Cecil Geoffrey Howard (14 February 1909 – 8 November 2002) was an English

cricketer 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 ...

and cricket administrator.

Early life

Geoffrey Howard was born in

Hampstead Garden Suburb Hampstead Garden Suburb is a suburb of London, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations. It is an example of early twentieth-century ...

, a grandson of

Sir Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in wh ...

, a founder of the

Garden City Movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...

, who taught him a respect for people and a love for cricket. He was educated at the

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

. He is related to the dancer and television actress

Una Stubbs Una Stubbs (1 May 1937 – 12 August 2021) was a British actress, television personality, and dancer who appeared on British television, in the theatre, and occasionally in films. She became known after appearing in the film '' Summer Holiday'' ...

, his niece, and her son the television and film score composer

Christian Henson Christian Henson is a British composer, primarily working on television and film soundtracks. He has also soundtracked video games, and is the co-founder of Spitfire Audio with fellow composer Paul Thomson. Henson has been nominated for a BAFTA ...

Career

As a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper, he represented

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 three first-class matches in 1930, whilst on annual leave from the bank for which he worked. He played for the Private Banks XI from 1926 to 1936 and for the RAF during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when he once made a century before lunch. Howard was an enlightened administrator and a popular tour manager. He was Secretary of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

(1949 to 1965) and

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 ...

(1965 to 1975) and managed three

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) touring teams in Australia and the Indian sub-continent. The

English cricket team in Australia in 1954–55 Len Hutton captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1954–55, playing as England against Australian cricket team in Australia in 1954-55, Australia in the 1954–55 Ashes series and as the Marylebone Cricket Club, MCC in MCC tour of Au ...

of Australia was the focal point of his rich and varied life, with England winning a series in Australia for the first time since

Bodyline Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their English cricket team in Australia in 1932–33, 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia. It was designed to combat the extraordinar ...

in 1932–33. The

English cricket team in Pakistan in 1955–56 An English cricket team sponsored by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) visited Dominion of Pakistan, Pakistan from December 1955 to February 1956 and played fourteen first-class cricket, first-class matches including four against the Pakistan nation ...

was marred by an incident, when several of the England cricketers doused the umpire Idris Baig with a bucket of water and as a result a major controversy broke out. The background included Baig telling Howard, "You must understand ... that a lot of the crowd come to watch me umpire", and that same day reportedly giving three dubious LBWs against England, and turning down a certain one of their own. It took a sincere apology by MCC president, Field Marshal Alexander of Tunis to his former military colleague and counterpart at the Pakistani board,

Iskander Mirza Iskander Ali Mirza (13 November 189913 November 1969) was a Bengali politician, statesman and military general who served as the Dominion of Pakistan's fourth and last governor-general of Pakistan from 1955 to 1956, and then as the Islamic Repub ...

, to prevent the tour being called off. Howard stayed active in retirement and was President of Surrey in 1989. He collaborated with the author

Stephen Chalke Stephen Chalke (born 5 June 1948) is an English author and publisher, particularly of books on cricket and cricketers. Chalke was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire. He has two undergraduate degrees – one in Drama, English and Philosophy, the oth ...

on the award-winning book ''At the Heart of English Cricket'' in 2001,''At the Heart of English Cricket: The Life and Memories of Geoffrey Howard'' (2001, ) which won the

Cricket Society The Cricket Society is a charitable organisation founded in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has ov ...

Jubilee Prize in 2002. He died in

Minchinhampton Minchinhampton is a Cotswold Hills, Cotswolds market town and a civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, South West England. The town is located on a hilltop, south-east of Stroud. The common offers wide views over the Severn Est ...

, aged 93.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Geoffrey 1909 births 2002 deaths English cricket administrators English cricketers Middlesex cricketers Presidents of Surrey County Cricket Club People educated at University College School People from Minchinhampton Cricketers from Gloucestershire 20th-century English sportsmen