Alfred du Cane

Alfred Richard du Cane (2 April 1835 – 19 October 1882) was an English clergyman and a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University Cricket Club and other amateur sides in 1854 and 1855. He was born at Southampton in Hampshire and died at St John's Wood, London.

Du Cane was the fourth son of a Royal Navy officer and part of the Du Cane family that owned Braxted Park in Essex. His older brother was Charles du Cane, a politician and colonial administrator who also played first-class cricket.

Du Cane was educated at Harrow School and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was then picked for Cambridge side in the 1854 University Match against Oxford University, where he took three wickets, although Oxford won the game by an innings. After the University Match, he played a single game for the Gentlemen of England side, and in 1855, in addition to playing again for Cambridge University – including a second appearance in the University Match – he also turned out for MCC and for the Gentlemen of England, though he did not improve on his bowling performance from his second game. He did not play any further first-class cricket after the 1855 season.

Du Cane graduated from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1857; this converted to a Master of Arts in 1860. He was ordained as a Church of England deacon in 1858 and as a priest the following year, and then served in parishes in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Sussex and Warwickshire before becoming vicar of Willingale Doe, Essex from 1874 to his death in 1882 at the age of 47.