Alan Theodore Barber (17 June 1905 – 10 March 1985) was an English amateur first-class cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1929 to 1930.[1] He also played for Oxford University, and appeared in a total of 70 first-class matches.[2]
 Alan Barber (right) with his parents after a game as captain of Oxford University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alan Theodore Barber | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | June 17, 1905 Ecclesall, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 10 March 1985 (aged 79) Ludgrove, Wokingham, Berkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1927–1929 | Oxford University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1929–1930 | Yorkshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 18 May 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Origins edit
Barber was born in Ecclesall, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, one of the five children of Bertram Tizley Barber,[3] of Palmer's Green,[4] Middlesex, a partner in Turnbull Gibson & Co, ship and insurance brokers in the City of London,[5] by his wife Kathleen Harper.[6]
Education edit
Barber was educated at Shrewsbury School and The Queen's College, Oxford.[7]
Career edit
Cricket edit
Barber played in 27 cricket matches for Oxford University between 1927 and 1929, and in 42 for Yorkshire. Barber was captain of Oxford in 1929 and of Yorkshire in 1930, and was awarded his county cap the same season. He was a double blue in golf and cricket.[8]
He scored two hundreds, both in 1929: 119 against Nottinghamshire for Oxford,[9] and 100 for Yorkshire against an England XI a few weeks later.[10] He scored 2,261 runs, at an average of 23.30, took 52 catches, and bowled one maiden over.
After one year as Yorkshire's captain, in which he brought order to the team and prepared the way for Yorkshire's dominance in the 1930s, Barber left cricket in his mid-twenties to pursue a career in teaching.[11]
Eton Fives edit
In Eton Fives Barber won the Kinnaird Cup in 1934 and in 1936, together with team-mate Desmond Backhouse. "After the war he played briefly with Charlie Sheepshanks in a partnership which displayed, more than any other perhaps, the skills and beauty of the game. He was a very fine player until well into his fifties" (Eton Fives Association, Obituary of Alan Barber).[12] In 1950 Barber became chairman of the Eton Fives Association, having replaced John Peterson who had become Headmaster of Shrewsbury School. In 1973 he became president of the EFA, replacing Lord Hume, former Prime Minister and Old Ludgrovian.[13] "While recognising that wider interest was beneficial, even vital, to the game, he, conservative to some, was determined that Eton Fives should avoid the pitfalls into which so many other sports had fallen and that the spirit of the game should far outweigh the confines of petty legislation" (Eton Fives Association, Obituary of Alan Barber).[14]
Schoolmaster edit
He was headmaster of Ludgrove School from 1937 to 1973, of which his wife's maternal uncle the renown footballer William John Oakley (1873-1934), had previously served as joint head-master.
[7] He died, aged 79, at Ludgrove, Wokingham, Berkshire, England, in March 1985.[2]
Marriage and issue edit
Alan married Dorothy Elizabeth Shaw (born 1906), a daughter of Thomas Shaw of High Ercall, Shropshire, by his wife Elizabeth Gardner Oakley, a sister of the renown footballer William John Oakley (1873-1934), Captain of the England football team and joint head-master of Ludgrove School (then at Cockfosters Hertfordshire). [15] By his wife Dorothy he had issue including:
- Gerald Barber, who succeeded his father as head master of Ludgrove School (jointly with Nichol Marsden), who was in turn succeeded as headmaster by his son Simon Barber.
- Elizabeth Theodora Barber,[16] who married ... Snow, whose sons include Julian Snow (born 1964) the champion amateur real tennis player, who was educated at Ludgrove, where his sporting prowess was encouraged by his grandfather and uncle.[17]
References edit
- ^ Warner, David (2011). The Yorkshire County Cricket Club: 2011 Yearbook (113th ed.). Ilkley, Yorkshire: Great Northern Books. p. 363. ISBN 978-1-905080-85-4.
- ^ a b "Alan Barber". Espncricinfo.com. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
- ^ Biographical details of Bertram Harold Barber, brother of Alan Theodore Barber, www.ancestry.co.uk
- ^ Bertram Tizley Barber of Cheddon, Hedge Lane, Palmer's Green, Middlesex (Address: "Street Directory 1912-13" [1])
- ^ Dissolution of partnership notice, The London Gazette, 5 July 1932, p.4413: "Notice is hereby given that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us, the undersigned, 'Charles Archibald Gibson McLagan, Llewellyn George Petty-Mayor, Bertram Tizley Barber and William Henry Long, carrying on business as Ship and Insurance Brokers, at 21, Bury Street, St. Mary Axe, London, E.O., under the style or firm of TURNBULL GIBSON & CO., ...."[2]
- ^ Biographical details of Bertram Harold Barber, brother of Alan Theodore Barber, www.ancestry.co.uk
- ^ a b BARBER, Alan Theodore, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)
- ^ Wisden 1986, p. 1206.
- ^ "Oxford University v Nottinghamshire 1929". CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ "Yorkshire v England XI 1929". CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ Wellings, E. M. (14 November 2006). "Unthanked captains". Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ Eton Fives Association, Obituary of Alan Barber[3]
- ^ Eton Fives Association, Obituary of Alan Barber[4]
- ^ Eton Fives Association, Obituary of Alan Barber[5]
- ^ "Grigg/".
- ^ Biographical details of Bertram Harold Barber, brother of Alan Theodore Barber, www.ancestry.co.uk
- ^ Barber, Richard (2004). The Story of Ludgrove. Oxford: Guidon Publishing. p. 241