 Mezzotint of Aislabie painted byHenry Dawe in 1838 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Benjamin Aislabie | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1774-01-14)14 January 1774 Newington Green, London | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 2 June 1842(1842-06-02) (aged 68) Regent's Park, London | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1808–1841 | MCC | ||||||||||||||
| 1808–1817 | Surrey | ||||||||||||||
| 1819 | Hampshire | ||||||||||||||
| 1823 | Kent | ||||||||||||||
| 1827 | Sussex | ||||||||||||||
| FC debut | 30 May 1808 MCC v Middlesex | ||||||||||||||
| LastFC | 1 July 1841 MCC v Cambridge University | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Source:CricInfo,18 August 2007 | |||||||||||||||
Benjamin Aislabie (14 January 1774 – 2 June 1842) was an Englishwine merchant,slave plantation owner andcricket administrator. He was the first Honorary Secretary ofMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and was influential in its early development. He also played cricket between 1808 and 1841 as anamateur but was, statistically, one of the worst players on record.
Aislabie was descended fromJohn Aislabie who had beenChancellor of the Exchequer during theSouth Sea Bubble.[1] Aislabie's father, Rawson Aislabie, was a London soap and wine merchant who lived atStoke Newington and ownedplantations inDominica in theBritish West Indies; he died around 1806 leaving a will worth £60,000.[2]
Aislabie was born atNewington Green in London in 1774, the youngest child of Rawson and Frances Aislabie.[1] He was educated atSevenoaks School and possibly atEton College.[a] It is not known if he played cricket at school, and he is first known to have played the sport forHomerton Cricket Club in 1795.[2][3]
Aislabie joined theMCC in 1802 and played for the club between 1808 and 1841. He was President of MCC in 1823 and was the first Honorary Secretary of the club, a role he fulfilled between 1822 and his death.[3][4][5] He is often considered to have been a poor administrator with the club "lurching from crisis to crisis" during his time as Secretary,[4][6] although he attempted to reduce the detrimental impacts of gambling on the sport during his tenure[3] and, according to an obituary inThe Sporting Magazine, was "universally respected" by the club's members.[7] During his time as Secretary the membership of the club almost doubled from around 200 to close to 400.[1]
In 1838 abust and portrait of him were commissioned for theLord's Pavilion and he laid the foundation stone of the tennis court at the ground the same year.[2] The portrait, byHenry Dawe, is still in the MCC collection; amezzotint of it was purchased by theNational Portrait Gallery in 1966.[8][9] The painting and one other of Aislabie, which were hanging in theLong Room at Lord's, were removed from display in June 2020 due to his ownership of slaves.[10][11][b]
He played 56 first-class matches, 20 of them for MCC. His playing career was notable for him scoring only 224runs at a meagrebatting average of 3.15 runs per innings. His performances were hampered by his girth, and towards the end of his career he was so obese that he had a permanentrunner and by the time of his final appearance in 1841, aged 67 and weighing 20 stone (130 kg), he needed a substitute fielder to field for him as well.[3][4] Statistically he ranks as one of the worst first-class cricketers of all time, although he enjoyed playing the sport and is the third-oldest first-class cricketer on record.[4][12]
Aislabie often arranged MCC matches with leading public schools. He features as a character in the cricket match atRugby School in the novelTom Brown's School Days.[2][3]
Aislabie was a successful wine merchant operating out of theMinories in London in partnership with William Meade and Benjamin Standring, becoming the senior partner in the firm in 1802. The firm numberedLord Nelson as one of its clients. He also inherited some of his father's estates onDominica and continued to own plantations throughout his life, atCanefield and Morne Daniel on Dominica; he also had an interest in one inAntigua.[2][3][13] The estates, operated usingslavery, were passed on to his son in his will.[12][14][15][16] Aislabie was compensated for the loss of his slaves following passage of theSlavery Abolition Act 1833, which prohibited slavery throughout the British Empire in 1834.[10] He leased Lee Place inLee, in north-westKent,[c] from Charles Boone between 1809 and 1823 and lived inSevenoaks and London, including at East Park Place nearRegent's Park.[1][2][13][17]
He was an overseer for Lee Parish in 1814 and was instrumental in distributing charity, including food and fuel, to the poor of the parish during the harsh winter of 1814. He allowed the parish to store coal and potatoes to distribute during the 13-week frost and employed a number of labourers during the winter.[13][17] He was resident in Lee at the time of theanti-slavery Lee Petition and it is likely he had an opportunity to sign it, but did not, probably because of his interests in theWest Indies.[10][17][18]
Aislabie married Anne Hodgson in 1798; the couple had 12 children, six of whom, five daughters and a son, survived into adulthood.[1][d] His son, William, attended Eton andTrinity College, Cambridge and inherited his estates in Dominica.[2][13]
Benjamin Aislabie died at his house at Regents Park of anabscess of the throat in 1842 aged 68 and was buried atSt Marylebone Parish Church.[2][3][4]