The Reverend Frederick Meyrick Meyrick-Jones (14 January 1867 – 25 October 1950), born Frederic Meyrick Jones, was an English clergyman, school teacher and

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 in 18

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 ...

matches between 1887 and 1896 as a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

Early life

Meyrick-Jones was born at Blackheath in what was then part of

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 ...

in 1867, the son of the Reverend George Meyrick-Jones.Frederic Meyrick-Jones

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

. Retrieved 2018-12-09.''Marlborough College Register from 1843 to 1904 Inclusive'', fifth edition, 1905, p.362. Oxford: Horace Hart.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-12-09.) He was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

where he played cricket for the school team as a "hard-hitting batsman" before going 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 ...

.Meyrick-Jones, Rev. Frederic
Obituaries in 1950, ''

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 ...

'', 1951. Retrieve 2018-12-09. He played occasionally for the Gentlemen of Hampshire team and for

Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire 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 Hamp ...

between 1886 and 1890 at a time whilst the county was not considered first-class, and 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 ...

in 1887. He played against the touring Australians in 1888 and won a

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

the same year.Frederic Meyrick-Jones
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2018-12-09. As well as cricket, Meyrick-Jones played

racquets Rackets or racquets is an indoor list of racket sports, racket sport played in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada. It is infrequently called "hard rackets" to distinguish it from the related sport of squash (sport), squash (also cal ...

at school and university, winning the Challenge Cup in 1888.''Marlborough College Register from 1843 to 1933'', eighth edition, 1936, p.303. London: Dean and Son.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-12-09.)

Professional and sporting life

After graduating, Meyrick-Jones was ordained and became a curate and a preparatory school master at Elstree School where he was also

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

until 1896 when he moved to St Agnes Church in

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 ...

, changing his surname from Jones to Meyrick-Jones in 1893. He played occasional first-class matches 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 ...

during this period, making a total of six appearances for the county between 1893 and 1896.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp.384–385.
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.) In 1899 he became the manager of the

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

Mission, a religious mission in the deprived neighbourhood of Notting Dale in

North Kensington North Kensington is an area of west and northwest London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green predominately in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and partly in the London Borough of Brent and City of Westminster. The ...

, West London, aimed at improving conditions for the population of the area.The Rev. F. Meyrick Jones, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 1950-12-20, p.8.Gladstone F (2015
Notting Hill in bygone days
The Underground Map, 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2018-12-09.Corsan J (2009) ''For Poulton and England: The life and times of an Edwardian rugby hero'', p.94. Leicester: Matador.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-12-09.) He served there until 1905, promoting

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

in the area, afterwards moving to Holt in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

where he ran a private school teaching boys classed as "difficult", based from 1909 to 1915 at Voewood just outside the town.Voewood

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

. Retrieved 2018-12-09.Voewood – a "Most interesting house"

High Kelling High Kelling is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. High Kelling is east of Holt and west of Cromer, along the A148 road. History High Kelling's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for th ...

Parish Council, 2011-03-22. Retrieved 2018-12-09.A very rock n roll house
'' The Lady''. Retrieved 2018-12-09. He made a single appearance for

Norfolk County Cricket Club Norfolk County Cricket Club is one of twenty National County Cricket Clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Norfolk. The club is a member of the National Counties Championship ...

in the

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 ...

in 1909. As well as cricket, Meyrick-Jones played racquets, competing in the first Racquets Championships at

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in Barons Court, West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "HSBC Championships" for spo ...

, and was an accomplished billiards player.

Family and later life

Meyrick-Jones married Olive White in 1908, with whom he had one son. He is notable for restoring Woodlands Manor at Mere in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

from 1922, an early attempt to restore a medieval manor house. The house had been in his family since the 18th century and is now a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

.Jeater D (2020) ''County Cricket: Sundry Extras'' (second edition), p.115.
Available online
at the

. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)Woodlands Manor
National Heritage List for England,

. Retrieved 2020-12-21. He died at

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Salisbury and north-northeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hi ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

in 1950 aged 83. His ''

Wisden ''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 ...

'' obituary noted that he had been "an antiquarian of some note".

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyrick-Jones, Frederic 1867 births 1950 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers Cambridge University cricketers People educated at Marlborough College 20th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Norfolk cricketers 19th-century English Anglican priests People from Blackheath, London Cricketers from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Cricketers from the London Borough of Lewisham