Vernon Hill - a short profile by Andrew Hignell

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Player:

VT Hill

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DateLine: 30th December 2007

 

Vernon Hill won Blues at Oxford in 1892 and 1893, and won fame as a bold striker of the ball after a fine innings of 114 in the 1892 Varsity Match. Hill also played county cricket for Somerset, making a career best 116 against Kent at Taunton in 1898, before returning to his native South Wales at the turn of the century. He duly took over the captaincy of Cardiff C.C. and then played a highly important role off the field, helping his good friend Joseph Brain in staging a number of fund-raising fixtures at Cardiff which helped to boost the county`s finances.

 

Hill was influential in persuading several well-known amateurs to turn out in these exhibition games, and it was Hill`s idea that the county should stage an annual Gents-Players match as part of a weekly festival of cricket at the Arms Park. As a result, the county reaped many social and financial benefits, and without the cash raised from these annual fixtures, it is doubtful if Glamorgan would have been able to start their campaign in search of first class status.

 

Hill himself made a handful of appearances in Minor County Championship matches in 1905 for Glamorgan, although his best years were behind him, and his contributions were quite modest. Even so, his classical strokeplay was still evident in club cricket, and Hill continued to be a heavy run scorer for Cardiff C.C. and the M.C.C.

 

He was the son of Sir E.S.Hill of Llandaff, who was the Conservative M.P. for Bristol, and he had a successful career as a lawyer. By the outbreak of the Great War, Hill had moved back to the West Country, and in 1930 he served as President of Somerset C.C.C.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 Dr.A.K.Hignell)