# Leigh Brownlee

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English cricketer (1882–1955)

Leigh Brownlee Personal information Full name Leigh Dunlop Brownlee Born (1882-12-17)17 December 1882 Redland, Bristol, England Died 22 September 1955(1955-09-22) (aged 72) Clifton, Bristol, England Batting Right-handed Bowling Right-arm slow Role Batsman Relations Brother, Wilfred Domestic team information Years Team 1901–09 Gloucestershire 1902–04 Oxford University 1902 Somerset First-class debut 26 August 1901 Gloucestershire v Somerset Last First-class 26 June 1909 Gloucestershire v Surrey Career statistics Competition First-class Matches 82 Runs scored 1946 Batting average 14.63 100s/50s 1/5 Top score 103 Balls bowled 699 Wickets 15 Bowling average 27.06 5 wickets in innings – 10 wickets in match – Best bowling 3/40 Catches/stumpings 63/– Source: CricketArchive, 26 June 2011

**Leigh Dunlop Brownlee** (17 December 1882 – 22 September 1955) was a journalist who became editor of the *[Daily Mirror](/source/Daily_Mirror)* from 1931 to 1934. He also played [first-class](/source/First-class_cricket) [cricket](/source/Cricket) for [Gloucestershire](/source/Gloucestershire_County_Cricket_Club), [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University_Cricket_Club) and [Somerset](/source/Somerset_County_Cricket_Club) between 1901 and 1909.[1] He was born at [Bristol](/source/Bristol) and died at [Clifton](/source/Clifton%2C_Bristol), also in Bristol.

## Cricket career

Educated at [Clifton College](/source/Clifton_College),[2] Brownlee was a right-handed middle- or lower-order batsman and an infrequent right-arm slow bowler, and was top of the Clifton [batting averages](/source/Batting_average_(cricket)) in 1900.[3] After leaving school in the summer of 1901, he made his first-class debut for Gloucestershire in two end-of-season matches, and in his first game, against Somerset at [Taunton](/source/County_Ground%2C_Taunton), he made 66 in the Gloucestershire second innings, though he was unable to prevent a Somerset victory with less than an hour of the scheduled match time remaining.[4] A student at [Oriel College, Oxford](/source/Oriel_College%2C_Oxford), from the autumn of 1901, he played in one match for the university cricket team in 1902, and in one match for Somerset *against* the university side – Somerset frequently "borrowed" university players for their matches against the university sides in the first third of the 20th century, but this game has an additional curiosity in that it is one of the few 12-a-side first-class matches.[5] Though unable to break into the Oxford University side, Brownlee played regularly for Gloucestershire when the university term was over, and in the match against [Kent](/source/Kent_County_Cricket_Club) at [Bristol](/source/County_Cricket_Ground%2C_Bristol) he scored 103 in the first innings, the only century of his first-class cricket career.[6] In 1903, he was given half a dozen games for the university side but was not successful then, nor in 10 matches for Gloucestershire in the second half of the season: his batting average for the season as a whole was under 10 runs per innings, and his highest score in the season was just 43.[7]

Brownlee had a better cricketing year in 1904. Despite never reaching 50 in an innings for Oxford's cricket team, he retained his place in the team through the university cricket season and won a [Blue](/source/University_sporting_blue) by appearing in the [University Match](/source/University_Match) against [Cambridge University](/source/Cambridge_University_Cricket_Club), though he made only 3 and 9 in his two innings in the match.[8] He had a better season for Gloucestershire too than he had had in 1903, with a highest score of 97, batting at No 9 in the match against Kent.[9] In addition to his success in winning a cricket Blue, Brownlee also won a Blue for golf in his last year at Oxford.[3] Brownlee had a full season of first-class cricket in 1905, appearing in 16 matches for Gloucestershire, though he was not successful, scoring only 244 runs at an average of 10.16 and with a highest score of only 38.[7]

From 1906 to 1909, Brownlee's journalism career came first and he appeared in just a handful of matches for Gloucestershire in each season, with only one further score of more than 50, an innings of 79 in the match against [Northamptonshire](/source/Northamptonshire_County_Cricket_Club) in 1908.[10] He did not play any further matches after 1909.

