Lionel Charles Hamilton Palairet (27 May 1870 – 27 March 1933) was an English amateur cricketer who played for Somerset and Oxford University.

[10] Although a Lancastrian by birth, Palairet's family home was at Cattistock in Dorset, and it was in the south west that he chose to play his cricket.

[2] Palairet was selected for the university cricket team during his first year at Oxford, and made his first-class debut against the touring Australians in May 1890.

[12] In his next match, Palairet improved, top-scoring for Oxford in their first innings against the Gentlemen with his first half-century in first-class cricket, 54 runs batting at number eight.

Palairet won his Blue—the awarding of the Oxford "colours" to sportsmen—by appearing in the 1890 University match against Cambridge, a game in which he had little success.

[17] Although he generally batted as part of the middle order for Oxford, he invariably opened the innings for Somerset alongside his captain, Herbie Hewett.

[19] Palairet had agreed to tour North America with Lord Hawke's party, but he demurred late, and was replaced by Somerset teammate Sammy Woods.

[21] Facing Cambridge in the university match, he was out without scoring in the first innings, but centuries from Malcolm Jardine and Vernon Hill took Oxford to 365.

Oxford started poorly, falling to 17 for two, but coming in at number five, Palairet batted for an hour and a half to score 71 runs and help his side to victory.

[21] Palairet's university performances were good enough to earn him selection for the Gentlemen against the Players in the prestigious matches at Lord's and The Oval.

[11] Returning to Somerset, he struck a century against Gloucestershire in early July,[25] In late August, playing Yorkshire, Palairet scored 132 out of a partnership of 346 with Hewett,[26] establishing a record for the first wicket in first-class cricket, surpassing W. G. Grace and Bransby Cooper's 1869 total of 283.

[29] At the time, The Daily Telegraph reported that the pair remained together for three and a half hours, during which Palairet scored one six and nineteen fours.

[30] At the end of the season, he was selected in two representative sides: appearing for the West against the East, and once again for the Gentlemen against the Players, on this occasion at Hastings.

The university side failed to win a single match, and despite favourable batting conditions, none of the batsmen scored a century.

[33] In his four years at Oxford, Palairet appeared for the university 31 times in first-class cricket and accrued 1,291 runs at an average of 23.05.

Facing a team that included his brother, Richard Palairet, and was captained by Fry, he made 181 runs in Somerset's second innings, the highest first-class score of his career to that point.

[43] Palairet scored three centuries during the season; two against Middlesex, on the latter occasion batting undefeated through the whole Somerset innings,[44][45] and one against Yorkshire, when he struck 165.

[41] A fourth-innings score of 83 not out that season drew praise from Ranjitsinhji; on a difficult pitch, Palairet farmed the strike and rescued a draw for his side.

[49][d] One newspaper in Australia, reporting on his innings, declared that; "should he retain his form he will certainly be worthy of a place ... in the final Test match at the Oval.

"[48] Either side of that match against Hampshire, he appeared for the Gentlemen against the Players at The Oval and Lord's, but made little impact on either game.

[58] He played in two matches during the Scarborough Festival, in which he scored 54, his highest innings for the Gentlemen against the Players,[59][60] and also appeared for Thornton's "England XI" against that season's county champions, Yorkshire.

[11] Palairet missed all of the 1899 season through appendicitis;[8][61] Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes suggested that but for this he might have appeared for England against Australia that summer.

Yorkshire were bowled out on a wearing pitch for 113, with Braund and Beaumont Cranfield each taking four wickets, and Somerset won by 279 runs.

[70] Palairet was selected to appear for the Marylebone Cricket Club against the touring Australians in the week prior to the first Test of the series.

[82] The cricket historian David Foot describes 1904 and the subsequent few seasons as undistinguished for Somerset;[83] between then and the First World War, the club never finished higher than tenth in the County Championship.

[41] At the end of the season, in which Somerset finished fourteenth of sixteen teams in the County Championship, Palairet resigned the captaincy.

At the club's annual general meeting, in an uncharacteristic outburst he criticised the lack of talent and team spirit .

[85] After 1907, made only eight further appearances in first-class cricket, his final match being in 1909 for Somerset against Kent at Taunton, where he scored one run in the first innings and three in the second.

Fry suggests that the early practice that Palairet gained against Attewell and Martin, who bowled accurately at the stumps, was a key factor in limiting his range of leg side shots.

[99] He developed the idea of an inter-club team championship within Devon, and donated the prize, which remains named the Palairet Trophy.