Henry Brougham

Educated at Wellington College, where his father was a master, and Brasenose College, Oxford, Henry Brougham captained the Wellington cricket first XI in 1907 and in his first year at Oxford won the first of his two racket Blues before gaining a cricket Blue when he scored 84 against Cambridge at Lord’s in the 1911 Varsity Match. He played Minor Counties cricket for Berkshire and was selected for the Minor Counties XI that drew with the touring South Africans in 1912. He also played as a rugby three-quarter for Harlequins and England and played in all four matches in the 1912 Five Nations Championship. Perhaps surprisingly, Brougham never played rugby at Wellington, nor did he gain a rugby Blue. However, despite his cricket and rugby talents it is as a racquets player that he is better known.

Brougham played racquets at Wellington and appeared in the final of the Public School Championship in 1905 and 1906 only to be beaten both times, but with E. C. Harrison he won the title in 1907 in what was then, a record equalling third appearance in the final. In 1908 Brougham won his first Oxford Blue when he won the doubles with the Honourable Clarence Bruce, and that same year won a bronze medal in the singles at the Olympics games despite playing just one match, losing to the eventual winner, Evan Noel, in the semi-final. He reached the final of the 1909 Amateur Championship but got beat by the outstanding player of the era, Edgar Baerlein. Henry won the doubles title with Basil Foster in 1913.

Brougham served as a Major with the Royal Field Artillery during World War I but was seriously gassed in France in 1917 and those injuries were instrumental in his death six years later. Henry’s father, Henry William, was born in Dublin and was a fine cricketer who played for the MCC, Free Foresters and All-Ireland.