Stuart Johnston Symington (16 September 1926 – 11 December 2009) 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 ...

for

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

as an amateur in 1948 and 1949. He was captain of the Leicestershire side in 1949. After little more than a year in full-time cricket, he resumed a career in the Army. He was born at

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish in the Rother District in the county of East Sussex in South East England. It is located along the Sussex Coast and between the towns of Hastings, England, Hastings ...

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, ...

in 1926.

Cricket career

A right-handed middle-order batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler, Symington was educated at

Canford School Canford School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18). Situated in 300 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, south west England, it is one of the largest ...

and played for Leicestershire in wartime matches. He made his first-class debut in a couple of matches in the 1948 season. He took four wickets in his first match against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, and this was followed by scores of 21 and 40 in the second game, which was against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. In 1948, Leicestershire had appointed the professional,

Les Berry George Leslie Berry (28 May 1906 – 5 February 1985) was a cricketer who played for Leicestershire and holds many of the county's first-class batting records. A right-handed batsman who started his career in the middle order but became an op ...

, as captain, only the second appointment of a professional by one of the first-class counties since the 1890s (the previous instance had also been by Leicestershire, when Ewart Astill was appointed captain for the 1935 season). In both 1935 and 1948, the appointment had been necessitated because no amateur was available to lead the team:

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 ...

also reported that "possibly affected by the cares of captaincy", Berry "did not reproduce the form of previous years". For the 1949 season, Symington was offered the captaincy of the county side and accepted, although he had played only two matches at this point. The move was not a success. Though Berry returned to form, the side as a whole played badly, and, having finished in 11th place out of 17 in the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

in 1948, Leicestershire slipped to bottom place in 1949. Under Symington's captaincy, only two matches were won, though there was a third victory late in the season after he had departed. Symington's own record for the season was respectable: he batted mostly at No 6 or No 7, and made 659 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 21.25. There were three scores of more than 50, with the highest being 65, made in the match against Essex at

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. Bowling was the weakness of the Leicestershire side as a whole, and in the absence of alternatives Symington was cast in the role of opening bowler for most of the season. He took only 30 wickets in the season at the high

of 43.73. There was one good bowling day, early in the season: in Leicestershire's first home match, he took five

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

wickets for 45 runs, and this was the only five-wicket innings performance of his career. Symington's departure from Leicestershire appears to have been abrupt. He captained the side in the match against

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 ...

at Blackpool, but that was his last appearance for the team. The former

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

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

all-rounder Gwynn Evans, now a schoolmaster in

, took over as captain for the remaining six matches of the 1949 season. For 1950, Leicestershire recruited the former

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

amateur Charles Palmer as both secretary and captain. Symington did not play first-class cricket again.

After cricket

Symington had been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...

in 1946. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1948 (backdated to November 1947). When he finished with first-class cricket, he resumed his army career as a lieutenant; in 1953, he was promoted to be a captain in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. One of his jobs in the army was to be an aide-de-camp to the governor of the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

. He retired from the regular army in 1958 and joined the Territorial Army, being promoted to major on his retirement from the regular army. He resigned his commission in 1959. Symington joined the family firm of R. and W. H. Symington in

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, close to the border with Northamptonshire. The population was 24,779 at the United Kingdom census, 2021, 2021 census. It is the ad ...

as a director; the company made corsets and its mill is now the site of the

Harborough Museum Harborough Museum was opened in 1983 in the former R & W H Symington corset factory that also houses the Harborough District Council offices in the historic market town of Market Harborough. It is run by a partnership between Leicestershire Cou ...

. In the 1970 general election, he stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative Party candidate for the Leicester North West seat, losing by more than 2,000 votes to the Labour candidate

Greville Janner Greville Ewan Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, (11 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was a British politician, barrister and writer. He became a Labour Party Member of Parliament for Leicester in the 1970 general election as a last-minute ...

. He died at

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Symington, Stuart 1926 births 2009 deaths English cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Leicestershire cricket captains King's Royal Rifle Corps officers People educated at Canford School Sportspeople from Bexhill-on-Sea Cricketers from East Sussex Military personnel from East Sussex 20th-century British Army personnel 20th-century English sportsmen