Lothian George Bonham-Carter J.P. (29 September 1858 – 1 January 1927) 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 str ...

er. Bonham-Carter was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

who bowled slow roundarm bowler, but with which arm is unknown, but he was one of the last cricketers to use this

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

style. He was born in

Adhurst St Mary Adhurst (also known as Adhurst St Mary) is a hamlet in Hampshire, United Kingdom. The settlement is within the civil parish of Steep, and is located approximately north-east of Petersfield. Lothian Bonham-Carter of the Bonham Carter family T ...

, just north of

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

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 ...

Early life and cricket career

The son of John Bonham-Carter, a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Winchester, and Laura Maria Nicholson, granddaughter of abolitionist William Smith, Bonham-Carter was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

, where he represented the college cricket team. In 1876, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers (2nd Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteer Corps), holding the rank of Sub-Lieutenant. By 1878 he was serving in the Rifle Volunteer Corps (1st Berkshire) and held the rank of

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

, in that same year he was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

. By 1880, he had seemingly been demoted back to 2nd lieutenant and resigned his commission on 9 June 1880. Later in his life, he worked as a justice of the peace. He later made his debut in

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 officia ...

for

against 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 influence ...

in 1880. Four years would pass before Bonham-Carter would play first-class cricket for Hampshire again, with his next appearance coming in 1884 against Surrey. He made 6 further first-class appearances for Hampshire, the last of which came against Surrey in 1885. However, with Hampshire often uncompetitive, the county lost first-class status at the end of that season, and would not regain it until it was admitted into the

1895 County Championship The 1895 County Championship was the sixth officially organised running of the County Championship, and ran from 6 May to 2 September 1895. Surrey claimed their fifth title, which was decided by the percentage of completed matches by each side. T ...

, thus bringing to an end his first-class career. In his total of 8 first-class matches, he scored 260 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 17.33, with a high score of 67. This score, one of two fifties he made, came against Surrey in 1884. With the ball, he took 2 wickets at a bowling average of 31.50, with best figures of 2/22. Despite Hampshire's loss of first-class status, he continued to play for the county until 1888.

Later life

War Memorial and Manor House, Buriton - geograph

Bonham-Carter was a founder member of Petersfield Golf club in May 1891. Bonham-Carter was the first of the Bonham-Carters to begin their connection with the village of Buriton in Hampshire. In 1910/11 he had Buriton House built, reputedly because his wife, Emily, did not like living in Buriton Manor, which was then a working farm. Bonham-Carter had two sons: Stuart Bonham Carter, who served in World Wars, reaching the rank of vice admiral in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, Algernon Bonham Carter, who was awarded the DSO in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and a daughter, Esme, who became a Mrs Tomlinson and subsequently Mrs. Selwyn. His brother-in-law was the fellow Hampshire cricketer Anthony Abdy. He is also distantly related to the actress

Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received various awards and nominations, including a British Academy Film Award a ...

among others. He died in Buriton on 1 January 1927. His estate passed to Algernon, with parts of it being sold in 1927 to the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

to cover death duties.

References

External links

Lothian Bonham-Carter
at

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Lothian Bonham-Carter
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonham-Carter, Lothian 1858 births 1927 deaths People from Petersfield People educated at Clifton College Royal Engineers officers Volunteer Force officers English cricketers Hampshire cricketers Lothian English justices of the peace Military personnel from Hampshire 19th-century British Army personnel

Early life and cricket career

Later life

See also

References

External links