PEPPER’S BIRTH AND DEBUT FIVE DAYS APART!
(But not the same year)…
Charles Pepper was born in County Cork, Ireland on 6 June and made his Nottinghamshire debut on 11 June…not actually five days apart, but 25 years and five days!
Pepper, one of only two Irish-born players to have represented Notts (the other is Kevin O’Brien) was born in Youghal in 1875, 150 years ago today. His father was an English soldier serving in Ireland and his mother was Irish.
He played his first First-Class game for Notts on 11 June 1900, just days after his twenty-fifth birthday.
That debut was in one of the most auspicious fixtures on the calendar in the ‘Golden Age’, playing the MCC away at Lord’s. He made 17 batting at seven in the first innings and was given promotion to opener, along with Percy Mason, as Notts inverted their batting order in pursuit of 32 runs.
That decision almost backfired as Pepper and Iremonger made ducks and Mason and John Carlin were dismissed cheaply. George Groves saw the visitors home for a narrow six-wicket win.
Charles Pepper played a further six First-Class games in 1900-01 and later turned out for Bedfordshire in the Minor Counties Championship of 1903.
He made his top First-Class score in his last game for Notts, against Lancashire at Old Trafford, making 40no. His Minor Counties batting record was similarly modest, with a best innings of 21no versus Cambridgeshire.
Away from county teams, his record in club cricket was much better and he is fondly remembered by the clubs he represented.
Charles, who came to England as a young boy, was initially a professional at Rye CC, apparently on the recommendation of Arthur Shrewsbury who was impressed by an innings Pepper played for Nottinghamshire Colts v Yorkshire Colts in May 1900, when he carried his bat for 57no in the first innings.
In 1900, he also played for Forest Wanderers on the Forest Recreation ground and for Notts against the touring West Indies in July that year (not then a First-Class match), as well as those seven County Championship matches. After leaving Trent Bridge he was a professional at Darlington CC between 1902 and 1904, while also playing five matches for Bedfordshire.
Other clubs he represented with distinction included Brechin CC in Scotland and the brewing company Worthington CC based at Burton-on-Trent. At Rye he scored a century against a strong Sussex county side; for Brechin his many successes included 45no against an England team lead by Derbyshire’s Frank Sugg. Whilst at Bedford, he made two further centuries and bowled with considerable success.
His last recorded cricket match was for Kendal in the Champions Match v a North Lancashire and District Cricket League XI in September 1905 when he took 5-25 with his right-arm medium pacers, rarely used in First-Class cricket.
In WWI, Charles Pepper enlisted as a Private in the 16th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys Regiment, Chatsworth Rifles) and soon reached the rank of Sergeant. He arrived in France in April 1916 and was killed by a shell on 13 September 1917 while standing with his commanding officer outside the battalion headquarters in Flanders; he was 42 years old. He was buried beside his commanding officer at La Clytte Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Charles Pepper’s four sons all played recreational cricket (Harold appearing for Derbyshire 2nd eleven), as did a couple of his grandsons, including John Pepper, a past captain and president of Brixham CC.
Pepper is one of several Notts players to have dual anniversaries in 2025. Watch this space for stories about Andre Adams, Tom Oates, Alfred Shaw, Frank Shipston and Alan Walker.
June 2025