Frederick Gale

Frederick "Fred" Gale (16 July 1823 – 24 April 1904) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket in two matches in 1845, one for the Kent County Cricket Club and the other for an amateur "Gentlemen of Kent" team.^[1] He was also a well-known writer on cricket and other sports, often using the nom de plume "Old Buffer".^[2] He was born at Woodborough, Wiltshire and died at the London Charterhouse in the City of London.

Gale was educated at Winchester College where he was in the cricket team in 1841 as a batsman.^[1] He played as an amateur cricketer for a variety of teams across the 1840s, including teams representing Surrey, but his games for Kent and the Gentlemen of Kent in 1845 are the only ones to have been accorded first-class status: he scored 13 in the first innings for the Gentlemen of Kent against the Gentlemen of England, but failed to score in his other first-class innings.^[3]

By profession, Gale was a solicitor in Westminster and a Parliamentary agent, but he was also a prolific writer and journalist: his books included The Game of Cricket and the ghost-written memoirs of Robert Grimston and as a journalist and columnist he contributed to Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, continuing right up to his death.^[2]

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