Augustus Eatwell Tennant (19 November 1841 – 28 November 1892) was an Indian-born

cricketer 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 ...

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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for

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 ...

in New Zealand from 1864 to 1866.

Life and career

Augustus Tennant was born in

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

in England, where he played in the First XI in 1859 and 1860. He arrived in New Zealand in the early 1860s and began working for the

Canterbury Province The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Its capital was Christchurch. History Canterbury was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential Eng ...

government. He was appointed as Commissioner’s Clerk of the West Canterbury goldfields in

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of ...

in 1865. When the

County of Westland Westland County, also known as County of Westland, was a local government area on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It existed from 1868 to 1873, and then from 1876 until 1989. In its first incarnation, it constituted the government f ...

was formed he held a position in the County Treasury in Hokitika, and on the formation of

Westland Province The Westland Province was a province of New Zealand from 1873 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The capital was Hokitika. Area and history The area was part of Canterbury Province when the provinces were created in 1853. By 1 ...

he held a position in the Superintendent’s Office. When the provinces were abolished in 1873 he worked for the national government in the Stamp Office, still in Hokitika. Tennant's wife died in 1872, after which " d times swept over him and he commenced to drift". In 1874 he was convicted of assault. In 1882 he was arrested on a charge of embezzling from the Stamp Office, convicted and sentenced in March 1883 to nine months' labour. Tennant died of

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanie ...

, aggravated by other ailments, in

Westland Hospital Westland Hospital was one of two hospitals in Hokitika, on the West Coast of New Zealand. It was founded in 1865 and closed in 1989. History The hospital was founded in 1865 to the south of the Hokitika River and rebuilt about 1875 to the nor ...

in Hokitika on 28 November 1892. He was 51.

Cricket career

Tennant played several matches for

in the 1860s as a batsman and wicket-keeper. He was Canterbury's best batsman when George Parr's English team visited in 1863-64. When Parr's XI dismissed the Canterbury XXII for 30 and 105, Tennant made 28, the highest score on either side, in the second innings. After the early finish of that match, a second match was played between two elevens combining the English and Canterbury players, and Tennant was the highest scorer in that match too, with 21 and 33. Tennant was less successful with the bat in his first two first-class matches for Canterbury, but in his last match, in 1865-66, he again made the highest score on either side with 24 in Canterbury's second innings. In 1864-65 his wicket-keeping drew praise from the ''

Lyttelton Times The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a liber ...

'', which described it after the match against

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

as one of "the most noticeable features in the whole game" and as a model for the young cricketer. Tennant retained his involvement with cricket after he transferred to Hokitika, and at the time of his death he was the secretary of the Hokitika Cricket Club.

References

External links

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Augustus Tennant
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Tennant, Augustus 1841 births 1892 deaths British people in colonial India People from Shimla People educated at Rugby School Canterbury cricketers New Zealand cricketers People convicted of embezzlement Deaths from nephritis New Zealand sportspeople convicted of crimes