Description
Horton, Bradford, Yorkshire born Arthur Lupton was a career soldier who made his debut in first class cricket in 1908. A left-handed batsman, he had a modest overall record, despite the large number of games that he played, which totalled 109. In those matches he scored 724 runs at 10.34 with a highest score of 43 not out against Nottinghamshire in 1926. He took 14 wickets (none of them for Yorkshire) at 32.50 with his occasional right-arm fast-medium bowling, with a best analysis for 4-109 for Gentlemen of England against Cambridge University in 1910, and also took 30 catches.
His chief contribution was as Yorkshire’s captain at a time when it was required that the captain of a County Championship side was an amateur. Having played only one match for the County in 1908, he was appointed captain for the 1925 season at the age of 46. Yorkshire won the County Championship that year with 21 wins and no losses. He then led the side to second place in 1926 and third in 1927. He wanted to continue in 1928, but the Yorkshire committee, after at first deciding to appoint a professional captain, changed their minds and chose the amateur William Worsley.
He also played for Marylebone Cricket Club in 1909, the Gentlemen of England in 1910 and H.D.G. Leveson-Gower’s XI in 1911.
Lupton was commissioned a second lieutenant in The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) on 5th May 1900. He served with the 2nd battalion of his regiment in South Africa during the Second Boer War 1899-1900, and took part in operations in Natal March-June 1900, and in Transvaal, east and west of Pretoria, July-November 1900. Following the war he received the Queen’s South Africa Medal with three clasps, and he was promoted to Lieutenant on 10th January 1902. He subsequently rose to the rank of Major.
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