William Baker (cricketer, born 1823)

William de Chair Baker (21 April 1823 – 20 February 1888) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and for Cambridge University from 1841 to 1853.^[1] He was also an influential cricket administrator within the Kent county club and was credited as the originator of the Canterbury Cricket Week at the St Lawrence Ground, where he was the secretary from 1847 until his death.^[2] He was born and died at Canterbury, Kent.^[1]

Poster for 1842 England XI game

Baker was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, though there is no record of his having received a university degree.^[3] Baker played cricket as a right-handed batsman: there is no record of him bowling in first-class cricket, though the bowling figures are incomplete for many of the games in which he played. He played for teams representing the county of Kent in both 1841 and 1842 and then in the first match played by the newly-formed Kent County Cricket Club against the All-England XI in August 1842.^[4] He played a few games for the amateur Gentlemen of Kent side from 1842, and in 1843 he appeared twice for Cambridge University, though he did not play in the University Match against Oxford University.^[1] He had limited success as a batsman, and never reached 30 runs in a first-class innings. After 1843, his appearances in first-class cricket were very intermittent, though his final game was not until 1853.

Baker was credited as the manager of the Kent cricket team from 1847 to his death and as the instigator of the Canterbury Cricket Week which survived the removal from the Beverley Ground to the St Lawrence Ground in 1847. He was also responsible for a series of annual rural fetes in Canterbury.^[3]

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