A nephew of Alfred Anthony (Notts 1875-76) and elder brother of Henry (Notts 1898-1902), George Anthony was born in Arnold on 25 June 1875 and joined the Notts ground staff in 1898, making his debut for Notts in a non First-Class friendly v Durham at Darlington in July. The following season he was amongst the XXII Colts and also represented the Notts Colts v Yorkshire Colts, taking 4-18 with his right-arm fast-medium bowling. At the close of 1899, Anthony left the ground staff and in 1900 was engaged with Skegness CC. His debut in First-Class cricket was for Notts v Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in August 1900, his only important game that season. In 1901 he rejoined the ground staff and appeared in most of Notts’ matches for the next four seasons. A right-handed batsman known for his attacking manner, he scored seven fifties for Notts with his highest 89 v Derbyshire at Derby in 1902. He took five wickets in an innings three times: 5-35 v Middlesex (Lord’s) in 1902 (including 5 for 7 in 31 balls), 5-22 v Yorkshire (Hull) in 1902 and a career best 6-72 v Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in 1903. He only appeared in six matches in 1905 with his last game being the traditional Whitsun game versus Surrey, a match Notts won by 228 runs. In 85 first-class matches for Notts he had scored 1,722 runs @15.23 and took 82 wickets @31.93.
George Anthony died of consumption on 13 May 1907 at Arnold, aged 31. He was buried in Redhill cemetery, where a cross was erected to his memory by Notts CCC.
His younger brother Walter, an outside left, won a Football League championship medal with Blackburn Rovers in 1912 having previously played for Brighton & Hove Albion and starting his career in 1904 with Nottingham Forest (six league appearances).
May 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 265
See George Anthony's career stats here