Thomas French (cricketer)

Thomas Lee French (10 June 1821 – 7 April 1909) was an English landowner and clergyman who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Cambridge Town and minor cricket for amateur teams in East Anglia.^[1] He was born at Eye, Suffolk and died at Menton in the south of France.

As a cricketer, French appeared for Cambridge University between 1841 and 1844.^[1] He played three times in the University match against Oxford University, being joint captain with George Boudier in 1843 when his 32 in the second innings of a low-scoring game contributed to a Cambridge victory.^[2] French appears to have been regarded largely as a batsman, though it is not known whether he was right- or left-handed, but he also kept wicket on occasion and took two recorded wickets as a bowler in first-class games.^[1] After leaving Cambridge University, his cricket was confined to lesser matches, but as late as 1878, when he was 57, he was playing for Suffolk in a two-day match, albeit not successfully.^[3]

French was ordained as a Church of England clergyman when he left Cambridge and from 1845 to his death he was the rector of Thrandeston, Suffolk.^[4] The post was a benefice in the gift of the Bateman family who owned nearby Brome Hall.^[5] French himself was also an extensive landowner and held public and judicial office: he was reported to be the last Freeman of Eye, chairman of the local Poor Law Trust and a member of the East Suffolk County Council.^[4][5]

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