Archie Wickham

{{short description|English cricketer, clergyman, and entomologist}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Archie Wickham

| image = Archie Wickham c1905.jpg

| caption = Archie Wickham

| country = England

| fullname = Archdale Palmer Wickham

| birth_date = {{birth date|1855|11|9|df=y}}

| birth_place = South Holmwood, Surrey, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|1935|10|13|1855|11|9|df=y}}

| death_place = Highbridge, Somerset, England

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling =

| role = Wicket-keeper

| club1 = Oxford University

| year1 = {{nowrap|1876–1878}}

| club2 = Norfolk

| year2 = {{nowrap|1881–1890}}

| club3 = Somerset

| year3 = {{nowrap|1891–1907}}

| type1 = First-class

| debutdate1 = 25 May

| debutyear1 = 1876

| debutfor1 = Oxford University

| debutagainst1 = Marylebone Cricket Club

| lastdate1 = 11 July

| lastyear1 = 1907

| lastfor1 = Somerset

| lastagainst1 = Warwickshire

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 93

| runs1 = 760

| bat avg1 = 8.83

| 100s/50s1 = 0/0

| top score1 = 28

| deliveries1 = 10

| wickets1 = 0

| bowl avg1 = –

| fivefor1 = 0

| tenfor1 = 0

| best bowling1 = –

| catches/stumpings1 = 90/60

| date = 13 March

| year = 2010

| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3890/3890.html CricketArchive

}}

Archdale Palmer Wickham (9 November 1855 – 13 October 1935) was an English Anglican clergyman, first-class cricketer and entomologist.

Clerical career

Wickham was the son of the Rev. Edmund Dawe Wickham of Holmwood, and was educated at Marlborough College. He matriculated in 1874 at New College, Oxford, where he read Classics, and graduated B.A. in 1879.{{cite book |last1=Marlborough College |title=Marlborough college register, from 1843 to 1869 inclusive [ed. by G.W. De Lisle]. To 1879 inclusive |date=1880 |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oLgHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA192 |language=en}}{{alox2|title=Wickham, Rev. Archdale Palmer}} He then prepared for the priesthood at Leeds Clergy School and was ordained. After three curacies he was vicar of Martock, Somerset, from 1888 to 1911 and a prebendary of Wells Cathedral from 1904 to 1911. He was then vicar of East Brent, Somerset, from 1911 until his death in 1935.[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U219132 WICKHAM, Rev. Prebendary Archdale Palmer], Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)

Cricket career

Wickham played 82 first-class matches for Somerset County Cricket Club between 1891 and 1907. He also played for a number of representative teams and for Oxford University, and played second-class cricket for Norfolk County Cricket Club from 1881 to 1890. A wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman, he scored 760 career first-class runs, and claimed 90 catches and 60 stumpings.{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3890/3890.html |title=Player Profile: Archive Wickham |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=13 March 2010}} He had a distinctive wicket-keeping stance, bending low with his feet more than a metre apart.

Playing for Somerset against Hampshire in the County Championship in 1899, Wickham kept throughout Hampshire's innings of 672 for 7 without conceding a bye. This remained a record in the Championship until 2002.{{cite web |last1=Dhole |first1=Pradip |title=Rev. AP Wickham: The man who kept wickets for both sides in a First-Class match |url=https://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/moments-in-history/rev-ap-wickham-the-man-who-kept-wickets-for-both-sides-in-a-first-class-match-729059 |website=Cricket Country |accessdate=1 January 2019}} In 1901, playing for Somerset against Oxford University, he kept wicket for both sides: when the Oxford wicketkeeper was injured during the match, Wickham volunteered to stand in briefly for him. It is the only known instance in first-class cricket of a player keeping wickets for both sides in the same match.

Wickham was not noted for his batting, and usually batted at number 11. However, when he made his highest first-class score of 28, he top-scored in Somerset's second innings as they struggled in vain to avoid an innings defeat against Gloucestershire in 1900.{{cite web |title=Gloucestershire v Somerset 1900 |url=http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1900S/1900/ENG_LOCAL/CC/GLOUCS_SOMERSET_CC_28-29MAY1900.html |website=Cricinfo |accessdate=1 January 2018}}

Personal life

Wickham was a renowned amateur entomologist, specializing in the Lepidoptera.Patrick Armstrong, The English Parson-naturalist: A Companionship between Science and Religion, Gracewing Publishing, Leominster, 2000, p. 99. In 1917 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society.Pelham Warner, "Rev. A. P. Wickham", The Cricketer Annual 1935, p. 87. His collection of butterflies numbered many thousands. After his death his collection of specimens and manuscripts was lodged at the British Museum.{{cite web |title=Rev. Archdale Palmer Wickham |url=http://history.eastbrentparishcouncil.org.uk/article/53/rev-archdale-palmer-wickham |website=East Brent History Portal |accessdate=1 January 2019}}

Wickham married firstly, in 1883, Emily Helena McPherson Baldwin (1856–1890), daughter of the Rev. John Richard Baldwin, a chaplain in India. They had a daughter and two sons.{{cite news |title=Marriages |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001669/18830113/052/0005 |work=Norwich Mercury |date=13 January 1883|page=5}}{{cite book |last1=Speight |first1=Harry |title=Upper Wharfedale. Being a complete account of the history, antiquities and scenery of the picturesque valley of the Wharfe, from Otley to Langstrothdale |date=1900 |publisher=E. Stock |location=London |page=326 |url=https://archive.org/details/upperwharfedale01speigoog/page/326/mode/1up}}{{cite web |title=Reverend Archdale Palmer Wickham |url=http://family.wickham.eu/getperson.php?personID=I1&tree=wickham |website=Wickham family ancestry |accessdate=1 January 2019}} He and his second wife, Harriet Elizabeth Strong, who came from a family of vicars and brewers, had a son and two daughters.