Arthur Rex Beale Neame (14 June 1936 – 12 November 2008), known as Rex Neame, was an English amateur

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who worked in the brewing industry. He 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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

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 Ke ...

between 1956 and 1957 as well as for other teams, including MCC and

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Wil ...

and was one of the leading schoolboy sportsmen of the mid-1950s.Rex Neame
CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 September 2018.

Early life

Neame was born at

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2 road (Great Britain), A2, which foll ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

into the Neame family which operated the

Shepherd Neame Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the ...

brewery in the town.A tribute to Rex Neame, ''Master Brewer'', spring 2009, p.20.
Available online
Retrieved 30 September 2018. He was educated at prep school at

Hindhead Hindhead is a village in Surrey, England. It is the highest village in Surrey, with buildings at between 185 and 253 metres above sea level. It is best known as the location of the Devil's Punch Bowl, a beauty spot and site of special scientif ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

before going on to

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

where he captained the cricket team in 1954 and 1955 and was Head Boy in his final year. He captained England at schoolboy level in both cricket and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

and was considered a talented sportsman and described as the "leading all-rounder" in school cricket in 1955.Wellings EM (1956) The Public Schools in 1955, ''

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" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', 1956, p.745.
Available online
Retrieved 30 September 2018.)

Cricket career

Neame made his Kent debut in 1956 and played occasionally for the side as an amateur when he could find the time to be away from the family business. He made a total of 10 first-class appearances, including four for Kent. He played more regularly for the county Second XI and won his Second XI

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. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in 1956.

Work life

In 1959 Neame took over the day to day management of Shepherd Neame's Queen Court Farm at

Ospringe Ospringe is a village and area of Faversham in the English county of Kent. It is also the name of a civil parish, which since 1935 has not included the village of Ospringe. The village lies on the Roman road Watling Street (nowadays the A2 r ...

and in 1961 was appointed to the brewery's board. He left the company in 1967 after his contract was not renewed and worked at

Bulmers Bulmers cider is one of a number of brands owned by British cider maker H. P. Bulmer of Hereford. It is one of the biggest selling British bottled cider brands in the UK because it has the highest concentration of apples, with a number of va ...

and

Marston's Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Ca ...

breweries before running a hotel near

Kinlochbervie Kinlochbervie ( gd, Ceann Loch Biorbhaidh, ) is a scattered harbour village in the north west of Sutherland, in the Highland region of Scotland. It is the most northerly port on the west coast of Scotland. Geography Sandwood Bay, a scenic beac ...

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire ( ...

.Neame Family
Retrieved 30 September 2018.

Later life

After moving to

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

to paint, Neame returned to live in Kent after becoming unwell. He suffered from Alzheimer's disease and died at a nursing home at

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local government ...

in 2008 aged 72.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neame, Rex 1936 births 2008 deaths People educated at Harrow School English cricketers Kent cricketers People from Faversham Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Free Foresters cricketers D. R. Jardine's XI cricketers Cricketers from Kent