George Mortimer Kelson (8 December 1835 – 29 March 1920) 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, sport angler, and self-promotional author who played 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 19th century.

Biography

Kelson was born 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 ...

in 1835 to George and Charlotte Louisa Rich (1811-1848).George Kelson

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 2018-02-27. His father was a doctor and Kelson's early life was "comfortable".Land and Water
Kent Cricket Heritage Trust, 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2018-12-13.

Cricket

Kelson made his

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 ...

debut for Kent in July 1859 in a county match 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, ...

, going on to become a key member of the Kent side of the 1860s.Death Of Mr. G. M. Kelson, ''

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 ...

'', 1920-04-03, p.5.Kelson, Mr George Mortimer
Obituaries in 1920, ''

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 ...

'', 1921. Retrieved 2018-02-27.George Kelson
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2018-02-27. He was described in ''

'' and 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 as having been "beyond question the best bat in the Kent eleven" at a time when the best Kentish players would not play regularly for the county side. When batting he was described as "a fine punishing player with a free attractive style" and as "a brilliant field and a fairly good change bowler". He played 69 times for Kent, scoring 1,810 runs and taking 41 wickets for the county side which he captained occasionally. His only century came against

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 ...

in 1863. As well as playing for Kent, Kelson also appeared a number of times of the amateur Gentlemen of Kent side as well as playing for the

Gentlemen against the Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of cricket matches that began in July 1806 and was abolished in January 1963. It was a match between a team consisting of amateurs (the Gentlemen) and a team consisting of professionals (the Players ...

and for England sides during the 1860s. He played his final first-class match in 1873.

Fly fishing and tying

Away from cricket, Kelson was described as a "great fisherman" a "a great horseman, shot, (and) pigeon-racer".Herd A (2011
Terry Griffiths (ed) - The Essential Kelson: A Fly-tyer’s Compendium
Book Review, Fishing Book Reviews. Retrieved 2017-02-27. He was the fishing editor of '' Land and Water'' and wrote widely on the subject, authoring a number of books including ''

The Salmon Fly ''The Salmon Fly'' - ''How to Dress It and How to Use It'' is a fly fishing book written by George M. Kelson published in London in 1895 by Messers. Wyman & Sons, Limited. This Victorian guide to fly fish tying built up the illusion that angli ...

'', considered an important work on salmon fliesJackson A (1980) Salmon Systematics - A review of Two Editions of George Kelson's Monumental Book on Salmon Flies and Salmon Fishing, '' The American Fly Fisher'' vol. 7, no. 3 (Summer 1980), pp.24–28. by some and by some others as developing a pseudoscience around angling with flies.Hellekson T (2005) ''Fish Flies: The Encyclopedia of the Fly Tier's Art'', pp.604–605. Gibbs Smith. He promoted the sales of fishing gear including an angling cabinet and Jock Scott fishing flies. He made use of the feathers of exotic birds such as toucans, grey junglefowl, turacos, Nankeen night heron and golden pheasant and created designs with fanciful names like "Phoebus", "The Black Prince", and the "Black Riach". He produced promotional chromolithograph cards of his decorated fish flies as part of a series of articles for ''Land and Water''. Robert Bright Marston, the editor of ''Fishing Gazette'' invited Kelson to write in 1883. Kelson moved to write in the competing periodical ''Land and Water'' from 1885. When Kelson published his book in 1896, Marston was one of the few to give a bad review to the book. Marston noted that meticulous tying of fish flies was not really a necessity. A new edition of his work, ''The Essential Kelson'', was published in 2011.Joergensen M (2011
The Essential Kelson
Book Review, Global Fly Fisher. Retrieved 2018-02-27. His book on salmon flies influenced a major theft in 2009 of numerous invaluable bird specimens held in the Natural History Museum at Tring. Kelson died at

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...

in the

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a London boroughs, borough in southwest London. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Chessington, Malden Rushett, New Malden, Surbiton and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the four List ...

in 1920 aged 85.

References

External links

*
Kelson chromolithographed cards

Victorian Salmon Flies

Biographical information
1835 births 1920 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers Gentlemen of Kent cricketers Non-international England cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Gentlemen of the South cricketers Surrey Club cricketers Married v Single cricketers Cricketers from Sevenoaks {{England-cricket-bio-1830s-stub