Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville (15 November 1743 – 10 December 1822), 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.
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Biography
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.
Keen on cricket, Tankerville often played, and seems to have been a very good fielder, though he was not especially noted for batting or bowling. He was the employer of 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.