Gerald Smithson
Cricket player of England. (1926-1970)
Gerald Arthur Smithson (1 November 1926 – 6 September 1970) was an English cricketer who played in two Tests for England in 1947–48. He was born at Spofforth, West Riding of Yorkshire and died at Abingdon, Oxfordshire. His original family surname was Smithsons but the final 's' was left off his birth certificate by his father.
Life and career
Smithson was a left-handed middle-order batsman, a medium pace bowler and a highly agile and effective fielder of the ball. He graduated from the Bradford Cricket League to play first-class cricket for Yorkshire between 1946 and 1950, making his first-class debut on 10–11 July 1946 aged 19 in a match against Essex at St George's Road, Harrogate, taking a catch and scoring 16 runs in Yorkshire's six-wicket victory. His highest innings for Yorkshire was his 169 runs playing at No. 3 against Leicestershire at Grace Road, Leicester in August 1947. Smithson played for Leicestershire between 1951 and 1956, and then for Hertfordshire in Minor Counties cricket between 1957 and 1962.
Smithson's 98 for Yorkshire in the Roses Match of 1947 against Lancashire when he was aged 20 has been described in the writings of broadcaster and journalist Michael Parkinson (Parkinson's Lore, London: Pavilion, 1981). According to the then Yorkshire captain, Norman Yardley, his batting invited comparison with the young Australians of the time.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gerald Smithson” as cricket player of England. (1926-1970). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as cricket player of England. (1926-1970). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3526020. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1926, 1970, 1947 and 1946.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Gerald Smithson”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Gerald Smithson primary sources, Gerald Smithson archive and Gerald research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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This entry incorporates text from “Gerald Smithson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.