Frederick Gale
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | July 16, 1823 Woodborough, Wiltshire | ||||||||||||||
| Died | April 24, 1904 (aged 80) London Charterhouse, City of London | ||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Old Buffer | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1845 | Kent | ||||||||||||||
| 1845 | Gentlemen of Kent | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Source: CricketArchive, 18 June 2025 | |||||||||||||||
Frederick Gale (16 July 1823 – 24 April 1904) was an English cricket writer and cricketer who played in two first-class cricket matches in 1845.
By profession Gale was a solicitor in Westminster and a Parliamentary agent, but he was also a prolific writer and journalist, often using the pen name "Old Buffer".[1][2][3] His books included The Game of Cricket and the ghost-written memoirs of the cricketer Robert Grimston. As a journalist and columnist he contributed to Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, continuing to write until his death.[2]
Gale was born at Woodborough in Wiltshire, the son of a Church of England clergyman who was rector of Godmersham between 1829 and 1864.[4] He was educated at Winchester College.[5] He played in the Winchester cricket XI and later as an amateur cricketer for a variety of teams, including teams representing Surrey, but his two matches for Kent County Cricket Club and the Gentlemen of Kent in 1845 are the only ones to have been accorded first-class status.[5][6]
Living for many years at Mitcham in Surrey, Gale took a keen interest in Surrey County Cricket Club.[1] He married Claudia Severn in 1852; the couple had a son and four daughters.[4] Gale moved to Manitoba in Canada in 1891 but later returned to England and was a visitor at The Oval until the year before his death.[1] He died in 1904 at the age of 80 at the London Charterhouse in the City of London.[1][5]
Books
- Public School Matches and Those We Meet There, 1853 & 1867
- Ups and Downs of a Public School, 1859
- Echoes from Old Cricket Fields, 1871
- Memoir of Hon. R. Grimston, 1885
- Modern English Sports, 1885
- Sports and Recreations, 1885
- The Game of Cricket, 1887
References
- ^ a b c d Frederick Gale, Obituary, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1905. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
- ^ a b Obituary: Mr Fred Gale, The Times, 26 April 1904, p. 10
- ^ Norman, Philip (1912). . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 2. pp. 69–70.
- ^ a b Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914 (revised edition), pp. 190–191. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)
- ^ a b c Frederick Gale, CricInfo. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
- ^ Fred Gale, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-07-16. (subscription required)