Henry Smoker

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Henry Smoker

| image =

| fullname = Henry George Smoker

| birth_date = {{birth date|1881|3|1|df=y}}

| birth_place = Hinton Ampner, Hampshire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|1966|9|7|1881|3|1|df=y}}

| death_place = Wallasey, Cheshire, England

| height =

| position = Outside-left

| youthyears1 =

| years1 = 1900–1904

| clubs1 = Southampton

| caps1 = 2

| goals1 = 0

| module =

{{Infobox cricketer|child=yes

| name =

| image =

| country = England

| fullname =

| nickname =

| family = George Smoker (father)

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| batting = Left-handed

| bowling = Right-arm medium-fast

| role =

| club1 = Hampshire

| year1 = 1901–1907

| club2 = Cheshire

| year2 = 1909–1925

| deliveries =

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 31

| runs1 = 334

| bat avg1 = 9.54

| 100s/50s1 = –/–

| top score1 = 39*

| deliveries1 = 1,416

| wickets1 = 33

| bowl avg1 = 22.21

| fivefor1 = 2

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = 7/35

| catches/stumpings1 = 18/–

| date = 10 September

| year = 2009

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/20276.html CricInfo

}}}}

Henry George Smoker (1 March 1881 – 7 September 1966) was an English sportsman who played football for Southampton and first-class cricket for Hampshire. He also played minor counties cricket for Cheshire.

Football career

The son of George Smoker who had played cricket for Hampshire in the 1880s, he was born at Hinton Ampner near Alresford in Hampshire in March 1881.{{cite web|url=https://www.saintsplayers.co.uk/player/george-smoker/|title=George Smoker|website=www.saintsplayers.co.uk|access-date=27 May 2024}} Smoker signed for Southampton of the Southern Football League in the close-season of 1900, but spent most of his career at The Dell in the reserves. Described as "a speedy left-winger who favoured taking on the full-back rather than delivering the early cross",{{cite book|title=The Alphabet of the Saints|first1=Duncan|last1=Holley|first2=Gary|last2=Chalk|publisher=ACL & Polar Publishing|location=Leicester|year=1992|pages=316–317|isbn=0951486233|language=en}} he eventually made his first-team debut over three years after joining Southampton when he took the place of the injured Dick Evans for the match against Wellingborough Town on 7 November 1903.{{cite book|title=Saints – A complete record|first1=Gary|last1=Chalk|first2=Duncan|last2=Holley|publisher=Breedon Books|location=Peterborough|year=1987|pages=34–35|isbn=0907969224}} His only other appearance for Southampton came on 2 January 1904; Evans was now out with a serious leg injury and trainer Bill Dawson had tried to fill the vacancy at outside-left, firstly with John Fraser and then Harry Turner, before settling on Joe Turner, with Southampton going on to claim their sixth, and last, Southern League championship. In the summer of 1904, Smoker decided to quit professional football to concentrate on his cricket career.

Cricket career

Smoker made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Lancashire at Portsmouth in the 1901 County Championship.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6855/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Henry Smoker|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} His most prolific season was in 1907, when he played eleven matches, though he missed part of the season due to measles.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1907/275/index.html#zoom=z|title=Hampshire v. Warwickshire|magazine=Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game|location=London|date=11 July 1907|page=268|issue=756|volume=26|access-date=27 May 2024}} In this season, he took 31 wickets with his right-arm medium-fast bowling at an average of 19.41, including two five wicket hauls.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6855/f_Bowling_by_Season.html|title=First-Class Bowling in Each Season by Henry Smoker|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} His best bowling came against the touring South Africans at Southampton in 1907, taking 7 for 35 in the South Africans first innings.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/7/7297.html|title=Hampshire v South Africans, South Africa in British Isles 1907|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} In 31 first-class appearances for Hampshire, he scored 334 runs at a batting average of 9.54,{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6855/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Henry Smoker|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} while with the ball he took 33 wickets at an average of 22.21.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6855/f_Bowling_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Bowling For Each Team by Henry Smoker|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}

Smoker left Hampshire at the end of the 1907 season to become the professional at New Brighton Cricket Club of the Liverpool Competition for the 1908 season.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000986/19080803/034/0003|title=Liverpool and District notes|work=Athletic News|location=Manchester|page=3|date=3 August 1908|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} Beginning in 1909, he began playing Minor Counties Cricket for Cheshire, making his debut in the Minor Counties Championship against Staffordshire.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6855/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html|title=Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Henry Smoker|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} Before the First World War, he played in the Lancashire League for Colne in 1912 and 1913.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000283/19130607/168/0012|title=Burnley resolutions|work=Burnley Express|page=12|date=7 June 1913|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} During the war, he served in the British Army as a sergeant with the Royal Field Artillery on the Western Front. Following the war, he returned to minor counties cricket with Cheshire, for whom he played for until 1925.

Later life

After retiring from playing, he became groundsman and cricket coach at Birkenhead School in 1930, a position he held until 1960.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkxkrgEACAAJ|title=All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC|first1=Gary|last1=Chalk|first2=Duncan|last2=Holley|first3=David|last3=Bull|year=2013|publisher=Hagiology Publishing|location=Bristol|page=177|isbn=9780992686406|language=en}} Smoker died at Wallasey in September 1966.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19660919/163/0009|title=Mr. George Smoker: Death of Merseyside cricket stalwart|work=Liverpool Echo|page=9|date=19 September 1966|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} He was married to the sister of Victor Norbury, who also played cricket for Hampshire and football for Southampton.