While there is no evidence to suggest any connection to my ancestors, it is interesting to look at some of the people through the ages who have carried the name Noers, Norreys, Norris or Nurse.

In this article I look at Seymour Nurse, West Indian Cricketer.

Every summer when I was growing up I used to watch on BBC or listen to the commentary of John Arlott to the England Test Matches. One summer, 1966, I remember particularly well that West Indies toured England and they featured a Barbadian player - Seymour Nurse, who was 2^nd only to the great Gary Sobers in runs scored that series (see “Seymour Nurse” 2023).

As mentioned in a previous article, there was a family of Plantation owners in Barbados and it is quite possible that Seymour Nurse was descended from one of them.

Seymour MacDonald Nurse was born in St. Michael parish in Barbados on 10^th November 1933. He went to St Stephen’s Boys School where he excelled in both cricket and football. He started playing cricket for the Bay Street Boy’s Club and later moved up to play for the Empire Club in the Barbados Cricket Association.

He played his first game for Barbados in July 1958 against Jamaica at the Melbourne Oval in Kingston. he made his Test debut for the West Indies against England in the third test of the 1959-60 series in February 1960. In 1966 in England, the tour I remember watching and listening to as a child he scored 501 runs at an average of 62.62.

Seymour Nurse retired from Test cricket in 1969, although he continued to play for Barbados until 1972.

He died in May 2019 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bridgetown.

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