Abraham Shuker was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 schoolmaster and cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire

Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...

 between 1874 and 1882.

Shuker was born in Stockton, Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, the son of John Shuker, a bailiff, and his wife Charlotte. He was at Breewood School and St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

.
On leaving university he became a master at Trent College

Trent College

Trent College is a co-educational, HMC independent day and boarding school. There are 760 pupils in the Senior School and 330 pupils in the Junior School, The Elms School...

.

Shuker played for Staffordshire in 1873 and joined Derbyshire in the 1874 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1874

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1874 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire earned the title of Champion County in their fourth year playing as a club. Kent joined Lancashire to make the second County side to play first class matches against Derbyshire in 1874...

 where he made his first-class debut In his first match he opened the batting to score 41 runs, in a win against Lancashire

Lancashire County Cricket Club

Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...

. His second first class game was the return match against Lancashire and he also played in a scratch side against Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...

. He played two first-class matches a season without making much impression in 1875

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1875

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1875 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire played their fifth season. Nottinghamshire had played informal matches aggainst Derbyshire in previous seasons, and joined Lancashire and Kent to make a third County side playing first class matches...

, 1876

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1876

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1876 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire played their sixth season.Hampshire replaced Nottinghamshire as the third county to play Derbyshire, together with Lancashire and Kent. Derbyshire also played their first match against an MCC side, which...

 and 1877

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1877

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1877 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire played their seventh season.Yorkshire joined Hampshire, Lancashire and Kent as the fourth county to play Derbyshire. John Platts became the first cricketer to score a century for Derbyshire.-1877...

. He played three first class matches in the 1878 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1878

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1878 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire played their eighth season.Nottinghamshire played Derbyshire again after a two year break, joining Yorkshire Hampshire, Lancashire and Kent as the fifth county to play Derbyshire-1878 season:In 1878,...

 and again in the 1879 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1879

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1879 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire played their ninth season.Of the county sides Derbyshire played in the previous year they had matches against Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. However they did not play Hampshire or Kent...

 when he played an additional match for the club against Harrow Wanderers. In the 1880 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1880

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1880 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire played their tenth season.Derbyshire played Lancashire and Yorkshire who they had played in the previous season...

, he played four matches and hit 55 against Sussex

Sussex County Cricket Club

Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...

 to top the batting averages for the season. In the 1881 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1881

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1881 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for ten years. The team played nine first class matches and won two of them-1881 season:...

 he played three matches and scored 45 against Sussex. In the 1882 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1882

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1882 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for eleven years. The team played eight first class matches and won one of them-1882 season:...

, he played one match which was his last in June against Sussex, and opened with Duncan Johnston

Duncan Johnston

Sir Duncan Alexander Johnston was a Royal Engineers officer who became Director General of the Ordnance Survey. He also played first-class cricket for Derbyshire in 1882....

 to make his top score of 86.

Shuker was a right-handed batsman and played 40 innings in 22 first class matches with an average of 15.81 and a top score of 86.

Shuker retired from Trent College in 1904 after 32 years, having just established the Trent Association. He died at Chell House in Tunstall, Staffordshire

Tunstall, Staffordshire

Tunstall is an area in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was one of the original six towns that federated to form the city. Tunstall is the most northern town of the city of Stoke-on-Trent....

at the age of 64.