Alfred Lubbock

Alfred Lubbock (31 October 1845 – 17 July 1916) was an English insurance underwriter and banker. He is best known as an amateur cricketer who played in first-class matches for several teams, including Kent and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) between 1863 and 1875. He was considered to be one of the best batsmen of his time. He also played football for Old Etonians, and took part in the 1875 FA Cup Final.

Early life Lubbock was born in London in 1845, the seventh son of Sir John Lubbock. One of 15 children of Sir John and his wife Lady Harriet Lubbock, he was educated at Eton College. Lubbock was a fine sportsman, playing lawn tennis and excelling at the Eton wall game as well as playing cricket, captaining the school team in 1863. In his Wisden obituary Sydney Pardon argued that, given the relatively low scoring nature of cricket in the 1860s, Lubbock had a claim to have had one of the best season's batting for the school,

Cricket career Lubbock made his first-class cricket debut for Kent during Canterbury Cricket Week in 1863, playing against England. He played a total of 28 first-class matches for a number of teams, including Gentlemen of Kent and MCC, until "practically giving up" first-class cricket before the age of 28 in 1871. the Gentlemen of West Kent, Band of Brothers, and I Zingari.

Athletics Lubbock was a keen athlete and participated in various events, including the early days of the pole vault (known as the pole jump at the time). He finished third in the pole vault event at the 1868 AAC Championships.

Family and later life Two of Lubbock's brothers, Nevile and Edgar also played some first-class cricket for Kent and most of his brothers played cricket for the Gentlemen of West Kent at some point. Edgar played in the 1875 FA Cup Final replay alongside Alfred for Old Etonians, the first time that two brothers had appeared for the same team in an FA Cup Final. He married Louisa Wallwroth in 1875. The couple had five children, including the author Basil Lubbock. He died at Killmarth Manor at Par, Cornwall in 1916 aged 70.

Reminiscences Lubbock's snobbish and anti-intellectual book Memories of Eton and Etonians: Including My Life at Eton, 1854-1863, and Some Reminiscences of Subsequent Cricket, 1864-1874, was notable for the uncommonly scathing reviews it received upon publication. The Spectator termed it 'squalid', writing: "these long-winded and uninteresting reminiscences...[are] out of date: it represents the most commonplace view of a somewhat barbarous period of Eton life." The Saturday Review termed it 'depressing' and 'illiterate', saying: "The book in fact reads like the table talk of an egoistic man of limited intellect, whose mental development was arrested at an early age."