2nd not 1st: Essex 1899-1914 (6th ed)

Holman, Marcus Robert (1873-1941) Born 2 October 1873, Newton Abbot, Devon. Died 21 October 1941, Beckenham, Kent. Played 1902. He was educated privately at Newton Abbot. In 1896 he married Violet Ethel Skinner and they had children Violet Ellen, Eric William and Mary. They lived for a while at Ilford before settling at Rayleigh, Essex. He described himself then as living on own means but in 1939 was working as an assistant electrical storekeeper. He died in 1941 leaving £4390. A quick search of the British Newspaper Archive shows that Holman was a keen club cricketer wherever he was living, successively at Newton Abbot, Ilford and Rayleigh. The captain of Ilford CC was George Higgins, also Second XI captain of Essex. That may explain why Holman got his chance, although he didn’t let his captain down. In July 1902 he played in wins against Kent and Sussex Second XIs, scoring 41 runs and taking two catches. Batting and fielding record M I NO RUNS AVE 100s 50s CT ST Friendly 2 3 41 13.66 2 Highest score: 30. Holton, Dr Francis William Parke (1857-1931) Born: 19 November 1857, Chelsea, Middlesex. Died: 24 December 1931, City of London. Played 1899. He was the son of Francis, an assistant surgeon at the Chelsea Hospital, who later became Surgeon-General of the Army Medical Staff, then the highest rank for military medical officers. Francis William registered as a medical practitioner on 24 September 1880, when he became a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries. In 1885 he became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1889 at Datchworth in Hertfordshire he married Georgina Harrington, who was born in Barbados. They had children Julia, Patricia and Frank. In 1891 Dr Holton was a surgeon living in Canning Town, part of West Ham which was one of the most deprived parts of the country. The town had grown rapidly since the 1850s and in 1889 was granted county borough status, which made it administratively independent of Essex County Council. I could not trace him on the 1881 census but in 1884 he gave medical evidence in a murder trial at Silvertown, so he may have begun his career in West Ham. He was clearly a devoted and caring doctor because he remained in the area for most of his career, later becoming the council’s Medical Officer for the Canning Town area. Dr Holton twice gave evidence at the Old Bailey in tragic cases involving the deaths of children. In 1890 Joseph Wood was charged with the murder of his daughter, Nelly. Holden was called to attend to Nelly but found that she had a fractured skull and was beyond saving. He told the court that the injury could have been caused by a poker which was on the floor nearby. Witnesses testified that Joseph was a loving father and eventually he was found guilty but insane and detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure. In 1898 Holton carried out a post mortem on eight-month-old Tansley Senior, who had a cough from birth and never thrived. His parents were members of the Peculiar People sect and had only prayed for him to recover, not called a doctor. Dr Holton gave the cause as inflammation