John Tufton (cricketer)

John Tufton (23 November 1773 – 27 May 1799) was an English cricketer and a Member of Parliament (MP). He was a member of the aristocratic Tufton family that produced the Earls of Thanet and related through his mother to the Sackville family that produced the Dukes of Dorset.

As a cricketer, Tufton is known to have been active from 1793 to 1798 and is recorded in 74 matches by CricketArchive, 48 of which are designated first-class. He represented numerous teams but is mainly associated with Marylebone Cricket Club, of which he was an early member at Lord's Old Ground. Tufton's batting hand and bowling speed are unknown, though he was primarily a batsman who bowled occasionally, always underarm. He scored 1,049 known first-class runs with a highest score of 61 and is credited with fourteen first-class wickets including a best performance of four in one innings.

Tufton was the MP for Appleby, Westmorland from 1796 until his death, aged 25, in 1799.

Styled the Honourable John Tufton, he belonged to an aristocratic family that was prominent in cricketing and other sporting circles. His parents were Sackville Tufton (1733–1786), the 8th Earl of Thanet, and Mary Sackville (1746–1778), who was the daughter of Lord John Philip Sackville and the sister of John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset. Sackville and Dorset were famous patrons of Kent cricket. Tufton's younger brother was the Honourable Henry Tufton (1775–1849), later the 11th Earl of Thanet, who was also a noted amateur cricketer. If John Tufton had lived longer, he would have been the 11th Earl. He was educated at Westminster School and Jesus College, Cambridge.