Obituaries in 1895

MR. Robert Lipscomb died on January 8th, aged fifty-seven. He will be remembered as one of the fastest and straightest amateur fast bowlers of his day. Commencing about 1862, he played regularly for Kent for several years, sharing the honours of many a good match with Willsher, Bennett, and Mr. .

MR. G. H. Fillingham (Harrow and Oxford), who died about the 20th of January, was a warm and liberal supporter of Notts cricket and a member of the committee of the county club. He was one of the founders of the Gentlemen of Notts Club, and always took the greatest interest in the affairs of that body. He was, we believe, at Harrow in 1856 and 1857.

MR. G. P. Robertson, who was in the Oxford eleven in 1866, died in Australia in the spring. Mr. Robertson had lived in the Colonies for many years, and held a far more prominent place in Australian than he ever did in English cricket, playing several times for Victoria against New South Wales, and in 1873 captaining the Eighteen of Victoria that beat Mr. W. G. Grace"s Eleven at Melbourne in a single innings.

MR. E. M. Hadow, who died at Cannes on February 20th, was the youngest of the four brothers Hadow who at different times appeared in the Harrow eleven. Born on the 13th of March, 1863, he was within a few weeks of completing his thirty-second year at the time of his premature death. Though he did some good work for Middlesex, it can scarcely be said that Mr. Hadow, as a man, fulfilled the hopes formed of him in his school days. At Harrow he was a brilliant batsman, playing admirably against Eton at Lord"s in 1880 and 1881. In the former year, when he was ninth on the batting order, he scored 28 not out and 49, while in 1881 he made 11 and 94-one of the best innings that had for some years been played for Harrow in the Schools" match. Mr. Hadow, who had for some time before his death dropped out of first-class cricket, was one of the best amateur racquet players of his time.

John Berry, an old Yorkshire cricketer, died in February in his seventy-second year. He was born on the 10th of January, 1824, and was an elder brother of the late Joseph Berry-probably the better known player of the two.

CAPTAIN W. H. C. Oates, for several years hon. secretary of the Notts County Club, died on March 8th. Though never prominently before the public as a player, Mr. Oates was closely associated with cricket for many years. His death at the age of fifty-nine followed a second paralytic seizure. Mr. Oates was educated at Harrow.

MR. Edwin Napper, who died on the 8th of March, was one of the best known of the old school of Sussex cricketers. Born on the 26th of January, 1815, he had entered his eighty-first year. He made his first appearance at Lord"s for Sussex (with Fuller Pilch) against England on the 8th of June, 1840, and played regularly in the Sussex eleven for upwards of twenty seasons. He was that somewhat unusual combination, a left-handed bat and right-handed bowler. Mr. Arthur Haygarth in Scores and Biographies, says of him that, like all left-handed batsmen, he was a fine, free hitter, making splendid cuts and drives, and that his round-arm bowling was of middle speed, with a pretty and easy delivery. Other authorities have also described him as one of the best left-handed batsmen of his day among the amateurs. He was born in Leigh Parish, Pulborough, Sussex, and was senior by a little over a year and a half to his brother, Mr. William Napper-equally well known in connection with Sussex cricket.

THE REV. James Pycroft, who died on March 10th at Brighton, aged eighty-two, will be remembered for all time as the author of The Cricket Field. In the course of his long life he wrote much about the game to which he was devoted, but The Cricket Field is emphatically the work upon which his fame will rest. A good cricketer himself in his Oxford days, he played at Lord"s in 1836 in the second of the long series of matches between the two Universities, among those who took part in the same game being Lord Bessborough-then the Hon. Frederick Ponsonby-Mr. R. Broughton, and Mr. C. G. Taylor. The University match was first played in 1829, and became an annual fixture in 1838. Knowing cricket thoroughly, Mr. Pycroft was certainly one of the best writers on the game. He was, if we may judge from some of his works, a little inclined to think that the great men of the Fuller Pitch and Alfred Mynn era were superior to any of their successors, but this perhaps unconscious prejudice in favour of the cricketers of his young days does not make his pages any the less entertaining. He was for about thirty years on the committee of the Sussex County Club, and retained to the last lively interest in Sussex cricket.

