Henry Murray-Anderdon

Henry Edward Murray-Anderdon (8 December 1848 – 11 December 1922) was a cricket administrator who served as the secretary and guiding spirit in the early days of Somerset County Cricket Club and later as the club president.

Murray-Anderdon became honorary secretary of Somerset after the club had fallen out of first-class cricket in 1885; in five years, he had established it on a sounder financial footing, recruited illustrious players such as Sammy Woods, overseen the leasing of (and later the acquisition of) the current County Ground at Taunton, and, in 1891, seen the team restored to first-class status in the newly organised County Championship. He remained as honorary secretary until 1910 and then became Life President from 1915 until his death. He was educated at Marlborough College where he did not make the cricket team. He inherited a large house at Henlade, near Taunton, from an uncle in 1873 and, changing his surname to Murray-Anderdon, thereafter lived the life of a country gentleman and man of activities. "He had a commanding, aristocratic manner," says one history of Somerset cricket.

From 1882 to 1885, Somerset played sufficient fixtures against other county sides for its matches to be regarded as first-class, but in the last of these seasons it was beset by a poor playing record and amateurish organisation: only nine players turned out in the match against Hampshire, and first-class status was withdrawn after 1885. Murray-Anderdon became secretary of the club at this point: he proved to be "a fine administrator and his job was to shake the place up".