George Vernon

Who was George Vernon?

George Frederick Vernon was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club. He also played one Test match for England during the first-ever Ashes tour in 1882-83.

Vernon was the son of George Vernon of 32 Montague Square. He was educated at Rugby School and later went on to play 103 first-class games for Middlesex. Besides the 1882-83 tour, he also toured Australia in 1887-88.

Vernon toured India and Ceylon in 1889-90 as the leader of a team of amateurs, of which the other notable player was Lord Hawke. The other players could not really be said to be first-class, but the team was of a quality much higher than any seen in India at that time. This was the first ever tour by a foreign team to India. They won seven games and drew another before they were due to play the Parsi Gymkhana of Bombay on 30 January 1890, just after that great cricket stalwart, Lord Harris, had been named as the next Governor of the Bombay Presidency. The match was billed as being for the "Cricket Championship of India". At the time it was the greatest sporting event to have happened in Bombay, and to the astonishment of the British rulers, the Parsi side won.