Charles James Barnett was an English amateur cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who played first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 from 1820 to 1837 and a Whig

British Whig Party

The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 from 1831 to 1835.

Barnett was born in Kensington, London the son of James Barnett

James Barnett (MP)

James Barnett was an English banker and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1806 and 1820.Barnett was the son of Charles Barnett and his wife Bridget Clayton, daughter of Alexander Clayton...

, a banker and politician, and his wife Ann.

Mainly associated with Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 (MCC), Barnett made 29 known appearances in first-class matches. He represented the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players

Gentlemen v Players

The Gentlemen v Players game was a first-class cricket match that was generally played on an annual basis between one team consisting of amateurs and one of professionals . The first two games took place in 1806 but the fixture was not revived until 1819. It was more or less annual thereafter...

 series.

In 1825, Barnett became the first (i.e., the first known) president of MCC. This is an annual appointment and he was succeeded by Lord Frederick Beauclerk

Lord Frederick Beauclerk

Lord Frederick Beauclerk was an outstanding but controversial English first-class cricketer for 35 years from 1791 to 1825. On his retirement, he served as president of Marylebone Cricket Club in 1826.Beauclerk was the fourth son of the 5th Duke of St Albans and became a clergyman. He was Vicar...

 for 1826. There may have been earlier presidents but there is no record of them and it was on 28 July 1825 that the Lord's pavilion

Lord's Cricket Ground

Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...

 was burned down with the loss of all club records.

Barnett was elected Whig Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Maidstone

Maidstone (UK Parliament constituency)

Maidstone was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The parliamentary borough of Maidstone returned two Members of Parliament from 1552 until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one member...

 in 1831 and held the seat until 1835.

Barnet was a J.P.

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 and Deputy Lieutenant

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

 and in 1881 was living
in Brighton. He died at Brighton at the age of 86

Barnett married Sabine Louisa Curtis daughter of Sir William Curtis Bt

Curtis Baronets

There have been two Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Curtis, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. One creation is extant as of 2007....

 at Marylebone on 29 June 1839.

External links