page_title: Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Limodore de Tankervill (Brown of Lady Tankerville) Works Of Pierre-Joseph Redouté - see w:Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville
context_page_description: Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville, styled Lord Ossulston from 1753 to 1767, was a British nobleman, a collector of shells and a famous patron of Surrey cricket in the 1770s. He agreed a set of cricket rules that included the first mention of the Leg before wicket rule. His wife, Emma, Lady Tankerville, was notable as a collector of exotic plants. The first tropical orchid to flower in England is named for her as it was it flowered in her greenhouse. Her collection of over 600 illustrations were purchased by Kew Gardens in 1932 and are still available today.
context_section_description: Tankerville was born in 1743 and was educated at Eton College between 1753 and 1760. He succeeded to the Earldom on the death of his father on 27 October 1767 and married Emma, daughter of Sir James Colebrooke, 1st Baronet, in 1771.  He and his new wife settled at Walton on Thames at his house, Mount Felix overlooking the Thames.
  Lady Tankerville amassed a large collection of exotic plants at Mount Felix. Lady Tankerville's collection was thought to be the largest in the London area. Specimens named after Lady Tankerville include the Nun's Orchid or Phaius tankervilleae. Artists were employed to create botanical drawings on vellum of the specimens.
  Tankerville often played cricket and seems to have been a very good fielder, though he was not especially noted for batting or bowling. He was the employer of Edward "Lumpy" Stevens, who was a gardener at Tankerville's Walton-on-Thames estate; and William Bedster, who was his butler. It was the accuracy of "Lumpy" Stevens that led to the introduction of a middle stump. Prior to 1776 there were only two stumps and Lumpy's deliveries could go through the hole. A permanent memorial to Lumpy Stevens has been proposed.
  In 1774, Tankerville sat on the committee that formulated some early laws of cricket. They were settled and revised at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall on Friday 25 February 1774. The meeting was chaired by Sir William Draper and the committee included the Duke of Dorset, Harry Peckham and other "Noblemen and Gentlemen of Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex, and London". This meeting was one of the earlier sets of cricket rules and is acknowledged as being the first where the Leg before wicket rule was introduced.
  Tankerville continued in his interest in cricket with Chertsey and Surrey Cricket club until 1781 when he retired from the sport and went into politics. He was appointed joint postmaster general and a privy councillor in 1782, but he resigned his office in April 1783. However Tankerville was again appointed under Mr Pitt's administration in January 1784. He died on 10 December 1822 and was succeeded by his eldest son Charles Augustus.
caption: Orchid named for Charles' wife Emma. Drawing by Pierre-Joseph Redouté
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