Tom Caplen (23 November 1879 – 17 April 1945) was an English mining engineer and mine manager who worked extensively in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

and Egypt during the early 20th century. He was also a

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 who played for

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and Cornwall County Cricket Clubs as a right-arm fast bowler in the 1890s.

Early life

Caplen was born at Rusthall near

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

in 1879, the son of Walter and Sarah (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Tribe) Caplen. His father was a school teacher, and Caplen was educated privately at Scotsford House school.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 101–102.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)Moore D (1988) ''The History of Kent County Cricket Club'', p. 242. London: Christopher Helm. Sears JE ed (1922) ''Who's Who in Engineering, 1921–22'', p. 78. Compendium: London.
Available online
at Grace's Guide. Retrieved 2025-03-17.) From 1895 he played cricket for Kent's Second XI, making his debut aged 15 against Middlesex Second XI at

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...

. The following season, aged 16, he took 13 wickets in the same fixture, eight for 39 in Middlesex's first innings and five for 67 in their second.Tom Caplen
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-04-15. After leaving school in 1896, Caplen was apprenticed with the mining engineering company,

Holman Brothers Holman Brothers Ltd. was an English mining equipment manufacturer founded in 1801 based in Camborne. Holman was Camborne's, and indeed Cornwall's largest manufacturer of industrial equipment. Holman played a part in World War II making the Pol ...

Camborne Camborne (from Cornish language, Cornish ''Cambron'', "crooked hill") is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, C ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

.Tom Caplen, Obituaries, ''Transactions of the

Institution of Mining and Metallurgy The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (IMM) was a British research institution, founded in 1892. Members of the Institution used the post-nominals MIMM. In 2002, it merged with The Institute of Materials (IOM) to form the Institute of Materials, ...

'', 1945–46, vol. 54, pp. 562–563.
Availble online
at the Northern Mine Research Society. Retrieved 2025-03-17.) He played his only

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 ...

match the following summer, appearing for Kent against MCC 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 ...

in May 1897. Playing as an amateur, and described as "a right-handed medium paced bowler of Tunbridge Wells",Cricket, '' The Daily News'', 21 May 1897, p. 9,
Available online
at British Library Newspapers via Gale Primary Sources. Retrieved 2025-03-17.) he took two wickets and, batting last in both of Kent's innings, made scores of five

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

and one. The '' Daily News'' reported that he "did not meet with much success" but that he had "a good, easy delivery" and was "given a fair trial" bowling. In Cornwall, Caplen, who was described some years later as "very well-known on the cricket field",Well-known student's wedding, '' The Cornishman'', 5 April 1906, p. 7.
Available online
at Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2025-03-18.) played club cricket for Camborne. He was regarded as one of the best fast bowlers in the county,Cricket, '' The Cornishman'', 2 August 1900, p. 3.
Available online
at British Library Newspapers via Gale Primary Sources. Retrieved 2025-03-19.) and made one

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

appearance for Cornwall in 1898, taking three wickets against

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 ...

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

. Following his three-year apprenticeship, he enrolled at the

Camborne School of Mines Camborne School of Mines (), commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment. It has undergraduate, postg ...

. He played other cricket matches for Cornwall during his time in the county, and made one further appearance for Kent Second XI, taking five wickets against Sussex Second XI in an 1899 match at

. During the same summer he took ten wickets in an innings for Tunbridge Wells Cricket Club in a club match, and in 1900 was Cornwall's leading wicket-taker, with 44 wickets. His club performances in 1900 included six wickets for four runs against St Ives, including four wickets taken in successive balls, ten wickets across two innings for a total of four runs, including another

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...

, against

Leedstown Leedstown is a village on the B3280 road between Helston and Hayle, in the civil parish of Crowan (where the 2011 census population is included), Cornwall, England. It lies northwest of Helston and southeast of Hayle, at an elevation of above ...

District, seven wickets against Falmouth, including a hat trick in the first over of the innings, and five wickets for 14 runs against Truro College. After he graduated in 1900, Caplen left the county, '' The Cornishman'' considering that he would be "greatly missed", having done "yeoman service" for Camborne. He spent some time as an assayer in London and played some cricket for Tunbridge Wells, taking 12 wickets in a match against Hastings in 1901, before taking up a position as an assistant manager at the Vizianagram Mining Company in India.

Professional life

In India Caplen was initially responsible for assaying manganese ore, working in the Vizagapatam district of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

. Later in 1902 he played a cricket match for the Madras Presidency team against the touring Oxford University Authentics side, although the demand of his job soon led to him being unable to continue to play much cricket in India. Caplen was soon promoted to acting manager of the company, and in 1904 became its general manager, a post he held until 1915. He was elected as an Associate of the

in 1906, managing a series of three mines.Camborne School of Mines Graduates – C
Northern Mine Research Society. Retrieved 2025-03-17. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1915, and during

World War I 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 ...

worked 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 ...

as an inspector. He resigned from the ministry in 1920, and later the same year was employed as Director of Work by the British government in Egypt, involved in oil exploration in the country based at the Department of Mines at Port Tewfik. Following the

Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence The Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence on 28 February 1922 was the formal legal instrument by which the United Kingdom recognised Egypt as an independent sovereign state. Background The status of Egypt had become highly convoluted ...

in February 1922, Caplen left Egypt. In 1923 he toured India, working as a consultant for Holman Brothers, before spending time working in Turkey and West Africa in 1926 and 1927. In 1927, Caplen rejoined the Vizianagram Mining Company. He worked as the company's general manager for another ten years before returning to England. He remained a director of the company.

Personal life

Caplen married Irene O'Donoghue at Vizianagram in 1906, and in 1910 the couple had a son. The family lived at

Coonoor Coonoor (), is a taluk and a municipal town of the Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 45,494. The town sits at the south-east corner of the Nilgiri plateau, and at the head of the Coonoo ...

. Caplen died suddenly at

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

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 1945 aged 65.Tom Caplen

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 2017-04-15.Obituaries, ''History of Kent County Cricket – Appendix G, 1924–1945''. Canterbury:

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 ...

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caplen, Tom 1879 births 1945 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers Cornwall cricketers