The Romans never played cricket but Julius Caesar did. Not the Julius Caesar who was assassinated by Cassius and Brutus in 44BC, but Surrey's Julius Caesar.

Born in Godalming today, 25 March, 178 years ago, Julius was a top player from around 1850 to 1867. When he was born in 1830 his father, Ben was playing some cricket including a few matches for Surrey. This led to Julius and his brother Fred, who played seven matches for the Brown Caps, taking the game up seriously. There was no doubt that Julius was by far the best player in his family and altogether he played in 194 first class games. This included 121 matches for Surrey in which he scored 3,314 runs, including two centuries and eight fifties. Many people in those times and even today, believed that Julius Caesar was a feigned name, but it was definitely his real name.

At just over 5 foot 7 inches and weighing around 12 and a half stone, he wasn't a big man. But he could hit the ball hard, especially on the leg side and was quite an accomplished boxer, which was probably handy with his name being what it was.

He played in the days before Test cricket, but in those times, teams named All England Eleven and England played regular matches against the various counties. Julius played in 14 matches for the All England Eleven and 17 games for England. He also toured with first touring team from any country to tour overseas. This was the George Parr team to Canada and the USA in September/October 1859. This historic side included four Surrey players, while Parr himself did have one year with the Brown Caps in 1852. This group comprised George Parr (Nottinghamshire), Billy Caffyn (Surrey), Rob Carpenter ( Cambridgeshire), Alf Diver (Cambridgeshire), James Grundy (Nottinghamshire), Thomas Hayward ( Cambridgeshire), John Jackson (Nottinghamshire), John Lillywhite (Sussex), Tom Lockyer (Surrey), Heathfield Stephenson (Surrey), John Wisden (Sussex) and Caesar from Surrey. They sailed from Liverpool on 7 September 1859, played five matches, usually against 22 man teams and won the lot. Each player was given 90 pounds as his share of the tour profits. Caffyn, who died in 1919 at age 91, is one of the great Surrey all-rounders, taking 331 wickets in his 89 games for the Club at just 13.4 runs each and scoring 3,226 runs at 23.2. Lockyer too was an excellent player for Surrey from those times, as was Stephenson, who was a captain of the Brown Caps and took the first England team to Australia in 1862 (they left England in 1861). This team played 14 matches, often against teams with more than 11 players. They won six, lost five and drew three.

In 1858 at Sheffield, playing for the All England Eleven against the 22 from Hallam, Stephenson became the first cricketer to be given a hat when he took three wickets with three successive balls. He also stood as one of the umpires in the first Test ever played in England, at The Oval in 1880. Caffyn was also a member of this 1862 side to Australia.
Hayward's nephew, also Thomas Hayward, was a famous Surrey played who appeared in 35 matches for England. This Hayward scored 101 first-class centuries, including 88 for Surrey. He finished with 36,171 runs at 42.4 and 436 wickets at 21.4 in his 593 matches for Surrey.

Parr took another team in 1863/64 to Australia and New Zealand and again returned unbeaten. This was the second England team to tour Australia and Julius was among the 12 players. This was a very rewarding tour, as each player was given close to 250 pounds after expenses. Caffyn and Lockyer were also in the Parr team to Australia, as was the brother of the great WG Grace, Edward Grace, who was the only amateur in the side.

Julius' best score for Surrey, and also his highest first class score, was 132 not out against Sussex at Hove in July 1864. Second top score for the Brown Caps in this game was 71 from Harry Jupp, who opened the batting for England in the first ever Test match at Melbourne in March 1877. Surrey won this match by an innings and 54 runs. Julius also finished with 111 for Surrey against Cambridgeshire at the Brit Oval in June 1861 and got 101 for England versus Kent at Canterbury in August 1853.

After finishing his first-class career at the end of the 1867 season, Julius took up umpiring and handled 46 first-class games from 1868.

Benefit matches were played for him in September 1864 at Godalming and in August 1868 at The Oval, in which WG Grace played. In his later years, he worked at Charterhouse School as cricket coach and groundsman. One of his pupils at Charterhouse was C. Aubrey Smith, who went on to play for Sussex, captain England in his only Test and become a famous Hollywood actor. Aubrey Smith is the only Test cricketer to have Elizabeth Taylor as a co-star in a movie-Littlewomen.

A carpenter and joiner by trade, Julius married Jane Brewser, both aged 20, in 1850. The couple had a son named Frederick. Unfortunately Julius died impoverished, 19 days short of his 48th birthday in Godalming, with the possibility that Dropsy contributed to his early death.

Julius Caesar career statistics

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