John Bonamy Challen (23 March 1863 – 5 June 1937) was a Welsh amateur sportsman who played first-class cricket and association football during the late 19th century.

Challen was considered one of Somerset's principal amateur batsmen during the late 1880s and early 1890s, when he frequently finished near the top of their batting averages.

He scored the only first-class century of his career in 1893 against Sussex, but began to appear less often after 1894, finally bowing out of county cricket after the 1899 season.

[1] He gained a competitive scholarship to Marlborough in 1877, in which year his father John Louis Challen, who had been ordained priest in 1870 from the Salisbury Diocesan Theological College, became rector of Nunney.

[2][3][4][5] His younger brother Louis Bonamy (born 1868) went to Derby School on a choral award, and then Durham University.

[9] In 1875, while still a teenager, Challen was among the youngest of those to donate half a guinea to help establish Somerset County Cricket Club.

[12] Though he played primarily as an attacking, free-hitting batsman, and an occasional fast-medium paced bowler,[1] he also kept wicket for Somerset against Leicestershire in 1880, taking a stumping in the first innings.

[13] His teaching career meant that his availability for Somerset was limited, and the vast majority of his appearances were made during the summer holidays, typically in August.

[25] Somerset were stripped of their first-class status in 1886; they had not played enough cricket the previous year, and when they did their performances had been below that expected of a top-level county side.

[28] As a batsman, Somerset cricket historian Stephen Hill describes Challen as "a beautiful timer of the ball capable of taking the fight to the bowlers.

"[10] However, Hill also notes that he often had to temper his game and play more steadily to accommodate some of the more reckless amateur batsmen in the Somerset team of the time.

"[32] Somerset's strong performance in 1890 saw them readmitted to first-class cricket in 1891, whereupon they joined the County Championship, a competition which had only been instituted the previous year.

Challen, playing in a first-class match for the first time in over five years, only managed six runs against Middlesex in May that season, though Cricket magazine described the wicket as "not in favour of the batsmen" due to heavy rain.

[34] Challen was praised later in the season for his resilient batting in difficult conditions against Lancashire's spin bowling duo of Johnny Briggs and Arthur Mold, though he could not prevent his side from losing.

[50] His final first-class appearance was against Gloucestershire from 28 to 30 August 1899,[14] when he scored six runs in the first innings, and was not needed in the second as Somerset won by five wickets.

[46] Challen made his first appearance for the Wales national football team in February 1887, playing against England in the 1886–87 British Home Championship.

[53] In each of these appearances, Challen is listed by The Times as representing Ruthin, but it is unclear if this refers to a football team, or just the place of his birth.

As the club was strictly amateur, it did not compete in the FA Cup, and players could continue to represent other teams in professional competitions.

[60][61][62] They had one son, John Bonamy Rhys Challen (1895–1966), wounded at Cambrai with the Middlesex Regiment in 1917 and awarded the Military Cross.