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George Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley
George Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley (29 January 1870 – 14 November 1955) was an Anglo-Irish soldier, Irish nationalist, public servant, cricketer, and author. Personal lifeGeorge Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley was born in 1870, the only child of George Sackville Berkeley, a major in the Royal Engineers.[1] He was educated at Wellington College and Keble College, Oxford.[1] He later practised at the Irish Bar.[2] In 1899 he married Caroline Isabel Mason. He moved to Italy in 1920 for the good of his wife's health; she died in 1933. The following year he married Janet Margaret Mary Weld,[3] with whom he co-wrote a history of Italian unification.[1] He was a member of two gentlemen's clubs: Vincent's in Oxford and the Kildare Street Club in Dublin.[1] He died at his home, Hanwell Castle, near Banbury, Oxfordshire.[4] Public lifeBerkeley served in the Worcestershire Regiment from 1898 to 1901.[4] He supported Irish Home Rule and the Irish Volunteers, and at a 1914 meeting in Alice Stopford Green's London home he subscribed the largest amount to the arms purchase fund which resulted in the Howth gun-running.[5][1][6] In the First World War he was a brigade musketry officer with the 3rd Cavalry reserve.[4] After the war he was a member of the Claims Commission in France and Italy.[4] In 1920 he was active in the Irish Dominion League, which proposed Dominion status for Ireland,[1] and with the Peace with Ireland Council, of British public figures opposed to the government's waging of the Anglo-Irish War.[7][8] In 1954 he submitted two papers to the Irish Bureau of Military History relating to his 1914 and 1920 activities.[7][9] He was a magistrate in Oxfordshire from 1906 to 1937.[1] Cricket careerBerkeley played for Oxford University Cricket Club in the 1890s. A left-arm medium pace bowler, he took 131 wickets in 32 first-class appearances at an average of 20.75.[10] He best bowling performance occurred on his debut, when he took eight wickets for Oxford University in the first innings against the touring Australians.[11] Berkeley was awarded his blue, appearing against Cambridge in the University match, in each of his four years at Oxford. He was Oxford's leading wicket-taker during his first three years at the university, but in the third, he was unable to play in all the matches, but maintained a strong bowling average.[12] He played twice for Ireland, taking 11 for 75 against I Zingari in Phoenix Park in 1890.[2] He later played minor counties cricket for Oxfordshire between 1904 and 1906. Publications
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