Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

20 Born with a silver spoon Harry Hornby and Sir William Coddington were expected to retire. But A.N. wasn’t prepared to accept the nomination, and in fact Sir Harry stood again. Apart from our subject, William had six other sons, one of whom died young, and four daughters. The Hornby family was wealthy enough to be able to send all but one of the surviving boys to Harrow. The eldest, John (1838-1901) , went on to Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a barrister. He was the only one not to have played cricket at a fairly high level. Edward Kenworthy (1839-87) played his cricket with Cheshire from 1861-78. He entered the family business and followed his father as MP for Blackburn (1869-74). William Henry junior (1841-1928) was known as Harry. He was educated privately and thus the only one of the brothers not to attend Harrow. He also joined the family business and became MP for Blackburn (1886-1910), but in 24 years made one intervention fewer than his father, never attempting to speak in the House. He was created Baron Hornby of Brookhouse, St. Michael, Blackburn in 1899. A.N.’s brother, Sir William Henry (Harry) Hornby, as Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Blackburn in 1905. The election of Labour’s Philip Snowden to the two-member constituency, alongside Hornby, marked the beginning of a shift in the political allegiance of the town, which was completed after 1945 when first Barbara Castle then Jack Straw made it a Labour stronghold.