Yorkshire Cricketers, 1875. Source: Picture Sheffield.
George Chatterton started his working life, like his father, as a file cutter, but became a professional cricketeer, most active in the middle of the nineteenth century. Early in life Chatterton was a member of the Sheffield Wednesday Cricket Club, forerunner of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, its name referring to the players day off from work, the only day they were available to play. Sheffield Wednesday CC initially played at Darnall Cricket ground before moving to Hyde Park which was closer to the town and had a capacity of 16,000. The team moved again in 1855 to Bramall Lane where they played until 1893.
Sheffield was the hub of cricket in the north of England during the first half of the nineteenth century and Sheffield Cricket Club, for whom Chatterton also played as a right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm slow underarm bowler, were effectively the Yorkshire side prior to the formation of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1863.
Chatterton was considered the one of the best wicket keepers of the day and was for several seasons also employed as a professional bowler by the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lords. He scored 1,611 first class runs with a highest score of 109 and his best bowling was when he took 7 wickets for 21 runs against Kent. For several years Chatterton was engaged as cricket mentor by Lord Fitzwilliam at Wentworth.
After he stopped playing, he was asked to umpire in some of the best matches in England, his decision-making being recognised as impartial and of a high standard.
Eight years before his death Chatterton was accidently thrown out of a trap and, from the injuries he received in that accident, he never fully recovered. He was buried in grave E2 88 in the Anglican area of the Cemetery which has now been cleared.