Benjamin Aislabie

Benjamin Aislabie (14 January 1774 – 2 June 1842) was a cricketer who played first-class cricket between 1808 and 1841. A wine merchant by trade who had supplied Lord Nelson with wine, he was also the president of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1823 and secretary from 1822 until his death in 1842. Aislabie was notable for having a very poor first-class record wherein he scored only 224 runs at a meagre batting average of 3.15 from 56 first-class matches played over a period of 34 years. His lack of skill was further hampered by his girth, and towards the end of his career he was so obese that he had a permanent runner who also used to field for him.

Little is known of Aislabie's life prior to 1802, the year in which he joined the MCC. He was an overseer for Lee Parish with Mr Sidery in 1814 and took great interest in distributing charities to the poor during the harsh winter of 1814. He allowed the parish to store coal and potatoes to distribute to the poor during the 13-week frost. He employed a number of the poor in the winter of 1814 and found other ways to alleviate their hardship during this time. He was resident in Lee at the time of the anti-slavery Lee petition [1] and it is likely he had an opportunity to sign it, but he probably felt unable to do so because of his interests in the West Indies. He died of an abscess of the throat in 1842.