Joseph Gibbs (cricketer)
Joseph Arthur Gibbs (25 November 1867 – 13 May 1899) was an English cricketer who made ten first-class appearances between 1891 and 1896. He played five first-class matches for Somerset, and also appeared for the MCC and I Zingari. He also published a number of books, including A Cotswold Village; or, country life and pursuits in Gloucestershire and The Improvement of Cricket Grounds on economical principles.
Life and career
Gibbs was educated at Eton College, and then Christ Church, Oxford. He spent two years with the family banking firm in London before moving to Ablington, near Cirencester in 1892, where he lived as the squire of a small estate at Ablington Manor. He died of sudden heart failure in 1899, aged only 31.
Cricket career
While at Oxford, Gibbs played in a one-day, single innings match against Eton College, opening the batting and scoring 10 runs, and then claiming two wickets as Eton beat them by seven wickets. The next summer he played two matches for Somerset, during their successful 1890 season. During these matches, he averaged 25 while batting in the lower order. His first-class debut came in the following season, after Somerset's readmission to the first-class game. Playing against Lancashire at the County Ground, Taunton, Gibbs made six in both innings during a nine wicket defeat. That was his only first-class appearance of the season, his next coming eleven months later, playing for H Hewett's XII against Cambridge University. He followed this up with two matches for I Zingari in Ireland, and a further two for the MCC at Lord's.