Charles Eccles was an Army officer who, besides playing for the South Wales Cricket Club in 1864, also had a brief career in county cricket with Hampshire for whom his brother William also served as Honorary Secretary.
Born in Cheshire and raised in Gloucestershire, Charles was educated at Cheltenham College where he showed great potential in schoolboy cricket as a right-handed batter and underarm lob bowler. However, he opted for a career in the military and in 1862 took a commission in the 1st Royal Dragoons. Nevertheless, he secured plenty of time during the summer months to take part in a decent standard of cricket.
This included appearances in 1863 for the South Hampshire Club, as well as the Knickerbockers in 1864. The latter season also saw Charles, who played for Cheltenham CC, appear against the South Wales Cricket Club in their match at the Hales Road ground. This was the first game of the Club’s short tour of the Cotswolds and when another player dropped out, Charles was drafted in for the other matches, against Cheltenham College as well as Cirencester CC where he scored 3 in his sole innings for the Welsh side.
Charles continued to play for other gentlemen’s teams, including both the Gentlemen of Devon and the Gentlemen of North Hampshire in 1868, as well as the MCC and I Zingari, prior to making his first-class debut for Hampshire in their match against Lancashire at Old Trafford. By this time, he had joined the Second Rifle Brigade and was based at the Winchester Garrison where his decent performances in Services cricket led to his county call-up. However, his military commitments continued to take priority, especially after he had been appointed as Instructor of Musketry in 1872.
He subsequently played during Canterbury Week in 1874 for the Gentlemen of the MCC against Kent before playing again for Hampshire against Kent at Catford in 1875. The latter however proved to be his final first-class appearance. In 1881 he was promoted to the rank of Major and served with the Rifle Brigade in India where he also played for Poona in 1881/82.
In April 1882 Charles was appointed as aide-de-camp to Sir William Jervois, Governor of South Australia and later Governor-General of New Zealand. However, Charles died of typhoid fever in India during February 1890.
ECCLES, Charles Vernon
Born – Davenham, Cheshire, 20 August 1843.
Died – Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 21 February 1890.