G. B. Buckley

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G. B. Buckley (George Bent Buckley) (1885–26 April 1962) was an English surgeon and a celebrated cricket historian who specialized in the sport’s early days. Born in Saddleworth, England, he was the son of Arthur Buckley, a solicitor, and Jane Buckley. Buckley served as a surgeon with the Royal Army Medical Corps in the First World War and was awarded the Military Cross in 1916 for tending wounded under heavy fire; he was wounded in action. He later became a senior surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary and a member of the Manchester Medical Society.

After retiring from surgery, Buckley devoted himself to researching early cricket. He traveled around England, collecting material from newspapers and local libraries about 18th‑century cricket. His two major books are Fresh Light on Eighteenth Century Cricket (1935) and Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket (1937). In 1938 he moved to Weston‑super‑Mare and lived near the town’s cricket ground.

Buckley died on 26 April 1962 in Weston-super-Mare, aged 77. His research influenced later writers and was continued in series of typescripts and manuscripts organized by Rowland Bowen around 1960.