Ernest John Plantagenet Cassan (17 October 1835 – 24 December 1904) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

first-class

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. The son of Stephen Hyde Cassan, he was born in October 1835 at

Bruton, Somerset Bruton ( ) is a small market town, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, north-west of Gillingham ...

where he attended King's School. From there he went up to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. While studying at Oxford, he made two appearances 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

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 ...

in 1859, against the

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 ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

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 ...

The University Match The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world. Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorga ...

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 ...

. He fared well with the ball in these matches, taking 16 wickets at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 11.00, with one

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 ...

of 5 for 64 against Cambridge. His endeavours earned him a cricket

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. After graduating from Oxford, Cassan trained to become a barrister, though he never practiced due to his cricketing commitments. He was strongly associated with cricket in the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

, where he played as an amateur for Dorset,

Incogniti The Incogniti cricket club was founded in 1861. It claims to be the third oldest "wandering" cricket club – a nomadic cricket club without its own home ground – after I Zingari and Free Foresters (founded in 1845 and 1856 respectively). How ...

, Lansdown, and the Gentlemen of Somerset. He founded the latter with fellow West Country cricket enthusiasts in 1860, with the team later evolving into

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Somer ...

in 1875. Away from his cricketing commitments, he served as a governor for King's School, Bruton from 1876–8. Cassan committed suicide by shooting himself in the head on Christmas Eve in 1904.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassan, Ernest 1835 births 1904 suicides 1904 deaths People from Bruton People educated at King's School, Bruton Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers English barristers Suicides by firearm in England 19th-century English lawyers Cricketers from Somerset