Barton Victor Image 1 Hampshire 1896

Description

Netley, Hampshire born Victor Barton served in the Royal Artillery as a regular soldier and held the rank of Bombardier when he first played for Kent in 1889. An attacking middle order right-hand batsman who also bowled right-arm medium pace, Barton was first noted as a cricketer when he played for the Royal Artillery Cricket Club (R.A.C.C.) against Marylebone Cricket Club (M.C.C.) at Lord’s in June 1889. Wisden described his batting as “a superb performance” as he scored 91 out of a total of 167 in the R.A.C.C. first innings and 102 out of 171 in their second innings. He took six wickets in the match as R.A.C.C. beat M.C.C., his performance earning him a trial with Kent.

Barton played eleven times for Kent over the following two seasons whilst still a regular soldier, making his first class debut in a County match against Yorkshire at Mote Park in July 1889. Although he produced a vital innings in the thrilling Kent victory over Nottinghamshire that produced a three-way Kent-Nottinghamshire-Lancashire tie for the County Championship in 1889, Barton never established himself fully in the Kent team, playing for them over the 1889 and 1890 seasons, and he then bought himself out of the Royal Artillery in 1891 in order to join Hampshire as a professional cricketer. A powerful driver, he hit the ball so hard on the on-side that Wisden’s obituary relates that “fieldsmen who stood at mid-on had a wholesome dread of him”.

During the 1891-92 English winter Barton took part in an England tour to South Africa as part of a side led by Walter Read. This was one of two simultaneous England team tours, the other touring Australia. Barton played in ten non-first class matches on the tour and in the only match against a South African XI at Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town which was later recognised as an official Test match. Barton is the only regular member of the Royal Artillery to have played Test cricket. He made 23 in his only innings but didn’t bowl.

Hampshire did not have first class status in 1892 and Barton played a number of non-first class matches for the County from the 1892 season until Hampshire regained their status in advance of the 1895 season. He played in 143 first class matches for Hampshire, and 157 first class matches in total, before retiring due to ill-health at the end of the 1902 season, and he was only 38 when he died in March 1906. He scored six centuries and 30 half centuries during his career, including a highest score of 205 made against Sussex in 1900, scoring 6,411 runs at an average of 24.01, and took 141 first class wickets at 28.62 a piece, returning a best performance of 6-28 and taking five wickets in an innings three times. He also took 101 catches in his first class career.

Barton also played football as a goalkeeper, making one appearance for Southampton St. Mary’s in the semi final of the Hampshire Senior Cup in February 1893. In the match, played at The County Ground, Southampton, The Saints defeated Portsmouth 2-0. Barton was injured by the time of the Final on 11th March and was replaced by Ralph Ruffell, with Southampton going down 2-1 to local rivals Freemantle. In partnership with former Southampton St. Mary’s footballer Jack Dorkin, Barton later ran a sports outfitters business in London Road, Southampton.