Charles Sweet

Charles Francis Long Sweet (29 November 1860 – 24 January 1932) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club during the 1880s. He made five first-class and seven second-class appearances for the county as a lower-order batsman.

Life and career

Sweet attended Winchester College and played for the school cricket team, appearing against Eton College in 1879.^[1] He then entered Keble College, Oxford University, where he played in the freshmen's trial and the seniors trial in 1880 and 1882 respectively, but did not earn a place on the university team.^[2] As a student, he got a fourth-class degree in modern history.^[3] He made his county debut for Somerset while the side was still a second-class county, debuting against Leicestershire in 1880. He scored three runs in the first innings, and a further eleven in the second, helping Somerset to an 85-run victory.^[4] Sweet scored his highest total for the county, 26 not out while playing against the "Gentlemen of Devon" in 1880, a match in which Somerset reached 357 and achieved an innings victory.^[5]

He made his debut first-class appearance during Somerset's maiden year as a first-class county, scoring three runs in the first innings, followed by two in the second against Gloucestershire in 1882.^[6] He played three more times that year, during which he reached his highest first-class total, scoring 16 runs against Hampshire, and finishing not out in the innings.^[7] He made one further appearance, in 1883, before playing no further notable cricket.

Sweet married Edith Maud Walrond on 6 July 1887, and the pair had three children; George Charles, Dorothy Maud and Leonard Herbert, all of whom adopted the double barrelled surname Walrond Sweet.^[8] He was a minister in the Church of England, and acted as rector of Symondsbury, and as curate of St Nicholas Church in Winterborne Kingston. In 1902 he moved from a post as vicar of Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire, to be vicar at Stourpaine, Dorset.^[9]

References