George Henry Longman (3 August 1852 – 19 August 1938) was an English first-class cricketer, cricket administrator, and publisher. Longman played in nearly seventy first-class matches between 1872 and 1885, scoring nearly 2,500 runs. As a publisher, he was a partner in the family publishing business, Longman.
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Early life and education
The son of Thomas Longman, he was born in August 1852 at Farnborough, Hampshire. He was educated at Eton College, where he played for the college cricket team, including as captain in 1871. From there, he matriculated to Trinity College, Cambridge. While studying at Cambridge, Longman made his debut in first-class cricket for Cambridge University Cricket Club against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Fenner's during his freshman year, the same year in which he gained his blue by virtue of playing in The University Match against Oxford University at Lord's. He opened the batting alongside Arthur Tabor in the match, sharing in a partnership of 104 in the Cambridge first innings, with Longman contributing 80 runs to help Cambridge win the match by an innings and 166 runs. Longman played first-class cricket for Cambridge until 1875, captaining the university in his last year. He partook in each of the four University Matches between 1872 and 1875, though featured on the winning side just once. In total, he made 27 appearances for Cambridge, scoring 1,019 runs at an average of 22.15, with four half centuries. In the field he took 11 catches, and on occasion he kept wicket, making a single stumping.
During his studies, he also played first-class cricket for the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players fixtures of 1873, 1874 and 1875. He also played for the Gentlemen of the South against the Players of the South at The Oval in 1873. After graduating from Cambridge, he entered into the family publishing business Longman.