Sir C. Aubrey Smith

Sir C. Aubrey Smith
CBE

Smith as the Earl of Dorincourt in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
Personal information
Full name	Charles Aubrey Smith
Born	(1863-07-21)21 July 1863 London, England, United Kingdom
Died	20 December 1948(1948-12-20) (aged 85) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm fast
International information
National side	England
Only Test (cap 66)	12 March 1889 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1882–1896	Sussex
1889–1890	Transvaal
1886	MCC
1882–1885	Cambridge University
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class Matches 1 143 Runs scored 3 2,986 Batting average 3.00 13.63 100s/50s 0/0 0/10 Top score 3 85 Balls bowled 154 17,953 Wickets 7 346 Bowling average 8.71 22.34 5 wickets in innings 1 19 10 wickets in match 0 1 Best bowling 5/19 7/16 Catches/stumpings 0/– 97/–
Source: CricketArchive, 23 September 2008

Sir Charles Aubrey Smith CBE (21 July 1863 – 20 December 1948), known to film-goers as C. Aubrey Smith, was an England Test cricketer who became a stage and film actor, acquiring a niche as the officer-and-gentleman type, as in the first sound version of The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). In Hollywood, he organised British actors into a cricket team, playing formal matches that much intrigued local spectators.

Smith was born in London, England, to C. J. Smith, a medical doctor, and Sarah Ann (neé Clode). His sister, Beryl Faber (died 1912), was married to Cosmo Hamilton.

Smith was educated at Charterhouse School and St John's College, Cambridge. He settled in South Africa to prospect for gold in 1888–89. While there he developed pneumonia and was wrongly pronounced dead by doctors. He married Isabella Wood in 1896.

As a cricketer, Smith was primarily a right arm fast bowler, though he was also a useful right-hand lower-order batsman and a good slip fielder. He is widely regarded as one of the best bowlers to play the game. His oddly curved bowling run-up, which started from deep mid-off, earned him the nickname "Round the Corner Smith". When he bowled round the wicket his approach was concealed from the batsman by the umpire until he emerged, leading W. G. Grace to comment "it is rather startling when he suddenly appears at the bowling crease." He played for Cambridge University (1882–85) and for Sussex at various times from 1882 to 1892. While in South Africa he captained the Johannesburg English XI. He captained England to victory in his only Test match, against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1888-89, taking five wickets for nineteen runs in the first innings. The English team who played were by no means representative of the best players of the time and nobody at the time realised that the match would enter the cricket records as an official Test match.