Anthony Pelham

Who was Anthony Pelham?

Anthony George Pelham played first-class cricket for Sussex, Cambridge University and Somerset between 1930 and 1934. He was born at Minehead, Somerset and died at Dorking, Surrey.

The grandson of Francis Pelham, 5th Earl of Chichester, Pelham was educated at Eton College where his right-arm medium-pace bowling was decisive in the 1930 Eton v Harrow cricket match: he took seven Harrow wickets for 21 runs in 21 overs in the first innings, and four for 23 in 21 overs and a ball in the second. Later that same season, he made his first-class cricket debut as a lower-order batsman and bowler for Sussex in the match against Yorkshire at Hove; his first and only wicket in the game was that of Herbert Sutcliffe, whom he caught and bowled, though Sutcliffe had scored 173 by the time that happened.

Pelham was at Cambridge University for four years from the autumn of 1930, but for most of his student time there he was an irregular cricketer, seldom picked for the university side. In 1931, he played against the university for Sussex, and appeared in only one match for the university side, featuring in eight other Sussex matches across the season.