Lord Harris

Two men played a greater part than anyone else in bringing the game of cricket through its most formative years from about 1870 to 1930. W.G. Grace put the game on the map nationally as an attractive public spectacle; Lord Harris, no mean player and captain himself, excelled in the committees and council chambers of the game. For almost half a century Harris was ‘the uncrowned king of cricket, with every development in the game taking place under his eye, or often at his direct instigation. He had a say in every significant decision emanating from Lord’s and rendered lifelong service to Kent County Cricket Club. James D. Coldham wanted to read a biography of Lord Harris but, finding to his surprise that no-one had ever written one, decided to do so himself. He writes of Harris’s playing skill (he captained England in the first-ever Test match against Australia in England), his incisive person¬ality, his rapport with the professionals, his re¬forming and missionary zeal on behalf of cricket, his upholding of the Laws and his facility with the pen. All this is set against the background of Harris’s service to the Crown, government, India (he was Governor of Bombay for five years), the Church, the army, the City of London, tenants and employees. Harris emerges as a practical person of determination and purpose, autocratic and for¬midable, but also kindly, just and fair. A contemporary commentator described Lord Harris as representing ‘the spirit of cricket’. This biography will appeal to anyone who understands and believes in that spirit.