John Firth (cricketer)


John D'Ewes Evelyn Firth was a schoolboy cricketer at Winchester College during the First World War. He went on to become a Church of England clergyman. He was born in Nottingham, and died in Winchester.

Cricketer

A leg-break and googly bowler, Firth took all 10 wickets for 41 runs in a match against Eton College in 1917 and was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year among a selection of five public school bowlers in the 1918 almanack, there being no first-class cricket to report on. In a first-class career of just four matches, Firth played twice for Oxford University and twice for Nottinghamshire.

Career

Firth became a schoolmaster and chaplain at Winchester College and wrote several books about the school, where his nickname was "Budge" Firth. He later became Master of the Temple and was canon emeritus of Winchester Cathedral at the time of his death.