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English
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England
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Eng
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Lord Harris
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Cricket_no_picpng
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Right-handed batsman (RHB)
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n/a
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4
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| |
145
|
| |
290
|
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0/1
|
| |
52
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32
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0
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n/a
|
| |
0
|
| |
0
|
| |
n/a
|
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2/0
|
| |
224
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| |
9990
|
| |
2685
|
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11/55
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176
|
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3446
|
| |
75
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| |
2344
|
| |
1
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0
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| |
5/57
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| |
190/0
|
| |
2 January
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1879
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13 August
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1884
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(born St Anne's,
Trinidad 3 February 1851 , died
24 March 1932 in
Faversham, Kent ) was a
British politician and
Cricket player. He succeeded to his title in
1872 , before which he was known as '''The Honourable George Harris'''.
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.
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.
Following his political career, he also served as president of the
Marylebone Cricket Club , and later the
International Cricket Council .
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:
is in the Harris Garden at Lord's]]
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.
When Harris left India, a publisher circulated a collection of newspaper extracts from his time as governor. The introduction stated:
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.
On his return to England, Harris again served in the Conservative Government, as a
Lord In Waiting , from
16 July ,
1895 to
4 December ,
1900 .
- ''A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport'', Ramachandra Guha, Picador, 2002.
