Maharaja Ranjitsinhji

London, Sept. 28 (PTI): Maharaja Ranjitsinhji, the first Indian to play Test cricket for England, may have fathered an illegitimate son with the daughter of his Cambridge University tutor over a century ago, according to a media report today.

The report, in The Sunday Times, said the affair was hushed up to avert a scandal in Victorian England.

Ranji, as he was affectionately known and after whom the Ranji Trophy has been named, was born in Nawanagar and went on to become its ruler as Maharaja Jam Sahib in 1907.

He made his debut for England against Australia in July 1896, scoring 154 in the second innings, more than half the side’s total of 305.

The paper said months later, Ranji is believed to have fathered a son with Edith Borissow, the eldest daughter of Reverend Louis Borissow, his tutor at Cambridge. According to the birth certificate, Borissow’s son Bernard Kirk was born on May 22, 1897. The father’s name was not recorded in the certificate.

Bernard, who was adopted by Paul Beardmore, a shoemaker from the northern city of Bradford, and his wife Jane, took their surname. He trained as an apprentice welder and boilermaker at a factory where, according to his grandchildren, Edith made several unsuccessful attempts to see her son. He died in 1976.

“Various bits of information have been passed down through the family about my great-grandad but the story with us was always that Ranji was his father — no doubt about it,” said his great-granddaughter Catherine Richardson.