James Seymour (cricketer)
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James Seymour (October 25, 1879 - September 30, 1930) was a Kent cricketer from 1900 until 1926. He was born in Sussex
A right handed batsman, he was part of the Kent side which won the County Championship in 1906, contributing 1,096 runs. He passed 2000 runs in a season in 1913 with an aggregate of 2,088 runs. Against Worcestershire in 1904 he became the first ever player to score a century in both innings of a match for Kent. His innings of 204 against Hampshire at Tonbridge in 1907 was at the time a record for Kent, a record which he went on to twice exceed.
He finished his career with 26818 runs for Kent which puts him 4th on their all time run getters list. He is also one of only 6 players to have scored more than 50 centuries with Kent as of 2007. He made 1,000 runs in a season 16 times.
His benefit match was Kent v Hampshire at Canterbury in 1920. The game had important consequences for all county cricketers as the Inland Revenue used it as a test case in an attempt to define benefits as taxable income. The case went all the way to the House of Lords and was ruled in Seymour's favour and since then all professionals' benefits and testimonials have remained tax free.
