Kenneth Hutchings

Kenneth Lotherington Hutchings (7 December 1882 – 3 September 1916) was an English amateur cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team between 1902 and 1912. He was primarily a batsman who played a major role in three of Kent's County Championship wins in the years before World War I and who played seven Test matches for England. He was chosen as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1907. Hutchings was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme whilst serving with the King's Liverpool Regiment in 1916.

Early life Hutchings was born in Southborough near Tunbridge Wells, the fourth son of Dr Edward Hutchings who was a keen cricketer. He was educated at Tonbridge School where he played in the First XI for five years between 1898 and 1902, captaining the school in his last two years there and also playing rackets for the school in 1901 at Queen's Club. In 1902 he averaged 63 runs per innings, including a score of 205. He played fluently in 11 Championship matches in 1903

His first full season for Kent in 1906 was the most productive of his career. His "ultra-attacking batting" He was picked for the Gentlemen v Players match and was chosen as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1907. He scored his highest Test score of 126 at Melbourne on the tour, reaching his hundred in 126 minutes, his second fifty taking only 51 minutes.

Hutchings never completely recaptured his form of 1906 and Wisden wrote that he "did not fulfil all the hopes formed of him", His best seasons, other than 1906, were in 1909 and 1910 when Kent won consecutive County Championships, and he was picked for two Ashes Tests in England in 1909. According to David Denton and George Hirst, he hit the ball harder than any other player of their time (and they were contemporaries of Gilbert Jessop, one of the harder hitting batsmen of the Golden Age of cricket).

Military service and death Hutchings worked at Wiggins Teape, a paper manufacturer near Dover, when he played for Kent, working alongside Keith Barlow who played twice for Kent and went on to be the Chairman of the company. At the start of World War I he was working for another paper manufacturer in Liverpool and living at Freshfield in Formby. He enlisted within a few days of the start of the war, serving in the King's Liverpool Regiment and was sent to France in April 1915. He was attached to the Welch Regiment for a time and promoted to Lieutenant in December 1916. From July 1916 he served with the 12th battalion the King's Liverpool Regiment.

Hutchings was killed in action on 3 September 1916 at Ginchy in northern France during the Battle of Guillemont as part of the Battle of the Somme. He was hit by an artillery shell and, according to Wisden, killed instantly. His body was never recovered and his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial.

After his death, members of his regiment fashioned a wooden cross with a metal plaque as a memorial to the officers who had died at Ginchy, including Hutchings' name on the plaque. After the war the cross was moved to Formby. A restored cross, with the original metal plaque, stands in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Formby.

All three of his brothers played cricket for Tonbridge School and served in the war, all being wounded or injured in the process. Two of his brothers, William and Frederick also played first-class cricket for Kent.