Lily Poulett-Harris

Lily Poulett-Harris
Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia.
Born	(1873-09-02)2 September 1873 Hobart, Australia
Died	15 August 1897(1897-08-15) (aged 23) Hobart, Australia
Occupation	Cricketer, teacher
Years active	1894–96

Lily Poulett-Harris (2 September 1873 – 15 August 1897) was an Australian sportswoman and educationalist, notable for being the founder and captain of the first women's cricket team in Australia. Poulett-Harris continued to play until forced to retire due to ill health from the tuberculosis that was eventually to claim her life.

Born Harriet Lily Poulett-Harris (but referred to in all subsequent sources as Lily) on 2 September 1873, she was the twin and youngest daughter of Richard Deodatus Poulett-Harris and his second wife, Elizabeth Eleanor (née Milward). Her father was renowned for being the head of the Hobart Boys' High School and a founding father of the University of Tasmania, so it is no surprise that she and several of his other children followed him into careers in education.

As a young child Lily grew up in Hobart, where her father taught. Her mother was 31 and her father was 57 when Lily and her twin Violet were born. Lily's father was also a part-time rector at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Hobart. Lily grew up in this devout, resolutely low church environment.

Life must have been difficult at times for Lily growing up. Her father, who had arrived in Tasmania in 1856, was "melancholy in outlook and prone to depression, he had much sadness in his family life. He mourned the separation from the three daughters left in England [from his first marriage] and the early death of his son Richard from severe burns. His second daughter Charlotte Maria became of unsound mind, was committed to an institution in February 1872 and died a few years later." (Note that this conflicts with the electoral roll and a Supreme Court record that establishes she did in fact die in the Lachlan Hospital at New Norfolk, in June 1941.)

Furthermore, "he was charged with assaulting boys with a cane in March 1860 and June 1868, the first case being dismissed and the second settled out of court, but he maintained the school's pre-eminent position in the colony until 1878 when he lost his midlands boarders to Horton College and Launceston Church Grammar School. Thereafter his health declined and in 1885, suffering acute physical pain and mental depression, he surrendered to Christ College, with the shareholders' agreement, all leasehold rights in return for an annuity of £300. The school was closed on 15 August 1885."

A "a bright, inquisitive, adventurous and active child", Lily was schooled by her father and received a Level II mark prize in December 1882. Lily was allowed to sit the major exams as a "trial of strength" in 1884 even though she was not eligible for a scholarship. She came second.