Talk:Francis Fenner

Fenner's status

In the Eton v Cambridge University match, the teams are described as gentlemen educated at Eton and the university, with Caldecott and Fenner given to the latter. Does this signify that Fenner was eligible for one, both or neither side? He is injured on his first hit and due to this the next match between the university and town clubs is cancelled. Fenlandier (talk) 01:24, 25 December 2020 (UTC)

In the early days of cricket, it was common for the perceived weaker side to be allowed to have one or more "given men" in order to even things up (particularly important back when there was heavy betting on matches). So if Fenner was a "given man". it would imply that he wouldn't otherwise have been eligible to play for Cambridge. I see that in a match in 1838, he played for the Cambridge Town Club against the University, but then in 1839 he played for the University against the MCC. (Perhaps he was a given man again.) Given that he was born in Cambridge and doesn't appeared to have played for the university until he was in his late 20s and had already made his name as a player, my guess is that he didn't ever study at the university and that he probably came from a relatively humble background. What pretty much clinches it is that he played in the 1840 Gentlemen v Players match on the Players team. That means that he was a professional cricketer, as opposed to the amateur "Gentlemen". And I see he later on worked as a tobacconist, pretty much confirming that he was neither wealthy nor "posh" enough to have studied at CU. JH (talk page) 08:46, 25 December 2020 (UTC)