Sir Timothy Carew O'Brien, 3rd Baronet (5 November 1861 – 9 December 1948) was an Irish

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 ...

who played

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 ...

for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in five Test matches.

Life and career

Tim O'Brien was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and educated at the Catholic school Downside in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

.'' Wisden'' 1949, pp. 867–68. He went to New Inn Hall,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, principally in order to further his cricket career. A forceful right-handed batsman, O'Brien 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 ...

in 1884 and 1885. He went on to play 266

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 as an amateur for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and in fairly regular appearances for

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 ...

through to 1898. His 92 for Oxford against the 1884

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 ...

was instrumental in the university's only victory over an Australian team. He played for England against Australia at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

that year and again four years later at

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 ...

, but in neither game did his distinguish himself. He toured with

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) teams twice: in 1887–88 he went with George Vernon to Australia and in 1895–96 he went with Lord Hawke's side to South Africa, where he acted as captain once against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

in February 1896, winning the game largely as a result of George Lohmann's match return of 15/45 (7/38 and 8/7). In county cricket, he was known for hard hitting innings, with a highest score of 202, scored as part of a partnership with Robert Slade Lucas that put on 338 in 200 minutes against Sussex in 1895. Uniquely, O'Brien captained Ireland as well as England, recording a top score of 167 against his alma mater for the country of his birth during a brief Irish tour of England. This remained an Irish record until 1973. O'Brien married Gundrede Annette Teresa de Trafford, daughter of Sir Humphrey de Trafford 2nd baronet on 26 September 1885 at All Saints Church, Barton-upon-Irwell and they had 10 children, one of whom, Timothy Jnr., died in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Another child, daughter

Sicele O'Brien Sicele O'Brien (1 April 1887 – 18 June 1931) was one of Ireland's pioneering pilots. She was one of three women who raced and set records in Europe and Africa in the 1920s. She was the second woman in Britain or Ireland to get a commercial pi ...

was a well known pioneer pilot. Sir Timothy was, at the time of his death in 1948, the oldest cricketer to have played in England-Australia Tests. His brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

also played international cricket for Ireland.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Tim, 3rd Baronet 1861 births 1948 deaths People educated at Downside School Alumni of New Inn Hall, Oxford Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom England Test cricket captains Free Foresters cricketers Middlesex cricketers Oxford University cricketers Cricketers from Dublin (city) I Zingari cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Lord Hawke's XI cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers Lyric Club cricketers A. J. Webbe's XI cricketers L. G. Robinson's XI cricketers Earl De La Warr's XI cricketers W. G. Grace's XI cricketers England Test cricketers Irish cricketers Irish knights