Martin Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke

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The Right Honourable

The Lord Hawke

Lord Hawke, c. 1899
Personal information
Full name	Martin Bladen Hawke
Born	(1860-08-16)16 August 1860 Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England
Died	10 October 1938(1938-10-10) (aged 78) Edinburgh, Scotland
Batting	Right-handed
Role	Batsman
Relations	Anthony Tew (nephew) John Tew (nephew)
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 96)	13 February 1896 v South Africa
Last Test	4 April 1899 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1881–1911	Yorkshire
1882–1885	Cambridge University
1884–1912	MCC
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 5 633 Runs scored 55 16,749 Batting average 7.85 20.15 100s/50s 0/0 13/69 Top score 30 166 Balls bowled 0 20 Wickets – 0 Bowling average – – 5 wickets in innings – – 10 wickets in match – – Best bowling – – Catches/stumpings 3/– 209/–
Source: CricketArchive, 18 July 2010

Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke (16 August 1860 – 10 October 1938), generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer active from 1881 to 1911 who played for Yorkshire and England. He was born in Willingham by Stow, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and died in Edinburgh. He appeared in 633 first-class matches, including five Test matches, as a righthanded batsman, scoring 16,749 runs with a highest score of 166 and held 209 catches. He scored 13 centuries and 69 half-centuries.^[1]

Since an 1870 inheritance of his father, Hawke was styled Hon.; he inherited the barony on 5 December 1887 on the death of his father, Rev. Rt. Hon. Edward Henry Julius Hawke, Rector of Willingham 1854–1875, after which the family returned to its seat (main home held for a generation or more), Wighill House and Park, near Tadcaster, Yorkshire. Admiral Hawke, the first Baron, was among the few Admirals elevated for his roles during the Seven Years' War: at the Battle of Quiberon Bay, off Nantes, France, and promoting the Western Squadron blockade of France.

Hawke was educated at Eton, where he was a member of the school cricket eleven in 1878 and 1879. As he had been a moderate scholar, his father decided he should receive private tuition at home for two years. In October 1881, Hawke went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Cambridge University Cricket Club team from 1882 to 1885. He won a Cambridge blue three times: in 1882, 1883 and 1885. He was captain of the Cambridge team in the 1885 season.

After Hawke left Eton in July 1879 and began his two years of private tuition, he was invited by the Reverend Edmund Carter to play for the Yorkshire Gentlemen's Cricket Club, which was based at the Yorkshire Gentlemen Cricket Club Ground in York. Living at Wighill Park since 1875 had given Hawke a residential qualification to play for the county club.

In September 1881, Carter invited him to the Scarborough Festival where he made his first-class debut for Yorkshire against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Hawke went to Cambridge a month later and played for the university team from May to July 1882 before returning to Yorkshire. At this time, Hawke was usually the only amateur in the Yorkshire team. He refused the captaincy at first, saying he wanted to learn the job by playing under the professional captain, Test bowler Tom Emmett. Hawke was formally appointed club captain for the 1883 season, though he was still at Cambridge, and held the post until 1910. He remains the most successful county captain ever, Yorkshire winning the County Championship a record eight times during his tenure.

As a captain, Hawke was noted for taking a strong, and some would say paternalistic, interest in the welfare of his professional players. Certain aspects of this policy caused resentment but he was on the whole respected for it. Even so, he was strict on discipline and expelled the England bowler Bobby Peel from first-class cricket after he went out to play in a drunken state.

During his playing career, Hawke became an influential figure in cricket administration. He was elected Yorkshire club president in 1898, while still captaining the team, and held the post until his death. He had a missionary-like zeal to develop cricket overseas and undertook nine tours as a player between 1887–88 and 1911–12, leading teams to Australia, India (twice), North America (twice), South Africa (twice), the West Indies and Argentina. All five of Hawke's Test appearances were made in South Africa. He captained the England team four times and was always on the winning side.

After he retired from playing, Hawke became a major figure at MCC as well as at Yorkshire. He was appointed President of MCC for 1914 and retained the post, which is normally an annual appointment, through the First World War. He was appointed Honorary Treasurer of MCC from 1932 to 1937. As an administrator, he held considerable influence but came under some criticism. He was accused of inactivity at the time of the Bodyline controversy. Most famously, he was disparaged for his oft-quoted and oft-misquoted statement: "Pray God, no professional shall ever captain England". Hawke's biographer noted that "his blunders on numerous public forums were to blight his declining years".

Hawke married in 1916 but he and his wife had no children. After 1924, when the lease on Wighill Park expired, the couple lived in North Berwick. His wife died in 1936 and Hawke himself died in hospital following a collapse at his home. He was succeeded as Baron Hawke by his younger brother.