Sir Home Seton Charles Montagu Gordon, 12th Baronet Gordon of

Embo Embo or EMBO may refer to: *Embo, Taguig, a grouping of barangays in Taguig, Philippines * Embo (''Star Wars''), a ''Star Wars'' fictional character *Embo S.p.A., an Italian automotive manufacturer *Embo, Sutherland, a village in Highland, Scotland ...

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

(30 September 1871 – 9 September 1956 at

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rotting ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

) was a journalist and author who was best known for his writing on

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 ...

. He contributed regularly to the magazine ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county, club and schools cricket. Overview The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cric ...

'' as well as writing numerous books on the subject.

Life and career

After completing his schooling at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

in 1887, he became a journalist and writer and subsequently a publisher, at one time being the sole proprietor of Williams & Norgate Ltd. In addition to his own books, he contributed to annuals for county cricket clubs and also wrote for the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''.Haigh, p. 66. He was known on cricket grounds all over the country, recognisable by the red carnation that he always wore. His memories of cricket went back as far as 1878, when as a small boy he was taken to the Gentlemen of England v. the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

match at

Prince's Cricket Ground Prince's Cricket Ground in Chelsea, London was a cricket ground, created by the brothers George and James Prince as part of the Prince's Club, on which 37 first-class matches were played between 1872 and 1878. The ground was built on in 1883. Th ...

. He first went to

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 1880, when he met

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English cricketer who is widely considered one of the sport's all-time greatest players. Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class career spanned a record-equalling 4 ...

. Later that season he watched the first Test match to be played in England, at

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

. He attended no fewer than seventy of the annual Oxford v. Cambridge games. He watched every Test match at Lord's from the first one in 1884 to the one in 1956, shortly before he died. He was an enthusiastic statistician but a somewhat inaccurate one, a fact noted by

Plum Warner Sir Pelham Francis Warner, (2 October 1873 – 30 January 1963), affectionately and better known as Plum Warner or "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket, was a Test cricketer and cricket administrator. He was knighted for services to sport ...

in Sir Home's obituary in ''

''. He was friends with such great figures of the game as

K. S. Ranjitsinhji Colonel Kumar Sri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was an Indian cricketer who later became ruler of his native Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 ...

, with whom he drove in a silver coach to the

Delhi Durbar The Delhi Durbar ( lit. "Court of Delhi") was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by Britain at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was he ...

Lord Hawke Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke (16 August 1860 – 10 October 1938), generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer active from 1881 to 1911 who played for Yorkshire and England. He was born in Willingham by Stow, near ...

and

Lord Harris Colonel George Robert Canning Harris, 4th Baron Harris, (3February 185124March 1932), generally known as Lord Harris, was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Bombay, best known for developing cricket administration via Marylebone ...

. He collaborated with the latter two in editing 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 ...

's (MCC) ''Memorial Biography'' of W. G. Grace. He was the inaugural President of the London Club Cricket Conference from 1915 to 1919,"Sir Home Gordon", ''

'', Annual 1956-57, pp. 532–33. chairman of the Sports Conference in 1919, and held practically every honorary position for

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, ...

, being their President in 1948. When young he played for MCC amateur sides, but never 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 ...

. However, for his services to Sussex, he was given a county

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, an old one belonging to A. E. R. Gilligan. Outside cricket, he held a post at the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

in 1918 and was a member of the Committee of National Alliance of Employers and Employed from 1918 to 1919. Gordon succeeded to the

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

cy when his father died in 1906.

Family

Gordon married, firstly, in 1897, Edith Susan Leeson-Marshall (died 1945), daughter of Richard John Leeson-Marshall, of Callinafercy House,

Co. Kerry County Kerry () is a county on the southwest coast of Ireland, within the province of Munster and the Southern Region. It is bordered by two other counties; Limerick to the east, and Cork to the south and east. It is separated from Clare to th ...

. He married, secondly, in 1953, Katharine Hornsby, daughter of John Hornsby of

. As Gordon had no children from either of his two marriages, the title, created by King Charles I in 1631, became extinct with his death.Haigh, p. 67.

References

Sources

* Haigh, G. (ed.) (2006) ''Peter the Lord's Cat'', Aurum Books: London. .

Bibliography

* ''Initiation Into Literature'',

Émile Faguet Auguste Émile Faguet (; 17 December 18477 June 1916) was a French author and literary critic. Biography Faguet was born at La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, and educated at the École normale supérieure in Paris. After teaching for some time in La ...

& Sir Home Gordon (translator), Williams And Norgate (London), 1912. * ''The Memorial Biography of Dr.

'',

, Sir Home Gordon - eds., Constable, 1919. * ''That Test Match'', Duckworth & Co, 1921 (a novel). * ''Cricket Form at a Glance in This Century'', Duckworth, 1924. * ''Eton v. Harrow at Lord's'', Sir Home Gordon (ed.),

Bernard Darwin Bernard Richard Meirion Darwin CBE JP (7 September 1876 − 18 October 1961) was a golf writer and high-standard amateur golfer. A grandson of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Biography B ...

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (3 August 186714 December 1947), was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was prominent in the political leadership of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime ministe ...

(intro.), Williams and Norgate, 1926. * ''Cricket Form at a Glance for Sixty Years: 1878-1937'', Arthur Barker Ltd. (London), 1938. * ''Background of Cricket'', Arthur Baker Ltd. (London), 1939. * ''Sussex County Cricket'', Convoy Publications, 1950.

External links

Obituary in ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1957 edition
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Sir Home 1871 births 1956 deaths Nobility from Highland (council area)

512 __NOTOC__ Year 512 ( DXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paulus and Moschianus (or, less frequently, year 1265 ''Ab urbe condita''). The deno ...