A distinguished career

posted by John Winn

When Yorkshire played Kent at Wigginton Road, York in 1890 three Kent players arrived too late to bat in Kent's first innings. Arguably the most distinguished of these was Stanley Christopherson who died in 1949 and whose obituary in the following year's Wisden occupies nearly a full page. Distinguished both as a player and an administrator and also in the world of finance, Christopherson was born in Blackheath in 1861. Educated at Uppingham School he was good enough to play fifty matches for Kent and one test for England, against Australia at Lord's in 1884. Although England won the match by an innings and five runs Stanley's contribution was slight. Batting at number 11 he made 17 and he claimed the wicket of Bonnor  in the Australian's first innings, caught by WG for 25. He was not selected for the following test at The Oval.

Wisden describes Christopherson as 'one of the best fast bowlers in the middle 'eighties', with 'a fairly long run and who made full use of his height'. His best performance for Kent was against Surrey at The Oval in 1883 when he took 8 for 41. An injury to his arm meant that Christopherson played little major cricket after 1887. He was one of ten sons and with their father making eleven the family played matches mostly against schools in Kent. The scorer's cry of 'bowler's name' presumably answered by forename only. Of the ten Christopherson sons one other, Percy, played first class cricket, his one game for Kent being against Sussex at Tonbridge, a match in which Stanley also appeared,  and he also featured for Oxford University v The Gentlemen of England in 1889 at The Parks where he had the misfortune to bag a pair. The sporting talents of the Christophersons were not confined to cricket for Percy won two caps for England at Rugby Union and Stanley represented his country at Hockey. Percy's first international was v Wales at Newport in 1891 and he scored two tries, worth one point each, in a 7-3 win. Percy did not travel to Ireland for the next match and his swansong came against Scotland at Richmond when a 9-3 victory gave Scotland victory and the triple crown for the first time.


Stanley Christopherson was President of MCC from 1939 to 1946, the longest anyone has held the office, just pipping Lord Hawke who held the office during World War 1. Away from cricket he was an important figure in the City of London and chaired Midland Bank for a while. His grandson Ian Stanley Akers-Douglas played first class cricket for Oxford University and Kent in the nineteen thirties. Ian's obituary in the 1952 Wisden recounts his death aged 43 as the result of a shooting accident at his home in Frant, Kent. An old Etonian, he topped their batting averages in 1928, but missed a blue at Oxford when only twelfth man in  the 1930 varsity match. He was one of three men to skipper Kent in 1936, the other two being Percy Chapman and Bryan Valentine. Aker-s Douglas was also a brilliant rackets player being British Isles champion in 1933. A talented family indeed.