Charles Thornhill (1814 – 31 August 1881) was an English cricketer who played in six matches for Cambridge University that have since been judged to have been first-class.[1][2] He was born at Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire and died at Milestown, Castlebellingham, County Louth, Ireland. His precise date of birth is not known.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Charles Thornhill | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 1814 Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire, England | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 31 August 1881 (aged 66/67) Castlebellingham, Ireland | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Unknown | ||||||||||||||
| Relations | George Thornhill (brother) John Thornhill (brother) | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1837–1840 | Cambridge University | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Source: Cricinfo, 25 January 2023 | |||||||||||||||
Thornhill was the son of George Thornhill, a Huntingdonshire landowner who became Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire from 1837 to his death in 1852.[3] He was educated at Eton College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. As a cricketer, he played as a middle-order batsman, though it is not known if he was right- or left-handed.[1] He appeared for Cambridge University in one or two matches each season from 1837 to 1840 and he made, by the standards of the time, some good scores: against the Cambridge Town Club in 1838, for instance, he top-scored with 32 out of a total of 99 in the first innings.[4] But he was not picked for the Cambridge side in the University Match against Oxford University in any of his last three seasons, and therefore never won a Blue.
Thornhill graduated from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1841, and this converted to a Master of Arts in 1845.[3] His post-Cambridge career is not clear: in the directory of Cambridge alumni, he is cited as formerly a captain in the 14th King's Light Dragoons, but it also states that after graduation, when that regiment was sent on a 20-year tour of duty in India, Thornhill was ordained into the Church of England as a deacon, serving as curate at Wark on Tyne in 1842 and 1843.[3] At his death in 1881 in Ireland, he was noted in a newspaper as having been formerly the vicar of Burwell, Cambridgeshire.[5]
Several of his family were also cricketers: his brother George Thornhill played in first-class matches for Cambridge University, while another brother John appeared twice in first-class games for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC); other brothers, and George's three sons, played in minor matches.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c "Charles Thornhill". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ "Charles Thornhill". www.espncricinfo.com. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ a b c J. Venn and J. A. Venn. "Alumni Cantabrigienses: Charles Thornhill". p. 173. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ "Scorecard: Cambridge Town Club v Cambridge University". www.cricketarchive.com. 21 May 1838. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ^ "Cambridge: Died". Bury and Norwich Post/British Newspaper Archive. Bury St Edmunds and Norwich. 13 September 1881. p. 7.