Eliot Albert Cross Druce (20 June 1876 – 24 October 1934) was an English amateur

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 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

between 1897 and 1913. He was born at

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...

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 ...

, the son of Albert Druce, and grew up at Thornhill in

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

.Venn J, Venn JA (1954) ''Alumni cantabrigienses; a biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900 vol.2, pt.2'', p.341. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

Available online
Retrieved 2017-05-30).

Education

Druce attended The Beacon, now called New Beacon, in Sevenoaks, Marlborough School and then went up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1895. He took a law degree, graduating in 1898 and becoming a solicitor in 1901. He was later employed in the offices of the

Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is an estate of the British sovereign. The estate has its origins in the lands held by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster, which came under the direct control of the monarch when Henry Bolingbroke, the then duke of Lancast ...

Cricketing career

Druce did not play for the Marlborough cricket team but made his

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

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC) at

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

in 1897.Eliot Druce
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2014-03-23. He played a total of three matches for the university and was awarded a

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

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in 1898.Druce, Eliot Albert Cross
Obituaries in 1934, ''

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 ...

'', 1935. Retrieved 2017-05-30. He played one match for MCC against Cambridge in 1898, before making an appearance for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

in the

1898 County Championship The 1898 County Championship was the ninth officially organised running of the County Championship, and ran from 9 May to 3 September 1898. Yorkshire County Cricket Club won their third championship title, with Middlesex finishing as runners-up f ...

against

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdivi ...

. He played twice more for Kent in the 1900 County Championship and over a decade later he made three first-class appearances for

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an England, English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the ...

in matches against

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and Cambridge University. Druce also played a number of non-first-class matches for Kent Second XI, MCC and Fee Foresters, appearing as late as 1925 for MCC.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 151–152.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)

Later life

Druce married Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of Sir Charles Swann on 16 September 1913. He died suddenly at

Brompton, London Brompton, sometimes called Old Brompton, survives in name as a Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, ward in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Until the latter half of the 19th century it was a scattered vill ...

in October 1934 aged 58. His cousin

Frank Druce Norman Frank Druce, known as Frank Druce (1 January 1875 – 27 October 1954) was an English cricketer who played in five Test matches from 1897 to 1898. He is one of the very few Test cricketers to have made his claims for inclusion purely up ...

played

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, while another cousin Walter Druce and his uncle George Druce both played first-class cricket.

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Druce, Eliot Albert Cross 1876 births 1934 deaths Sportspeople from Weybridge Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Kent cricketers Free Foresters cricketers Cricketers from Surrey