John Bowra
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John Bowra (born in 1716 at Sevenoaks, Kent; died December 1785, also at Sevenoaks) was a noted English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period.
John Bowra (pronounced Borra) can surely be identified with the "Mr. Boarer", one of the "three very good gamesters" who assisted London in a match on Kennington Common in 1739. Later, in the 1740s, he appeared in several great matches on the Artillery Ground as "John Borah" and probably represented Kent against Surrey in 1745 when the team was drawn entirely from Bromley, Bexley and Eltham.
By the time of his marriage, at Chislehurst on 8 December 1744, he had already settled in Bromley where his children were christened between 1745 and 1752. But he seems to have returned to his native town as his wife Sarah and daughter Mary were both buried at Sevenoaks in 1755. Bowra is believed to have been a shepherd employed by John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset and he was probably "the Kentish shepherd" who headed an eleven against "Long Tom" (i.e., Tom Faulkner) of Surrey on Kennington Common in 1748.
William Bowra who played in the latter part of the 18th century is believed to have been his son.
[edit] References
- At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 – 1751 by F S Ashley-Cooper in Cricket Magazine (1900) (ASW)
- Cricket Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS)
- Early Kent Cricketers by John Goulstone (EKC)
- Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18)
- Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV)
- From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT)
- The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
