Michael Packe
Encyclopedia
Michael St John Packe was an English
historian, biographer, and cricket
er. He was the author of The Life of John Stuart Mill (1954), and four other historical works. A right-handed batsman, he played for Leicestershire County Cricket Club
between 1936 and 1939, captaining
them in 1939. He also played first-class cricket
for Cambridge University
and represented the Egypt national cricket team
.
in 1916, Michael Packe was the younger brother of Charles and Robert Packe, both of whom also played cricket for Leicestershire. He was educated at Wellington College
and the University of Cambridge
, where he read history. During World War II he served in the Royal Army Service Corps in the First Airborne Division, where he attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1944 he was awarded the Dutch Bronze Cross after the Battle of Arnhem
, and in late 1945 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE). In 1946 he was demobilized and moved to Alderney
, where he grew vegetables commercially, wrote, and was involved in the island cricket team. He was married to Kathryn Packe, a niece of Edith Wharton
. He died of a brain tumor on Alderney
in 1978.
"the definitive biography of Mill for which we have so long been waiting." Other reviewers were more cautious. Lionel Robbins
of the London School of Economics criticized the Life for neglecting Mill's economic thought, for demoting prominent philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham
to the status of comic relief, and for using "a method of presentation which makes it very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction." But Robbins conceded that the book "abounds in new information" and that "it is certainly safe to say that in future no one who wishes to write seriously about Mill can afford to neglect what he [Packe] has done." Later biographers of Mill continued to cite Packe's work; in his 2004 biography of Mill, Nicholas Capaldi called Packe's biography "a gold mine of information," although "the stress is more on the life than on the thought."
Packe's next book, The Bombs of Orsini (1957) was a biography of Felice Orsini
, an Italian revolutionary who tried to assassinate Napoleon III. In 1966 he and Maurice Dreyfuss published The Alderney Story, 1939-49, an account of Alderney's wartime occupation and liberation compiled while living witnesses were still available. Packe then began work on a biography of Edward III, but the book was incomplete when he died. This last book was completed by L.C.B. Seaman and published in 1983 as King Edward III (ISBN 0710090242).
in June 1936, playing for the University against the Free Foresters
the following week. He first played for Leicestershire in August that year, in a County Championship
match against Northamptonshire
. He played five more County Championship matches for Leicestershire that month.
He did not play for his university team in the 1937 season
, but did play nine first-class matches for Leicestershire - seven in the County Championship, one against Oxford University
and one against New Zealand. He played just four matches in 1938, all for Cambridge University, including one against Australia. His last match for the university was against Nottinghamshire
.
In April 1939 he played for Egypt against HM Martineau's XI
in Cairo
. Back in England, he captained Leicestershire during the 1939
, playing in 18 County Championship matches in addition to matches against Cambridge University, Oxford University and the West Indies. His last first-class match was against Derbyshire
.
On Alderney he served as judge for the local cricket team History of Alderney Cricket, and he left Alderney each year to attend the Lord's Test.
at an average of 18.86. He made just one century
, an innings of 118 for Leicestershire against Glamorgan
in 1936, described by Wisden
as "brilliant". He took one wicket, that of Yorkshire's
Arthur Wood in 1939.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
historian, biographer, and 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. He was the author of The Life of John Stuart Mill (1954), and four other historical works. A right-handed batsman, he played for Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
between 1936 and 1939, captaining
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
them in 1939. He also 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...
for Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
and represented the Egypt national cricket team
Egypt national cricket team
The Egypt national cricket team was the team that represented the country of Egypt in international cricket matches. They were active from 1909 until World War II.-Early years:...
.
Personal life
Born in EastbourneEastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
in 1916, Michael Packe was the younger brother of Charles and Robert Packe, both of whom also played cricket for Leicestershire. He was educated at Wellington College
Wellington College, Berkshire
-Former pupils:Notable former pupils include historian P. J. Marshall, architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, impressionist Rory Bremner, Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge, author Sebastian Faulks, language school pioneer John Haycraft, political journalist Robin Oakley, actor Sir Christopher...
and the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, where he read history. During World War II he served in the Royal Army Service Corps in the First Airborne Division, where he attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1944 he was awarded the Dutch Bronze Cross after the Battle of Arnhem
Battle of Arnhem
The Battle of Arnhem was a famous Second World War military engagement fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Driel and the surrounding countryside from 17–26 September 1944....
