William Knatchbull-Hugessen
William Western Knatchbull-Hugessen was an English amateur cricketer who played in three first-class cricket matches in 1858 and 1859.
Biography
The youngest son of Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet and his second wife Fanny, Knatchbull-Hugessen was born William Western Knatchbull at the family estate of Mersham-le-Hatch near Ashford in Kent in 1837. Hugessen was added to the family name following the death of Sir Edward in 1849 as a condition of the will. He was educated at Eton College before going up to Magdalen College, Oxford in 1855.Despite not playing for either the Eton or Oxford cricket teams, Knatchbull-Huggesen played cricket for the Gentlemen of Kent team between 1856 and 1860, generally as a wicket-keeper. He made two appearances in matches which have been given first-class status, both in 1858 against Gentlemen of England teams. He was a member of the management committee which set up the Maidstone based Kent County Club in 1859 and played one first-class match that year. In his three first-class matches he scored a total of 33 runs with his highest score of nine coming in his match for Kent. He did not bowl.
At the 1861 census, Knatchbull-Hugessen was farming at Provender House at Norton, close to Faversham in Kent, an estate which had been in the Hugessen family since the 17th century. He resigned from the Kent management committee in 1863 due to ill health and died of tuberculosis at St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex in September 1864, aged 27. A memorial tablet was erected in the church of St John the Baptist in Mersham.