George Harris, 4th Baron Harris
Encyclopedia : G : GE : GEO : George Harris, 4th Baron Harris
- "Lord Harris" redirects here. For , see Lord Harris (disambiguation).
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Lord Harris England (Eng) | ||
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| Batsman>Batting style | Right-handed batsman (RHB) | |
| Types of bowlers in cricket>Bowling type | n/a | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 4 | 224 |
| '''Runs scored | 145 | 9990 |
| Batting average | 29.0 | 26.85 |
| 100s/50s | 0/1 | 11/55 |
| Top score | 52 | 176 |
| Balls bowled | 32 | 3446 |
| Wickets | 0 | 75 |
| Bowling average | n/a | 23.44 |
| 5 Wicket>wickets in innings | 0 | 1 |
| 10 Wicket>wickets in match | 0 | 0 |
| Best bowling | n/a | 5/57 |
| Catches/Stump (cricket)#Manner of dismissing a batsman>stumpings | 2/0 | 190/0 |
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Test debut: 2 January, 1879 Last Test: 13 August, 1884 Source: [link] | ||
He was born in Trinidad when his father, George Harris, 3rd Baron Harris, was serving as Governor there, then moved to Madras when his father was posted to the governorship there. At the age of 13, the young Harris was sent to Eton to finish his education.
Cricket Career
Lord Harris was the second-ever captain of the English cricket team. He also played for Kent and Oxford University. He won two of his four Tests as English captain, losing one and drawing the other.In 1878-1879, Harris led a touring England side to Australia. They played one Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground – the third Test ever played. Australia, led by Dave Gregory, won by 10 wickets. Later in the tour, a match against New South Wales led to the Sydney Riot of 1879 when an umpire employed by the English team made a decision against the locals.
Harris led England against Australia on three further occasions:
- 1880 at The Oval – England won by 5 wickets.
- 1884 at Lord's – England win by an innings and 5 runs.
- 1884 at The Oval – Drawn.
Political career
Lord Harris served in the House of Lords as Under-Secretary of State for India from 25 June, 1885, then as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for War from 4 August, 1886 to 1890 in the Conservative Government.He served as Governor of the Presidency of Bombay in British India from 1890 to 1894. His appointment was not universally well regarded, with one anonymous writer penning a poem expressing the hope that Bombay would not suffer too greatly from Harris' political inexperience.
His governorship was notable mainly for his enthusiastic pursual of the sport of cricket amongst his fellow Europeans in the colony, at the expense of connecting with the native population. When the interracial Bombay riots of 1893 broke out, Harris was out of the city at Ganeshkind enjoying cricket matches. He returned to Bombay only on the ninth day of rioting, and then primarily to attend a cricket match there.
Many later writers credited Harris with almost single-handedly introducing and developing the sport in India. The game was, however, well established among the natives before his arrival. Furthermore, in 1890, he rejected a petition signed by over 1,000 locals to relocate European polo players to another ground so that the locals could use the area for cricket matches. It was only in 1892 that he granted a parcel of land to the newly formed Mahomedan Gymkhana for a cricket field, adjacent to land already used by the Parsi Gymkhana. His reluctance to do so is evident in his written comment:
- I don't see how we can refuse these applicants; but I will steadfastly refuse any more grants once a Gymkhana has been established under respectable auspices by each nationality, and tell applicants that ground having been set apart for their nationality they are free to take advantage of it by joining that particular club.
- Never during the last hundred years has a Governor of Bombay been so sternly criticised and never has he met with such widespread unpopularity on account of his administration as Lord Harris.
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See also
Reference
- A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport, Ramachandra Guha, Picador, 2002.
External links
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