## Newspaperman

Brownlee went into newspapers and he is picked out as one of the senior figures representing the *Daily Mirror* at the funeral of the newspaper's then editor, [Alexander Kenealy](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Kenealy&action=edit&redlink=1) in 1915.[11] Brownlee was himself editor of the *Daily Mirror* from 1931 to 1934, though this was a difficult period for the newspaper, which had fallen significantly from its achievement of the first one million circulation in 1918 because of price cutting by rival newspapers. The *Mirror* was sold by [Lord Northcliffe](/source/Lord_Northcliffe) in the mid-1930s and Brownlee appears to have left then: the newspaper relaunched as an American-style tabloid after he left. He went into partnership in a news agency, but the partnership was dissolved in 1936.[12]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Leigh Brownlee"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3458/3458.html). www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p200: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Obit_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Obit_3-1) "Obituary". *[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack](/source/Wisden_Cricketers'_Almanack)* (1956 ed.). [Wisden](/source/Wisden_Cricketers'_Almanack). p. 970.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Scorecard: Somerset v Gloucestershire"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/5/5813.html). www.cricketarchive.com. 26 August 1901. Retrieved 25 June 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Scorecard: Oxford University v Somerset"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/5/5893.html). www.cricketarchive.com. 15 May 1902. Retrieved 26 June 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Scorecard: Gloucestershire v Kent"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/5/5986.html). www.cricketarchive.com. 30 June 1902. Retrieved 26 June 2011.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-bat_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-bat_7-1) ["First-class Batting and Fielding in each season by Leigh Brownlee"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3458/f_Batting_by_Season.html). www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 26 June 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Scorecard: Oxford University v Cambridge University"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/6/6509.html). www.cricketarchive.com. 30 June 1904. Retrieved 26 June 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Scorecard: Gloucestershire v Kent"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/6/6574.html). www.cricketarchive.com. 4 August 1904. Retrieved 26 June 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Scorecard: Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/7/7608.html). www.cricketarchive.com. 29 June 1908. Retrieved 26 June 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** "The Late Mr. A. Kenealy: Funeral at Hangleton", *The Times*, no. 40896, London, p. 11, 2 July 1915

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["No. 34318"](https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34318/page/5619). *[The London Gazette](/source/The_London_Gazette)*. 28 August 1936. p. 5619.

v t e Editors of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday Pictorial Daily Mirror 1903: Mary Howarth 1904: Hamilton Fyfe 1907: Alexander Kenealy 1915: Ed Flynn 1916: Alexander Campbell 1931: Leigh Brownlee 1934: Cecil Thomas 1948: Silvester Bolam 1953: Jack Nener 1961: Lee Howard 1971: Tony Miles 1974: Michael Christiansen 1975: Mike Molloy 1985: Richard Stott 1990: Roy Greenslade 1991: Richard Stott 1992: David Banks 1994: Colin Myler 1995: Piers Morgan 2004: Richard Wallace 2012: Peter Willis 2018: Alison Phillips 2024: Caroline Waterston 2025 to date: Chloe Hubbard Sunday Pictorial 1915: F. R. Sanderson 1921: William McWhirter 1924: David Grant 1928: William McWhirter 1929: David Grant 1938: Hugh Cudlipp 1940: Stuart Campbell 1946: Hugh Cudlipp 1949: Philip Zec 1952: Hugh Cudlipp 1953: Colin Valdar 1959: Lee Howard 1961: Reg Payne Sunday Mirror 1963: Michael Christiansen 1972: Bob Edwards 1984: Peter Thompson 1986: Mike Molloy 1988: Eve Pollard 1991: Bridget Rowe 1992: Colin Myler 1994: Paul Connew 1995: Tessa Hilton 1996: Amanda Platell 1997: Bridget Rowe 1998: Brendon Parsons 1998: Colin Myler 2001: Tina Weaver 2012: Alison Phillips 2016: Gary Jones 2018: Peter Willis 2020: Paul Henderson 2021: Gemma Aldridge 2024: Caroline Waterston 2025 to date: Chloe Hubbard

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Leigh Brownlee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Brownlee) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Brownlee?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.