George Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley

George Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley (29 January 1870 – 14 November 1955) was an Anglo-Irish soldier, public servant, cricketer, and author.

Personal life

George Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley was born in 1870, the only child of George Sackville Berkeley, a major in the Royal Engineers.[1] He was educated at Wellington College and Keble College, Oxford.[1] He later practised at the Irish bar.[2] In 1899 he married Caroline Isabel Mason. He moved to Italy in 1920 for the good of his wife's health; she died in 1933. The following year he married Janet Margaret Mary Weld,[3] with whom he co-wrote a history of Italian unification.[1] He was a member of two gentlemen's clubs: Vincent's in Oxford and the Kildare Street Club in Dublin.[1] He died at his home, Hanwell Castle, near Banbury, Oxfordshire.[4]

Public life

Berkeley served in the Worcestershire Regiment from 1898 to 1901.[4] He supported Irish Home Rule and the Irish Volunteers, and at a 1914 meeting in Alice Stopford Green's London home he subscribed the largest amount to the arms purchase fund which resulted in the Howth gun-running.[5][1][6] In the First World War he was a brigade musketry officer with the 3rd Cavalry reserve.[4] After the war he was a member of the Claims Commission in France and Italy.[4] In 1920 he was active in the Irish Dominion League, which proposed Dominion status for Ireland,[1] and with the Peace with Ireland Council, of British public figures opposed to the government's waging of the Anglo-Irish War.[7][8] In 1954 he submitted two papers to the Irish Bureau of Military History relating to his 1914 and 1920 activities.[7][9] He was a magistrate in Oxfordshire from 1906 to 1937.[1]

Cricket career

George Berkeley

Personal information
Full name	George Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley
Born	29 January 1870 Dublin, Ireland
Died	14 November 1955 (aged 85) Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Left-arm medium
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1890–1893	Oxford University
First-class debut	19 May 1890 Oxford University v Australians
Last First-class	14 May 1906 H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI v Oxford University
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 32 Runs scored 324 Batting average 10.12 100s/50s 0/0 Top score 38 Balls bowled 6,288 Wickets 131 Bowling average 20.75 5 wickets in innings 9 10 wickets in match 1 Best bowling 8/70 Catches/stumpings 17/–
Source: CricketArchive, 21 November 2012

Berkeley played for Oxford University Cricket Club in the 1890s. A left-arm medium pace bowler, he took 131 wickets in 32 first-class appearances at an average of 20.75.[10] He best bowling performance occurred on his debut, when he took eight wickets for Oxford University in the first innings against the touring Australians.[11] Berkeley was awarded his blue, appearing against Cambridge in the University match, in each of his four years at Oxford. He was Oxford's leading wicket-taker during his first three years at the university, but in the third, he was unable to play in all the matches, but maintained a strong bowling average.[12] He played twice for Ireland, taking 11 for 75 against I Zingari in Phoenix Park in 1890.[2] He later played minor counties cricket for Oxfordshire between 1904 and 1906.

Publications

• Williams, Basil, ed. (1911). "The Present System of Government in Ireland". Home rule problems. London: P.S. King & Son. pp. 35–48. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
• The Irish Battalion in the papal army of 1860. Dublin: Talbot Press. 1929. OCLC 891427156.
• The Campaign of Adowa and the Rise of Menelik (New ed.). London: Constable. 1902. OCLC 817172475.
• Italy in the Making. Cambridge University Press. 1932–1940. OCLC 875306146. (with Joan Berkeley; 3 volumes)
• Wellington College: the founders of the tradition. Newport: R.H. Johns. 1948. OCLC 2570688.

References

1. "Captain George Berkeley Papers" (PDF). Cork City and County Archives.
2. Herringshaw, Liam (2 September 2013). "The bat that died for Ireland". ESPN. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
3. Marriage Indexes 4th Quarter 1934, Southam, Warwickshire district
4. "Obituaries: Mr G. Fitz-H. Berkeley". The Times (53383). London. 21 November 1955. p. 12.
5. Connell Jr, Joseph E. (May–June 2014). "Howth/ Kilcoole gunrunning". History Ireland. 22 (3).
6. Docherty, Gerry; MacGregor, James (2013). Hidden History: The Secret Origins of the First World War. Mainstream Publishing. pp. 391–392. ISBN 9781780577494.
7. Berkeley, George F.H. "Witness statement 994: "Peace with Ireland Council" 1920–1921" (PDF). Dublin: Bureau of Military History. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
8. Moulton, Mo (2014). Ireland and the Irish in Interwar England. Cambridge University Press. p. 53. ISBN 9781107052680.
9. Berkeley, George F.H. "Witness statement 971: The Irish political situation, 1914" (PDF). Dublin: Bureau of Military History. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
10. "Player Profile: George Berkeley". CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
11. "Oxford University v Australians: Australia in England 1890". CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
12. Bolton, Geoffrey (1962). History of the O.U.C.C. (1st ed.). Oxford: Holywell Press. pp. 133–147.