Rev. Archibald Hugh Conway Fargus MA (15 December 1878 – 6 October 1963) was an English

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 ...

er who was a right-handed

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who bowled right-arm

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. He was also a

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and

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and served in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Early life and cricket

Born in Clifton,

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, Fargus was the son of novelist Frederick John Fargus and Amy Spark. He was later educated at

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

and Haileybury before attending

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

. Fargus made his first-class debut for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

in the 1900 County Championship against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. In that same season he also made his first-class debut 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 ...

against

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 ...

. Fargus played first-class cricket for both teams in 1900 and 1901, typically playing for Cambridge University in the months of June and July and for Gloucestershire in August. He played 12 matches for the University, from whom he won a

Cambridge Blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. They are now awarded at a number of other ...

in 1900 and 1901, and 15 for Gloucestershire, plus one match for the

Gentlemen ''Gentleman'' (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man; abbreviated ''gent.'') is a term for a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire ...

in 1900. Overall, Fargus was a superior batsman while playing for Cambridge University, scoring 292 runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 16.22, plus scoring his only

half century This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...

in first-class cricket, a score of 61. For Gloucestershire he batted in 27 innings, scoring 210 runs at an average of 9.13. With the ball, the reverse was true; his bowling with Gloucestershire was more successful. For the county he took 33 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 26.54, with best figures of 7/55, one of two

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...

s he took. His best figures came in his debut match against Middlesex, with the 7/55 coming in the Middlesex second-innings and following on from the 5/32 in their first-innings. These figures were the best by any player on debut in the County Championship at that time, it would be a record which would stand for 14 years, until it was beaten by

Cec Parkin Cecil Harry Parkin (18 February 1886 – 15 June 1943), known as Cec or Ciss Parkin, was an English cricketer who played in 10 Test matches between 1920 and 1924 and made 157 appearances for Lancashire County Cricket Club. Life and career Par ...

who took match figures of 14/99 on his

Lancashire County Cricket Club Lancashire Cricket Club represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire in Cricket in England, English cricket. The club has held first-class cricket, first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's ho ...

debut in 1914 In contrast, for the University he took 27 wickets at an average of 41.66, with best figures of 4/35. His first-class career ended at the end of the 1901 season. However, in 1904 he represented

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

in that season's

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

, playing a single match against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

. Outside of cricket, Fargus played

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for Devon.

Naval career and later life

Fargus was ordained by the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...

in 1906. He initially took up duties at Forton, Hampshire. He joined the

in 1907 as a

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, serving aboard HMS ''Encounter'' from 1908 to 1910, in 1910 and 1911, in 1911 and 1912, in 1912 and in 1912 and 1913. In 1913 he was appointed as the vicar of

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. In order to take up this post he allowed to withdraw from the Royal Navy with a

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. Later in the

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he rejoined the navy, where he served as a Temporary Chaplain on board and was seemingly present during its sinking in the battle

Battle of Coronel The Battle of Coronel was a First World War naval battle that led to an Imperial German Navy victory over the Royal Navy on 1 November 1914, off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. The East Asia Squadron (''Ostasiengeschwader ...

in the

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. Indeed, ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' included an obituary for him in its 1915 edition. But by a quirk of fate he missed the train and was thus unable to board the ship, instead being posted to another. He remained a Temporary Chaplain until 1919. He later became Chancellor of St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral in

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

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from 1919 to 1923. Later in 1923, Fargus took the post of Chaplain in

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

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, a position he held until 1925. By 1941 he was resident at Horfield rectory in Bristol. He died in Eastville, Bristol on 6 October 1963. Unlike his 'death' in 1914, his actual death was not reported in the 1964 ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' and his obituary did not appear until the 1994 edition.

References

External links

Archibald Fargus
at

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Archibald Fargus
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Fargus, Archibald 1878 births 1963 deaths Cricketers from Bristol People educated at Clifton College People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge English cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Devon cricketers English rugby union players Royal Navy personnel of World War I Royal Navy chaplains 20th-century English Anglican priests English military chaplains World War I chaplains Rugby union players from Bristol Devon RFU players