Gilbert Jessop, one of the most explosive batsmen in history, was born on May 19, 1874. His Wisden obituary captured an extraordinary talent.
Gilbert Jessop was famed as the most remarkable hitter cricket has ever produced. Born at Cheltenham on May 19, 1874, he enjoyed a memorable career in first-class cricket which, dating from 1894 to the start of the First World War, extended over 20 years. There have been batsmen who hit the ball even harder than Jessop, notably C. I. Thornton and the two Australians, George Bonnor and Jack Lyons, but no one who did so more often or who, in match after match, scored as rapidly.
Where Jessop surpassed all other hitters was in the all-round nature of his scoring. At his best, he could make runs from any ball, however good it might be. Although only 5ft 7in in height, he bent low as he shaped to play, a method which earned him the sobriquet of “The Croucher.”
Besides his cricketing ability, Jessop was an all-round athlete of note. He got his Blue as a hockey goalkeeper, but fell ill and could not play in the University match; came near getting an Association football Blue and played for The Casuals as half-back or goalkeeper. He also appeared as a wing three-quarter for Gloucester R.F.C. He would have played billiards for Cambridge against Oxford, but was “gated” and could not take part. In one week he made two breaks of over 150. He could run the 100 yards in 10.2 seconds and frequently entered for sports meetings. A scratch golfer, he took part in the Amateur Championship in 1914, was Secretary of the Cricketers’ Golfing Society and for some years Secretary of the Edgware Club.
In addition to the visit he paid to Australia in 1901-2 under A. C. MacLaren, he went to America with the team captained by P. F. Warner in 1897, and again in 1899 when K. S. Ranjitsinhji led the side.
For Beccles School in 1895, when a master there, Jessop scored 1,058 runs, average 132, and took 100 wickets at a cost of less than two and a half runs apiece.
He served as a captain in the Manchester Regiment during the First World War from 1914 till he was invalided out with a damaged heart in 1918. Married in October 1902, he first met his bride a few months earlier during his visit to Australia. She died in 1953.
Jessop, Gilbert Laird died on May 11, 1955, aged 80.
What they said
Pelham Warner: “He was a wonderful cricketer. It was a great pleasure to play with or against him. It has been said that he was unorthodox, but no one watched the ball more closely.”
Jack Hobbs: “He was undoubtedly the most consistently fast scorer I have seen. He was a big hitter, too, and it was difficult to bowl a ball from which he could not score. He made me glad that I was not a bowler. Gilbert Jessop certainly drew the crowds, too, even more than Bradman, I should say.”
