ALBERT HORNBY – A Victorian Sporting Great By Margaret Brecknell
Albert Neilson Hornby was born 175 years ago in Blackburn, on 10th February 1847. His father, William Henry Hornby, was a successful local businessman, who owned a cotton mill in nearby Brookhouse and would later serve as the town’s first Mayor and its MP. Albert would go on to enjoy even greater fame as one of the Victorian era’s bestknown sportsmen.
T
he first hint of young Albert’s future sporting success came during his time at Harrow School, when he played twice for the school in the annual cricket fixture against Eton at Lord’s Cricket Ground. He was so diminutive in stature at the time that he was called “the Little Cricket Wonder”. His schoolmates came up with a slightly less complimentary sobriquet, calling him “Monkey” because of his lack of height and seemingly limitless energy. The latter nickname would continue to be used on occasion throughout Hornby’s long sporting career. In 1861 the Hornby family moved to Shrewbridge Hall, which was situated close to Nantwich in Cheshire. The talented young Hornby began to make regular appearances for the Cheshire cricket team from 1862 onwards, as well as playing in the town of his birth for the then recently formed Blackburn Alexandra Cricket Club. Later, in 1892, this club, under the name of the East Lancashire Cricket Club, became one of the founder members of the Lancashire League and is still going strong today.
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LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
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