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English cricketer
Captain
Edward Boyd Fawcett
(11 October 1839 ? 26 September 1884) was a British army officer and English cricketer active from 1859 to 1863. He was the father of explorer
Percy Fawcett
.
Edward was born in India in
Poona
,
British India
to Henry Fawcett and Mary Sophia Fawcett.
[1]
He was educated at
Brighton College
and
Trinity College, Cambridge
.
[2]
The Fawcetts were a family of old Yorkshire gentry (
Fawcett of Scaleby Castle
) who had prospered as shipping magnates during the late 18th and 19th century in the East Indies.
[3]
Fawcett played for the
Sussex County Cricket Club
. He appeared in 21 first-class matches as a righthanded batsman who
bowled
right-arm
fast medium
with a
roundarm
action. He scored 326
runs
with a highest score of 53 and took 57
wickets
with a best performance of six for 56.
[4]
Fawcett enjoyed a privileged upbringing. He became friends with the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, the future
Edward VII
, and was appointed the prince's royal
equerry
. In 1865, he married Myra Elizabeth MacDougall, only daughter of Colonel Andrew MacDougall, of Halebank,
Torquay
.
[5]
He settled the family in Devon, where they had two sons,
Edward Douglas
in 1866 and
Percy Harrison
in 1867, followed by three daughters.
[6]
Fawcett earned a reputation for heavy drinking, gambling and philandering. He was born into money and married into it, and he squandered away both family fortunes. Already ill from alcoholism, he died of
tuberculosis
at age 44 in
Teignmouth
, Devon.
[7]
His widow died in London on 14 October 1902.
[8]
References
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edit
]