Evelyn Hill

Evelyn Vernon Llewellyn Hill (18 April 1907 – 25 October 1953) played first-class cricket for Somerset from 1926 to 1929.[1] He was born at Cyntwell, Cardiff, Wales and died at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

Evelyn Hill
Personal information
Full nameEvelyn Vernon Llewellyn Hill
Born(1907-04-18)18 April 1907
Cyntwell, Cardiff, Wales
Died25 October 1953(1953-10-25) (aged 46)
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast
RoleBowler
RelationsFather Vernon, brother Mervyn
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1926–29Somerset
First-class debut8 May 1926 Somerset v Worcestershire
Last First-class26 July 1929 Somerset v Nottinghamshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 13
Runs scored 134
Batting average 16.75
100s/50s –/–
Top score 32
Balls bowled 1830
Wickets 33
Bowling average 32.03
5 wickets in innings 2
10 wickets in match –
Best bowling 5/36
Catches/stumpings 9/–
Source: CricketArchive, 25 January 2011

Family and background

Evelyn Hill's father was the Somerset and Oxford University cricketer Vernon Hill, who had moved back to south Wales to practise as a lawyer in the late 1890s. Vernon Hill's own father, Sir Edward Stock Hill, had a career that similarly straddled the Severn Estuary, with business interests and his home in Cardiff, but acting as Member of Parliament for Bristol South from 1886 to 1900.[2] Evelyn's older brother, Mervyn Hill, played cricket for Somerset, Glamorgan and Cambridge University between 1921 and 1932.

Cricket career

Hill was a lower-order right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. He was educated at Eton College where in 1925 he took seven Winchester College first-innings wickets for 53 runs and was, according to Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, the team's "greatest potential match-winner", though he was rated as inconsistent: "He does bowl fast and he does make the ball bounce, though as yet he lacks strength and stamina," it wrote, recommending that Oxford University take an interest in him when he went there after his school career was over.[3] It is not clear whether Hill ever did go to Oxford: at the start of the 1926 cricket season, he was in the Somerset side for two matches, with a third in mid-June. In these matches he was more successful as a batsman than as a bowler. Against Middlesex at Lord's he made 32 of a last-wicket partnership of 59 with George Hunt and this was to be his highest first-class score.[4] And in the June game he almost matched this by hitting an unbeaten 30 against Hampshire.[5]

Early in 1927, Hill joined the Territorial Army, where his induction record as a second lieutenant mentions his previous service only in terms of his membership of the officer training corps at Eton, suggesting he had not gone to Oxford University.[6] In the 1927 cricket season, Hill played three further matches for Somerset and in the second of these, against Derbyshire at Taunton he finally made an impression as a bowler, taking four wickets for 98 runs in Derbyshire's first innings.[7] He then improved on this in 1928, his best season, by taking five Worcestershire wickets for 36 in the match at Stourbridge, the best return of his career.[8] In his next Somerset match, against Surrey at Taunton, Hill took five for 85 in Surrey's first innings.[9] But just a week later he broke down in the match against Sussex at Hove.[10] He returned for one final first-class match in 1929 but was not successful.

Military career

Hill joined the Territorial Army's Somerset Light Infantry unit and was promoted from second lieutenant to full lieutenant in February 1930.[11] He resigned his commission in 1933.[12] He returned to his rank as a lieutenant on the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939.[13] By the time he next relinquished his commission in September 1952, he had reached the rank of Major (Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel) and was allowed to keep the rank of lieutenant-colonel in retirement.[14]

References
  1. "Evelyn Hill". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  2. "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "B" (part 6)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  3. "Public School Cricket in 1925". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1926 ed.). Wisden. pp. 302–306.
  4. "Scorecard: Middlesex v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 12 May 1926. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  5. "Scorecard: Somerset v Hampshire". www.cricketarchive.com. 9 June 1926. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  6. "No. 33264". The London Gazette. 8 April 1927. p. 2313.
  7. "Scorecard: Somerset v Derbyshire". www.cricketarchive.com. 8 June 1927. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  8. "Scorecard: Worcestershire v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 9 June 1928. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  9. "Scorecard: Somerset v Surrey". www.cricketarchive.com. 23 June 1928. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  10. "Somerset Matches". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1929 ed.). Wisden. p. 382.
  11. "No. 33580". The London Gazette. 18 February 1930. p. 1053.
  12. "No. 33971". The London Gazette. 22 August 1933. p. 5553.
  13. "No. 34703". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 October 1939. p. 6781.
  14. "No. 39635". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 September 1952. p. 4654.
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