| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | William Western Knatchbull-Hugessen |
| Born | 23 May 1837 Mersham Hatch, Kent |
| Died | 6 September 1864 (aged 27) St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex |
| Batting | Right-handed |
| Relations | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet (father) Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne (brother) Henry Knatchbull (uncle) Cecil Knatchbull-Hugessen, 4th Baron Brabourne (nephew) |
| Domestic team information | |
| Years | Team |
| 1856–1860 | Gentlemen of Kent |
| 1859 | Kent |
| FC debut | 29 July 1858 Gentlemen of Kent v Gentlemen of England |
| Last FC | 25 July 1859 Kent v Middlesex |
Source: CricInfo, 1 August 2021 | |
William Western Knatchbull-Hugessen (23 May 1837 – 6 September 1864) was an English amateur cricketer who played in three first-class cricket matches in 1858 and 1859.
The youngest son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet and his second wife Fanny, Knatchbull-Hugessen was born William Western Knatchbull at the family estate of Mersham-le-Hatch near Ashford in Kent in 1837.[1][2] Hugessen was added to the family name following the death of Sir Edward in 1849 as a condition of the will.[3] He was educated at Eton College before going up to Magdalen College, Oxford in 1855.[1][4]
Despite not playing for either the Eton or Oxford cricket teams, Knatchbull-Huggesen played cricket for the Gentlemen of Kent side between 1856 and 1860, generally as a wicket-keeper. He made two appearances for the side in matches which have been given first-class status, both in 1858 against Gentlemen of England sides.[5][6] He was a member of the management committee which set up the Maidstone based Kent County Club in 1859 and played one first-class match for the side that year.[5][6] In his three first-class matches he scored a total of 33 runs with his highest score of nine coming in his match for Kent. He did not bowl.[5]
At the 1861 census, Knatchbull-Hugessen was farming at Provender House at Norton, close to Faversham in Kent,[5] an estate which had been in the Hugessen family since the 17th-century.[7] He resigned from the Kent management committee in 1863 due to ill health and died of tuberculosis at St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex in September 1864, aged 27.[5][8] A memorial tablet was erected in the church of St John the Baptist in Mersham.[2]
Knatchbull-Hugessen's brother, Edward became the first Baron Brabourne in 1880. Edward's son Cecil, who later became the fourth Baron Brabourne, also played first-class cricket, mainly playing for Cambridge University, but also made one appearance for Kent.[9][10][11] His uncle, Henry Knatchbull had played for Kent sides between 1827 and 1848 whilst Knatchbull-Hugessen's brother, Henry Thomas, took his place on the Kent management committee and was the club's president in 1880.[5][12]