text: stephen newton stephen cox newton ( 21 april 1853 – 16 august 1916 ) was an english cricketer who represented , and captained , somerset county cricket club in the late 19th century . during a 14 - year first - class cricket career , he also represented cambridge university , middlesex and the marylebone cricket club ( mcc ) . he made his debut in first - class cricket for cambridge university , where he was awarded his blue . he then spent nine seasons playing for somerset , and captained the side for the last five of those seasons . working as a schoolmaster at highgate school in london from 1876 – 1884 , his playing opportunities for the south - western county were limited , and from 1885 he only played first - class cricket at lord 's cricket ground , representing middlesex in three matches that season , and appearing for the mcc on nine occasions over six years . he returned to play for somerset in 1887 and 1890 when they had lost their first - class status . he worked as headmaster of loudon house school in london for some years from 1888 , and died following an operation in 1916 in ipswich . early life stephen cox newton was born on 21 april 1853 in nailsea , somerset to robert newton and elizabeth catherine cox . he attended victoria college , jersey , where he played in the school cricket team for seven summers , from 1866 to 1872 , and topped the batting averages in five of those years ( 1867 , 1868 , 1869 , 1870 , and 1872 ) . he also captained the side during his last three years at the school . on completion of his time at victoria college , newton continued his education at cambridge university , attending corpus christi college . he played in the freshman 's match in 1873 , in which made scores of two and twelve and took two wickets . a report in the cambridge independent press concluded that very few of the players competing showed promise , and that they would " be surprised if more than two will be awarded their blues " . accordingly , newton was not selected for the university team until final year at cambridge . despite this , he appeared a number of times during the summer vacation , known at cambridge as the " long vacation " , for the eponymous cambridge long vacation club , captaining the team in 1875 . he played five first - class matches for the university , all in 1876 . his highest score during these matches was the 33 not out that he scored in the second innings of his first - class debut , against an england xi . he was awarded his cricketing blue , scoring seven runs at number ten during a nine wicket cambridge victory over oxford university . somerset county cricket club pre - first - class years newton assisted somerset from 1876 until 1890 . the county cricket club had only been formally set - up the previous year , and was seeking first - class status . the majority of matches played by newton for the county between 1876 and 1878 are recorded by cricketarchive as being for the ' gentlemen of somerset ' , and are not categorised as first - class cricket , and although those from 1879 onwards are recorded as being for ' somerset ' , they are generally regarded as remaining a ' second - class ' of cricket . during these pre - first - class seasons , newton made a name for himself , and in his official history of the club , peter roebuck describes him as one of the talents of the side . he took on the captaincy of the club in 1880 , a season in which he passed 30 runs in five of the recorded seven innings in which he played . his highest score recorded on cricketarchive during these years for somerset was the 91 which he scored in 1876 against the gentlemen of dorset . team - mate bill roe described newton as a useful batsman who favoured playing balls on his pads . in his obituary , newton was described as being " a most excellent field " , particularly strong at cover - point , while haygarth 's scores and biographies characterised him as " a fine and free hitter , and a most excellent field " . he was the county 's top run - scorer in 1877 , accumulating 285 runs at an average of 25 . 90 , and he was also one of their principle bowlers , collecting 21 wickets during the season . he remained near the top of the batting charts for the club the following year , scoring the second - most runs behind edward sainsbury , 146 at an average of 18 . 25 . he was used less as a bowler than in the previous year , taking just six wickets . he once again trailed only sainsbury amongst batsmen in 1880 , scoring 278 runs at an average of 30 . 88 . he was appointed as the club captain for 1881 , though he was not able to play as frequently for the club , and finished the season with 93 runs from five innings at an average of 18 . 3 . first - class cricket somerset gained first - class status in 1882 , and retained it for four seasons . newton was the club captain for the first three of these seasons , becoming the county 's first official captain . he did not , however , appear in somerset 's first three matches : as a schoolmaster in london , he only played for the county in late - july and august . in his first match as a first - class cricket captain , he top - scored in both innings , with 57 and 67 , as somerset lost to mcc by one wicket . he then made 80 in the side 's next match , a victory over hampshire . he fared less well in the remainder of the 1882 season , failing to reach a half - century in any of his other three matches . newton 's batting average of 34 . 44 from his five first - class matches in 1882 was the highest he achieved during his first - class career , and both his total number of runs scored ( 310 ) and his number of half - centuries ( 3 ) during the season were also career highs . newton suffered a slow start to his 1883 campaign , failing to pass 10 runs in his first five innings . his improvements improved in his next three matches , highlighted by a half - century against gloucestershire , scored during a 135 run partnership with edward sainsbury . his batting average for the season was almost half that of the previous year , and despite playing two additional innings he scored two less half - centuries than in 1882 . in his first match for somerset in 1884 , newton claimed his only wickets in first - class cricket . bowling with a style that is not recorded on cricketarchive or cricinfo , he claimed the wickets of hampshire 's arthur richards and hh armstrong , both batsmen being caught off his bowling . newton utilised himself as a bowler only after using every other member of the side , with the exception of wicket - keeper francis terry . in his next match , newton avoided a pair against lancashire by top - scoring in somerset 's second innings with 62 . that score was to be the last half - century of newton 's season , and his last in first - class cricket for somerset . he added two further scores above 30 against kent , scoring 46 and 31 , he played three less innings than in the previous season , but surpassed his total runs from that season , and improved his average to 24 . 22 . in his three years of first - class cricket for somerset , he scored no centuries , five half - centuries , and averaged 24 . 56 with the bat , higher than he finished with any other first - class cricket side . playing at lord 's from the 1885 season , all of newton 's first - class appearances were made for either middlesex or the marylebone cricket club ( mcc ) at lord 's cricket ground in st john 's wood , london . having been a member of the mcc since 1878 , newton made his debut for the club in first - class competition against nottinghamshire in may 1885 . he appeared for the club five times during 1885 . in contrast to his time at somerset , he did not restrict himself to playing only during late - july and august . playing for the side against lancashire , newton made his highest total in first - class cricket , scoring 86 in the second - innings of the match . this score was the only half - century that newton scored for a side other than somerset . newton appeared three times for middlesex during 1885 , for whom he qualified under the residential criterion . he averaged 5 . 33 for the county with the bat , and did not appear again after 1885 . he appeared once for the mcc in first - class cricket in each of the 1887 , 1888 , 1889 and 1890 seasons , after which he did not play first - class cricket again . his final first - class match was in may 1890 when he scored 1 and 21 during a seven wicket loss to lancashire . later playing days newton returned to play three further matches for somerset in 1887 and 1890 , when they did not hold first - class status . he opened the innings for the county twice in 1887 , passing 20 on three out of four occasions . during somerset 's successful 1890 season , when they remained unbeaten against other county opposition , newton batted at number four , scoring 3 and 0 , his final recorded appearance for somerset . cricketarchive records one further appearance for newton , playing in felixstowe for the mcc against suffolk in 1905 , aged 52 . opening the batting , he scored 87 to help his side to a nine wicket victory . teaching and later life on graduating newton worked as a schoolmaster at highgate school in highgate , london from 1876 – 1884 and from 1888 he was headmaster of loudon house school in st john 's wood , london . he died on 16 august 1916 in a nursing home in ipswich , suffolk after an operation .