George Wilder (cricketer)

{{short description|English cricketer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name =

| image =

| country = England

| fullname = George Wilder

| nickname =

| birth_date = 9 June 1876

| birth_place = Stansted Park, Sussex, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1948|6|10|1876|6|9|df=yes}}

| death_place = Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| batting = Unknown

| bowling = Unknown-arm fast{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001973/19430205/197/0020 |title=Stansted Park |work=Hampshire Telegraph |page=20 |date=5 February 1943 |access-date=24 March 2023 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}

| family =

| club1 = Sussex

| year1 = {{nowrap|1905–1906}}

| club2 = Hampshire

| year2 = 1909

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 8

| runs1 = 203

| bat avg1 = 13.53

| 100s/50s1 = –/–

| top score1 = 43

| deliveries1 = 96

| wickets1 = 4

| bowl avg1 = 12.75

| fivefor1 = –

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = 3/14

| catches/stumpings1 = 2/–

| date = 13 December

| year = 2009

| source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/22428.html Cricinfo

}}

George Wilder (9 June 1876 – 10 June 1948) was an English first-class cricketer.

The son of George Wilder senior and Mary Laura Wilder, he was born at Stansted Park on the Sussex–Hampshire border in June 1876. He was educated at Eton College, before matriculating to St John's College, Oxford. Wilder began his connection with Sussex County Cricket Club in 1901, when he joined the club's committee, a position he would retain until 1905.{{cite web|url=https://crickethistory.website/county/sussex/sussex_committee.pdf|title=Sussex County Cricket Club Committee Members|website=www.crickethistory.website|accessdate=25 March 2023}} Wilder played his club cricket for the cricket club on the Stansted estate grounds, and made his debut in first-class cricket for Sussex against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's in 1905. He played first-class cricket for Sussex until 1906, making six appearances.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6926/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by George Wilder|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=24 March 2023|url-access=subscription}} For Sussex, he scored 147 runs at an average of 13.36, with a highest score of 26.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6926/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by George Wilder|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=24 March 2023|url-access=subscription}} He later played for an England XI against Hambledon in a commemorative first-class match in 1908 at Broadhalfpenny Down. Wilder followed this up with a single appearance for Hampshire against Derbyshire at Southampton in the 1909 County Championship; he took figures of 3 for 14 in Derbyshire's first innings.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/7/7923.html|title=Hampshire v Derbyshire, County Championship 1909|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=24 March 2023|url-access=subscription}} However, it was deemed by the cricketing authorities that he did not meet the qualification criteria to play for Hampshire and thus never featured for the county again.{{cite web|url=https://www.ageasbowl.com/cricket/news/hampshire-and-sussex-crossing-the-divide/|title=Hampshire & Sussex: Crossing The Divide|first=Dave|last=Allen|date=16 January 2022|website=www.ageasbowl.com|accessdate=25 March 2023}}

Wilder inherited Stansted Park following the death of his father in 1896. It was during Wilder's ownership of the estate that the house was destroyed by fire on 27 July 1900, losing many valuables, including carvings by Grinling Gibbons. He had the house rebuilt on the same location in 1903, with this version of the house retained to this day. Wilder sold the Stansted estate to Major Cecil Whittaker in 1913.{{cite book |title=Papers and Proceedings|last=Piper|first=A. Cecil|publisher=Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society|year=1917|pages=300–301|volume=8|url=https://www.hantsfieldclub.org.uk/publications/hampshirestudies/digital/1910s/Vol_8/Piper.pdf|language=en}} Prior to selling the estate, Wilder was active in civic life in nearby Emsworth, laying a commemorative stone to the then under-construction Post Office in 1906.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000290/19060925/091/0005 |title=New Post Office |work=Portsmouth Evening News |page=5 |date=25 September 1906 |access-date=24 March 2023 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} In 1911, his wife, the actress Una Evelyn Mazie Wilder, whom he wanted to divorce for misconduct, fled to the United States. Wilder eventually traced her to New York City and began divorce proceedings.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/04/26/archives/sues-actress-wife-after-oversea-hunt-englishmans-new-york-detective.html|title=Sues Actress Wife After Oversea Hunt; Englishman's New York Detectives Find Her Here After Fooling Her London Detective.|date=26 April 1911|work=New York Times|accessdate=24 March 2023|url-access=subscription}} His wife was charged with threats to kill in March 1912, having wrote a letter which stated: "George Wilder, the day you get a divorce will be your last on Earth. You shall be shot through the heart. So take warning".{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19120315/010/0001 |title=Divorcee charged |work=Dundee Evening Telegraph |page=1 |date=15 March 1912 |access-date=24 March 2023 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} Wilder died a day after his 72nd birthday, on 10 June 1948 at Las Vegas in the United States.