Horatio Mann

Sir Horatio (Horace) Mann, 2nd Baronet (2 February 1744 – 2 April 1814) was an English MP who is best remembered as a member of the famous Hambledon Club in Hampshire and a patron of Kent cricket. He was an occasional player but rarely in first-class matches.

Sir Horace was a member of the "Committee of Noblemen and Gentlemen of Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex and London at The Star and Garter" in Pall Mall, which drew up a new revision of the Laws of Cricket on 25 February 1774 Arthur Haygarth, "Scores & Biographies", Volume 1 (1744-1826) p.16, Lillywhite, 1862] .

He is variously called Sir Horatio and Sir Horace in the sources. Horace was used as a diminutive of Horatio so both names can be regarded as correct usage. He was always called Horace in "Scores and Biographies", the main source for his cricketing activities.

Educated at Charterhouse School, Sir Horatio was MP for Sandwich from 1774 to 1807. He had a number of influential friends including Horace Walpole, with whom he had a long correspondence; and John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, with whom he shared a keen cricketing rivalry.

Sir Horatio had his family seat at Bourne, near Canterbury. Within its grounds he had his own cricket ground Bishopsbourne Paddock which staged many first-class matches in the 1770s and 1780s. He later moved to Dandelion, near Margate, and established another ground there which was used for some first-class games towards the end of the 18th century.

References

External links

* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/79/79313/79313.html CricketArchive record of Sir Horace Mann]
* [http://www.jl.sl.btinternet.co.uk/stampsite/cricket/ladstolords/biog.html#mannh From Lads to Lord's – biography of Sir Horace Mann]

Further reading

* G B Buckley, "Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket", Cotterell, 1935
* Ashley Mote, "The Glory Days of Cricket", Robson, 1997
* Ashley Mote, "John Nyren's "The Cricketers of my Time", Robson, 1998
* H T Waghorn, "The Dawn of Cricket", Electric Press, 1906