Test Scorer #3 – Charles Hipwell

Born in 1810, Charles Hipwell was the earliest known born of all Australian Test Match scorers. He was born in Bermondsey in London. Bermondsey is located downstream from Tower Bridge. Like Hugh Kennon, he ran a public house in London, the Running Horse which is still in existence in Mayfair. He lived in Woolwich in Kent and emigrated to Melbourne in the early 1850s. In 1856, he started scoring for the Melbourne Cricket Club which he continued for the next 24 years. He scored most of the major matches in Melbourne during that time, including matches between Victoria and the touring English side in 1863/64 and the match between the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Aboriginal side in 1866. He also travelled as the scorer for the Victorian side to Sydney and Tasmania. Despite being the scorer for the Melbourne Cricket Club, he was not selected to be the scorer for the first two Tests held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. His one and only Test Match was the 1879 Test Match which he scored with William Plummer. In 1867, he was elected as a councillor for the Borough of Prahan and was elected as the Mayor from 1873 to 1874. Hipwell worked at the Carlton Brewery during his time in Melbourne and on the occasion of his golden wedding anniversary was presented with gifts from his workplace where he was “referred to as an old and well respected resident in Prahan.” In 1886, Charles Hipwell passed away at his residence in Prahan at the age of 75. He left a wife, Mary Ann who died 11 years later and three daughters.

Test Scorer #2: WAK Plummer

Born in Brighton on the coast of England in the County of Sussex in 1837, William Andrew Knight Plummer was also the scorer in first three Test Matches in Australia in 1877 and 1879. He emigrated with his William Plummer was associated with the East Melbourne Cricket Club being on the committee as early as 1861 serving roles such as Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The earliest record of him scoring was in 1865, when he was noted as the scorer for a match between East Melbourne and Ballarat. In 1864, he was elected as a committee member at the inaugural meeting of the Victoria Cricketers’ Association and in 1867 he was elected as Treasurer of the Melbourne Cricket Club. In 1868, he married Eliza Passmore and they had five children over the next 11 years. By 1874, he was associated with the South Melbourne Cricket Club as their umpire.

He worked for the General Post Office as a clerk in the money order branch until 1874 when he was dismissed from office due to a deficiency in his accounts. The matter reached as high as the Victorian Legislative Assembly but by 1876 he was being declared insolvent. His luck changed when he was selected to be a temporary Town Clerk for the Borough of Essendon and Flemington. Throughout the late 1870s and early 1880s, he was elected, most unopposed as the Auditor for the Borough, until 1885 when he was challenged by Charles Arvier who had also scored a Test Match in 1882. Plummer won the vote in 1885 with almost 75% of the vote. Plummer passed away in 1887 at the young age of just 49. He was a long term scorer for the Victorian colonial side, scoring for them from the late 1860s till at least 1880.

Test Scorer #1: Hugh Stanley Kennon

Scored the 1st Test match at the MCG with William Plummer. Born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England in 1839. His father was born on the Isle of Man. The second eldest of 13 children, the family emigrated to Melbourne when he was 2. He was a barman at the Black Eagle Hotel in the early 1860s and took over the licence for running the hotel in 1865 from his father, William. He was also manager of the Setting Sun Gold Mining Company. He was the scorer in the first two Test matches but have not found a club he was associated with. He died in 1901 at the age of 61 leaving an estate worth 2,170 pounds.