, and in late 1945 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE). In 1946 he was demobilized and moved to Alderney
Alderney
Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The area is , making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick...
, where he grew vegetables commercially, wrote, and was involved in the island cricket team. He was married to Kathryn Packe, a niece of Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
. He died of a brain tumor on Alderney
Alderney
Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The area is , making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick...
in 1978.
Published Historical Works
Packe's first book was First Airborne (1948), reprinted in 1988 as Winged Stallion: Fighting and Training with the First Airborne (ISBN 0713720379). In 1954 he published the work for which he is best known, The Life of John Stuart Mill. The book was generally well-received. It was called by Friedrich HayekFriedrich Hayek
Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...
"the definitive biography of Mill for which we have so long been waiting." Other reviewers were more cautious. Lionel Robbins
Lionel Robbins
Lionel Charles Robbins, Baron Robbins, FBA was a British economist and head of the economics department at the London School of Economics...
of the London School of Economics criticized the Life for neglecting Mill's economic thought, for demoting prominent philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
to the status of comic relief, and for using "a method of presentation which makes it very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction." But Robbins conceded that the book "abounds in new information" and that "it is certainly safe to say that in future no one who wishes to write seriously about Mill can afford to neglect what he [Packe] has done." Later biographers of Mill continued to cite Packe's work; in his 2004 biography of Mill, Nicholas Capaldi called Packe's biography "a gold mine of information," although "the stress is more on the life than on the thought."
Packe's next book, The Bombs of Orsini (1957) was a biography of Felice Orsini
Felice Orsini
Felice Orsini was an Italian revolutionary and leader of the Carbonari who tried to assassinate Napoleon III, Emperor of the French.-Early:Felice Orsini was born at Meldola in Romagna, then part of the Papal States....
, an Italian revolutionary who tried to assassinate Napoleon III. In 1966 he and Maurice Dreyfuss published The Alderney Story, 1939-49, an account of Alderney's wartime occupation and liberation compiled while living witnesses were still available. Packe then began work on a biography of Edward III, but the book was incomplete when he died. This last book was completed by L.C.B. Seaman and published in 1983 as King Edward III (ISBN 0710090242).
Cricket career
Packe made his first-class debut for Cambridge University against EssexEssex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
in June 1936, playing for the University against the Free Foresters
Free Foresters Cricket Club
Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' club, having no home ground....
the following week. He first played for Leicestershire in August that year, in a County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
match against Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
. He played five more County Championship matches for Leicestershire that month.
He did not play for his university team in the 1937 season
1937 English cricket season
-Honours:*County Championship - Yorkshire*Minor Counties Championship - Lancashire II*Wisden - Tom Goddard, Joe Hardstaff, Leonard Hutton, Jim Parks senior, Eddie Paynter-Test series:England defeated New Zealand 1-0 with two matches drawn....
, but did play nine first-class matches for Leicestershire - seven in the County Championship, one against Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
and one against New Zealand. He played just four matches in 1938, all for Cambridge University, including one against Australia. His last match for the university was against Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
.
In April 1939 he played for Egypt against HM Martineau's XI
Hubert Martineau
Hubert Melville Martineau was an English patron of cricket and organiser of his own team. He also played three first-class matches between 1931 and 1932...
in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. Back in England, he captained Leicestershire during the 1939
1939 English cricket season
The 1939 English cricket season was the last before the Second World War and it was not until 1946 that first-class cricket could resume in England on a normal basis....
, playing in 18 County Championship matches in addition to matches against Cambridge University, Oxford University and the West Indies. His last first-class match was against Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
.
On Alderney he served as judge for the local cricket team History of Alderney Cricket, and he left Alderney each year to attend the Lord's Test.
Cricket Statistics
In his 41 first-class matches, Packe scored 1151 runsRun (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
at an average of 18.86. He made just one century
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
, an innings of 118 for Leicestershire against Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
in 1936, described by Wisden
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
as "brilliant". He took one wicket, that of Yorkshire's
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
Arthur Wood in 1939.