricketers Hampshire cricketers Surrey cricketers People educated at Repton School Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford King's Royal Rifle Corps officers British Army personnel of World War I Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Military Cross England cricket team selectors Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Demobilised Officers cricketers British Army officers People from Camberley Military personnel from Surrey