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{{Short description|Australian cricketer and journalist (1826–1886)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2011}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2011}}
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==Life==
==Life==
Hammersley (1826-1886) was born on 25 September 1826 at Ash, Surrey, England to father William Josiah Hammersley of England.<ref>Gillian M. Hibbins, 'Hammersley, William Josiah (1826–1886)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/hammersley-william-josiah-25213/text33666, accessed 15 February 2023.</ref>

Hammersley was educated at [[Aldenham School]]<ref>English census 1841, Source information: HO107/438/3, Registration district: Watford, Sub-registration district: Bushey, 8 Folio: 22, Page: 13</ref> and at a private school in [[Billericay]]. He matriculated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], but did not graduate with a degree.<ref>{{acad|id= HMRY845WJ|name=Hammersley, William Josiah}}</ref>
Hammersley was educated at [[Aldenham School]]<ref>English census 1841, Source information: HO107/438/3, Registration district: Watford, Sub-registration district: Bushey, 8 Folio: 22, Page: 13</ref> and at a private school in [[Billericay]]. He matriculated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], but did not graduate with a degree.<ref>{{acad|id= HMRY845WJ|name=Hammersley, William Josiah}}</ref>


During his teens he was a prominent cricketer having debuted at Lord's on 10 June 1847 as a batsman for Cambridge.<ref name="Sportsmen of the past">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167253904 |title=SPORTSMEN OF THE PAST. |newspaper=[[Sydney Sportsman]] |volume=II |issue=90 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 June 1902 |accessdate=15 February 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He was also a prominent shooter and footracer.<ref name="Sportsmen of the past" />
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Hammersley migrated to Australia in about 1856. Upon his arrival in [[Melbourne]] he became a member of the [[Melbourne Cricket Club]]. He worked as a sports journalist for ''[[Bell's Life in Victoria]]'' and later ''[[The Australasian]]'', where he was sporting editor until 1882, writing on cricket under the pen-name of "Longstop".<ref name="Aus">{{cite journal |title=The Late Mr. W. J. Hammersley |journal=The Australasian |date=20 November 1886 |page=21 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142439428}}</ref>


Hammersley migrated to Australia in 1856.<ref name="Sportsmen of the past" /> Upon his arrival in [[Melbourne]] he became a member of the [[Melbourne Cricket Club]].
⚫
He was a personal friend of fellow Cambridge cricketer [[Thomas Wentworth Wills]] and helped to give momentum to Wills's calls to form a football club. In 1859 he became a founding member of the [[Melbourne Football Club]] and involved in popularising the club's football code. Hammersley is also believed by some to have been instrumental in introducing Australian Rules to [[Sydney]] and in the early formation of the [[Australian rules football in New South Wales|New South Wales Football Association]].
He first represented the colony of Victoria against New South Wales in the intercolonial cricked match at the Domain in January 1857 and was a regular member of the Victorian side until 1861.<ref name="Sportsmen of the past" />

⚫
He worked as a sports journalist for ''[[Bell's Life in Victoria]]'' and later ''[[The Australasian]]'', where he was sporting editor until 1882, writing on cricket under the pen-name of "Longstop".<ref name="Aus">{{cite journal |title=The Late Mr. W. J. Hammersley |journal=The Australasian |date=20 November 1886 |page=21 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142439428}}</ref>


He died on 15 November 1886 in the [[Melbourne]] suburb of [[Fitzroy, Victoria|Fitzroy]] and was buried in the [[Melbourne General Cemetery]].
He died on 15 November 1886 in the [[Melbourne]] suburb of [[Fitzroy, Victoria|Fitzroy]] and was buried in the [[Melbourne General Cemetery]].
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He captained the first Victorian XI to visit [[Sydney]] for an inter-colonial match in 1857 and played a few more matches until 1861. He was the first person to use the term "[[Test cricket|test match]]" to describe important international matches, which he did during the [[English cricket team in Australia in 1861–62|English cricket team's tour of Australia in 1861-62]].<ref>{{cite web |date=6 September 2013|last1=Lynch |first1=Steven |title=It began in Guildford? |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/667949.html |website=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=22 October 2018}}</ref>
He captained the first Victorian XI to visit [[Sydney]] for an inter-colonial match in 1857 and played a few more matches until 1861. He was the first person to use the term "[[Test cricket|test match]]" to describe important international matches, which he did during the [[English cricket team in Australia in 1861–62|English cricket team's tour of Australia in 1861-62]].<ref>{{cite web |date=6 September 2013|last1=Lynch |first1=Steven |title=It began in Guildford? |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/667949.html |website=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=22 October 2018}}</ref>

==Australian rules football==
⚫
He was a personal friend of fellow Cambridge cricketer [[Thomas Wentworth Wills]] and helped to give momentum to Wills's calls to form a football club. In 1859 he became a founding member of the [[Melbourne Football Club]] and involved in popularising the club's football code. Hammersley was a prominent Melbourne FC player until 1864 however and continued to serve on the club's committee and umpire for many years until as late as 1879.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5953258 |title=THIS AFTERNOON'S SPORTS. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |issue=10,347 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 August 1879 |accessdate=15 February 2023 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Hammersley is also believed by some to have been instrumental in introducing Australian Rules to [[Sydney]] and in the early formation of the [[Australian rules football in New South Wales|New South Wales Football Association]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


