H H Stephenson - A Cricketing Journey: Kennington Oval To Uppingham School - By Roy Stephenson Published by the author in 2009 7 Newtown Road Uppingham LE15 9TR with the support of Uppingham Local History Group - Price: £8.00 Available from local bookshops - ISBN 978 0 9540076 6 9 Heathfield Harman Stephenson was one of the great cricketers of the nineteenth century. Born into a middle class background in Esher, Surrey, he rose to become a professional cricketer, playing for both county and country. He achieved the first recorded ‘hat trick’ in 1858, played in Ireland and North America with the first England touring side of 1859, captained the first England team to tour Australia, and played cricket for Surrey as a professional for eighteen years. In 1872 he moved to Uppingham School to become cricket coach, a position he held until his death in 1896. Stephenson’s namesake spent ten years researching this fine tribute to a great cricketer whose achievements have been posthumously eclipsed by the reputations of other contemporaries such as W G Grace. Supported by the Uppingham Local History Study Group of which the author has long been a member, this well illustrated volume concentrates on Stephenson’s cricketing life at home and abroad. However, it does more than adequately cover his latter life at Uppingham as a coach and much respected elder of that then small community. Well researched and nicely produced by Century Print of Corby, this publication has received plaudits from the cricketing world; it also provides much of interest to the local reader who is interested in one of the most neglected notable people which Rutland’s public schools have brought to the county. Hilary Crowden