Famous Cricketers No 84 - G.L.Jessop

‘cut, drive and pull’ and paid tribute to his ‘annihilating unorthodoxy’. Jessop’s will leaves the little he had, about two thousand pounds and copyright on some publications, to his only son, who was still a bachelor. After his father’s death, he left Fordington and held several clerical appointments overseas. He died in Bath on 16th January 1990 and left his estate to his wife and children. In 1958, the original Jessop Tavern was built at the Bristol County Ground, appropriately, on the cover point boundary. P.F.Warner said, ‘Jessop was in some ways the greatest genius that cricket ever produced. He knew no laws or rules. He was like no one, and no one was like him.’ James Thorpe wrote, ‘He will always occupy a very high place among the Immortals of the game, because he was so essentially a Primitive. His batting was simply developed on the maxim: “Here’s the ball; let’s hit it.”’ In later years, H.S.Altham wrote of Jessop ‘I had a letter from him in the last year of his life; he wrote in a most beautiful hand. He was a wonderful, modest and consistently kind man.’ Season by Season (Batting and Fielding) Season M I NO R HS Ave 100 50 Ct 1894 8 13 1 162 61* 13.50 - 1 6 1895 16 28 4 525 63 21.87 - 4 17 1896 20 32 1 673 93 21.70 - 4 17 1897 26 42 1 1219 140 29.73 4 3 30 1897/8 Philadelphia 2 4 1 110 66 36.66 - 1 1 1898 25 41 5 873 112* 24.25 1 3 23 1899 27 46 2 1483 171* 33.70 3 6 21 1899/00 Philadelphia 2 2 0 72 64 36.00 - 1 1 1900 31 58 3 2210 179 40.18 6 13 26 1901 32 58 1 2323 233 40.75 5 10 23 1901/2 Australia 10 18 0 359 87 19.94 - 1 5 1902 29 49 3 1562 126 33.95 4 8 19 1903 22 36 0 1382 286 38.38 2 6 26 1904 25 42 1 1450 206 35.36 2 7 27 1905 28 47 2 1197 234 26.60 1 8 32 1906 24 44 1 1199 87 27.88 - 9 27 1907 27 48 0 1754 240 36.54 3 8 21 1908 26 48 3 1885 164 41.88 4 8 34 1909 12 19 0 665 161 35.00 3 1 18 1910 21 36 2 1142 165 33.58 4 3 17 1911 26 49 4 1907 153 42.37 7 6 21 1912 23 36 0 804 127 22.33 1 6 15 1913 19 36 1 1244 119 35.54 3 8 25 1914 12 23 1 498 78 22.63 - 2 12 Career 493 855 37 26698 286 32.63 53 127 464 55