George Vernon (cricketer)

George Vernon
	George Vernon
Personal information
Born	20 June 1856; Marylebone, London, England
Died	10 August 1902 (aged 46); Elmina, Gold Coast (now Ghana)
Batting	Right-handed batsman
Bowling	underarm slow
International information
National side	English;
Career statistics
	Source: [1]

George Frederick Vernon (20 June 1856 – 10 August 1902) was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club. He also played one Test match for England during the first-ever Ashes tour in 1882-83.

Vernon was the son of George Vernon of 32 Montagu Square. He was educated at Rugby School and later went on to play 103 first-class games for Middlesex. Besides the 1882-83 tour, he also toured Australia in 1887-88.

Vernon toured India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1889-90 as the leader of a team of amateurs, of which the other notable player was Lord Hawke. The other players could not really be said to be first-class, but the team was of a quality much higher than any seen in India at that time. This was the first ever tour by a foreign team to India. They won seven games and drew another before they were due to play the Parsi Gymkhana of Bombay (now Mumbai) on 30 January 1890, just after that great cricket stalwart, Lord Harris, had been named as the next Governor of the Bombay Presidency. The match was billed as being for the "Cricket Championship of India". At the time it was the greatest sporting event to have happened in Bombay, and to the astonishment of the British rulers, the Parsi side won.

Vernon toured India again in 1892-93 as part of a team led by Lord Hawke that also lost to the Parsis. His last first-class game, which was for the Marylebone Cricket Club came in 1898.

He represented the England national rugby union team as a forward on five occasions.

By profession Vernon was a barrister, who was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple. He died aged 46 of malarial fever in the Gold Coast (now Ghana).

References

Brief profile of G.F.Vernon by Don Ambrose
A Corner of a Foreign Field, the Indian History of a British Sport by Ramachandra Guha ISBN 0-330-49117-2
CricketArchive page on George Vernon
Cricinfo page on George Vernon
Scrum: George Vernon