Elder brother of William Barnes of Nottinghamshire and England, Thomas was unable to fulfil the promise he showed as a batsman and medium-pace bowler as he succumbed to typhoid fever at the age of 24.
Born in Sutton-in-Ashfield on 11 May 1849, Thomas Barnes played for his native town in 1867 and for the XXII Colts of Nottinghamshire in 1869, 70 and 71. He made his first team debut in the county fixture against Surrey at Trent Bridge in July 1872 and played five First-Class matches in all. In the last of these, versus Gloucestershire at Clifton, he made his highest First-Class score of 33. His First-Class record reads six innings for 65 runs at 10.33, with two catches; he took two wickets, also in that Gloucestershire match, for 23 runs, giving him a respectable average of 11.50. Barnes played for the county, not a First-Class match, v XXII Colts in 1872 and 1873 and his final Notts outing was in June 1873 for the county XI v the Next XV, at Trent Bridge. His only other First-Class game was for Richard Daft’s XI v the United North of England XI in 1870, when he scored 0 and 5 and did not bowl.
He was engaged with Leeds-based Holbeck CC from 1869-72 and with RMC Sandhurst and spent one season at Darlington; whilst there he represented Bradford v the United South of England Eleven and Scarborough v United North of England, both games in 1873.
Thomas Barnes died later that year, on 22 September at Sutton-in-Ashfield, where he is buried. In addition to his brother William, a nephew, James W Barnes, played three First-Class matches for Nottinghamshire.
June 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 135
See Thomas Barnes's career stats here