Lives in Cricket No 44 - LCH Palairet

Introduction It is over a hundred years since Lionel Palairet last played a first class match, yet his name still crops up in the odd cricket book, marking him out to be probably the top batting stylist of his era. My interest in him dates back to the first book I ever bought, Roy Webber’s County Cricket Championship published in 1957. It was here that I first made a connection with him. I bought Benny Green’s Wisden Cricket Anthology 1864-1900 in 1979; this included a number of scorecards in which he appeared. As a result of reading this book, I joined the ACS as a teenager and my interest in Lionel Palairet steadily grew. It has taken me over 35 years to put pen to paper, although 30 years ago my old friend Robert Brooke said ‘write one’. Although noted for the style and grace of his batting, Palairet’s achievements and records have gone virtually unreported and largely forgotten. At the time of his death, he still held most of the batting records for Somerset. It was not until the arrival of Harold Gimblett in 1935 that many of the Somerset batting records were beaten; he was unquestionably the best batsman by far Somerset ever had up to Gimblett’s arrival. In addition, he was cricket captain for Oxford University, he also gained a blue at athletics and narrowly missed a football blue. He also played county football for Somerset and Dorset, and enjoyed numerous other sports. He was (like his father) heavily involved in the community he lived in, serving on many committees such as for the Conservative Party and Fisheries Commission, and in golf, and many cricket committees including Devon and Somerset counties. He led a full life albeit cut a little short; he was a hard-working family man and his contributions to the cricket and the golf world were immense, and whatever his faults as a person, he fully deserves recognition in these fields. My hope is that a look into his career and life leaves readers with an appreciation of his cricket abilities, but also other qualities as an individual and an insight into his family and his background. With this I think you could understand why he was seen by others as a little aloof or distant to other people. 5