==Family==
==Family==
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{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammersley, William Josiah Sumner}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammersley, William}}
[[Category:1826 births]]
[[Category:1826 births]]
[[Category:1886 deaths]]
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[[Category:Journalists from Melbourne]]
[[Category:Journalists from Melbourne]]
[[Category:Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Cricket historians and writers]]
[[Category:Cricket writers]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Gentlemen of England cricketers]]
[[Category:Gentlemen of England cricketers]]
[[Category:19th-century Australian journalists]]
[[Category:19th-century Australian journalists]]
[[Category:Male journalists]]
[[Category:19th-century Australian male writers]]
[[Category:Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers]]
[[Category:Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers]]
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[[Category:19th-century male writers]]
[[Category:Cambridge Town Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Cambridge Town Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Melbourne Football Club (pre-VFA) players]]
[[Category:Melbourne Football Club (pre-VFA) players]]
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[[Category:Gentlemen of the South cricketers]]
[[Category:Gentlemen of the South cricketers]]
[[Category:All-England Eleven cricketers]]
[[Category:All-England Eleven cricketers]]
[[Category:Burials at Melbourne General Cemetery]]
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[[Category:Australian male journalists]]

Latest revision as of 09:57, 6 November 2024

Hammersley, 1859

William Josiah Sumner Hammersley (25 September 1826 – 15 November 1886) was an English-born first-class cricketer and sports journalist in Victoria, Australia, one of the four men credited with setting down the original rules of Australian rules football.

Life

[edit]

Hammersley (1826-1886) was born on 25 September 1826 at Ash, Surrey, England to father William Josiah Hammersley of England.[1]

Hammersley was educated at Aldenham School[2] and at a private school in Billericay. He matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not graduate with a degree.[3]

During his teens he was a prominent cricketer having debuted at Lord's on 10 June 1847 as a batsman for Cambridge.[4] He was also a prominent shooter and footracer.[4]

Hammersley migrated to Australia in 1856.[4] Upon his arrival in Melbourne he became a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club. He first represented the colony of Victoria against New South Wales in the intercolonial cricked match at the Domain in January 1857 and was a regular member of the Victorian side until 1861.[4]

He worked as a sports journalist for Bell's Life in Victoria and later The Australasian, where he was sporting editor until 1882, writing on cricket under the pen-name of "Longstop".[5]

He died on 15 November 1886 in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy and was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

Cricketer

[edit]

Hammersley was a prominent cricketer, a right-handed batsman and right-arm round-arm bowler, playing for Cambridge University Cricket Club, Surrey County Cricket Club and Marylebone Cricket Club. Bowling for the MCC against Surrey in a match on 15 June 1848, he achieved a hat-trick with successive dismissals of Edmund Reeves, Nicholas Felix, and Charles Coltson.[5][6]

He captained the first Victorian XI to visit Sydney for an inter-colonial match in 1857 and played a few more matches until 1861. He was the first person to use the term "test match" to describe important international matches, which he did during the English cricket team's tour of Australia in 1861-62.[7]

Australian rules football

[edit]

He was a personal friend of fellow Cambridge cricketer Thomas Wentworth Wills and helped to give momentum to Wills's calls to form a football club. In 1859 he became a founding member of the Melbourne Football Club and involved in popularising the club's football code. Hammersley was a prominent Melbourne FC player until 1864 however and continued to serve on the club's committee and umpire for many years until as late as 1879.[8]

Hammersley is also believed by some to have been instrumental in introducing Australian Rules to Sydney and in the early formation of the New South Wales Football Association.[citation needed]

Family

[edit]

Hammersley married Jane Thirkettle in London on 23 September 1849.[9] They had four children, a son and three daughters. Hammersley reportedly did not see them after emigrating to Australia.[10]

In the English Census of 1851, Hammersley and his wife Jane lived in Regents Park, London, with their 8-month-old son, also William J. Hammersley gave his occupation as 'studying for the church'. By the 1861 Census, Jane was living, without William, in Hampton Wick, on the outskirts of London, with the couple's four children. Jane described herself as an 'annuitant', and had a live-in servant.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Gillian M. Hibbins, 'Hammersley, William Josiah (1826–1886)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/hammersley-william-josiah-25213/text33666, accessed 15 February 2023.
  2. ^ English census 1841, Source information: HO107/438/3, Registration district: Watford, Sub-registration district: Bushey, 8 Folio: 22, Page: 13
  3. ^ "Hammersley, William Josiah (HMRY845WJ)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ^ a b c d "SPORTSMEN OF THE PAST". Sydney Sportsman. Vol. II, no. 90. New South Wales, Australia. 18 June 1902. p. 6. Retrieved 15 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ a b "The Late Mr. W. J. Hammersley". The Australasian: 21. 20 November 1886.
  6. ^ "Full Scorecard of M.C.C. vs Surrey Club 1848 - Score Report". ESPNcricinfo.
  7. ^ Lynch, Steven (6 September 2013). "It began in Guildford?". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  8. ^ "THIS AFTERNOON'S SPORTS". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 10, 347. Victoria, Australia. 16 August 1879. p. 5. Retrieved 15 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ Marriage record: Hammersley William Josiah Sumner Geo St Han Sq 1 42
  10. ^ "Biography - William Josiah Hammersley - People Australia". peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au.
[edit]
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