THE EARL OF BESSBOROUGH, so well known to countless cricketers of former days as the Hon. Frederick Ponsonby, died on March 12th. He had reached a ripe age, having been born in London on the 11th of September, 1815. For a great number of years closely associated with the M. C. C., and perpetual vice-president of the Surrey County Club, there was no more honoured figure in the cricket world. Appearing first at Lord"s for Harrow against Eton in 1832, he played in big matches till about 1845. At that date, partly owing to his profession and partly to an injury to his arm, he gave up playing at Lord"s, though for several seasons he continued to take part in small matches. By cricketers of the present day Lord Bessborough will not be remembered so much for what he did in the field as for his devotion during many years to Harrow cricket, and the fact that in 1845, in conjunction with his brother, the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby-Fane, and Mr. John Loraine Baldwin, he founded I. Zingari.

MR. Walter H. Miles, of the Oxbridge Cricket Club, and also of the Hampton Wick Club, died on March 25th in his twenty-eighth year.

John Dicker, an old Kent player of Alfred Mynn"s time, died on March 30th, aged eighty.

MR. Henry Colman, who died in March, was the last survivor of the eleven Colmans who used to play with so much success in Norfolk.

MR. G. H. Strutt, of Belper, a member and very liberal patron of the Derbyshire County Club, died on April 14th.

MR. J. W. Dale ( Tonbridge School, Cambridge University, and Middlesex), died at the end of June. He was born at Lincoln on the 21st of June, 1848, and had thus only just completed his forty-seventh year. His premature death was, we believe, due to an attack of pneumonia following influenza. Though he had for some time dropped entirely out of first-class cricket, Mr. Dale will be remembered as one of the best amateur batsmen of his day. He was in the Tonbridge School team from 1863 to 1866 inclusive, and, on going up to Cambridge, played in the University match in 1868, 1869, and 1870. In the last-mentioned year he was one of the heroes of the memorable match which F. C. Cobden"s bowling won for Cambridge by two runs. He scored on that occasion 15 and 67, his partnership with Mr. Yardley in Cambridge"s second innings completely turning the fortunes of the game. In 1870, indeed, Mr. Dale was quite at his best as a batsman, appearing for the Gentlemen against the Players both at Lord"s and the Oval. In the second innings of the Oval match he went in with Mr. W. G. Grace and helped to make 164 runs for the first wicket, his own score being 55. Mr. Dale"s style of batting was extremely finished and elegant. His abilities in the world of sport were by no means restricted to the cricket field. He rowed in the Cambridge eight in 1869 and 1870-with Mr. J. H. D. Goldie as stroke-and was a first-rate fisherman.

MR. H. M. Curteis, who died in June, was for many years one of the best-known patrons and supporters of Sussex cricket.

Charles Brampton ( Notts), who died on the 12th of June, was born on the 5th February, 1828. Though only a name to the present generation, Brampton was, in his day, a capital bat, playing in many a good match for Notts thirty and more years ago in company with Richard Daft, Jackson, Grundy, Wootton, and R. C. Tinley. For a number of years he was coach at Marlborough.

MR. E. A. Philcox, who died in July of pleurisy and pneumonia, was in the Harrow eleven of 1892. He came off well against Eton at Lord"s, scoring 41 and 4, but in fourteen innings for the team he obtained only 148 runs with an average of 11. As first change bowler he took twenty wickets for just over 15 runs each.

MR. A. M. Benham, the young dramatic author, whose death in September, at the age of twenty-three, cut short a promising career, was an enthusiastic cricketer, and played in the Rugby eleven against Marlborough at Lord"s in 1889.

MR. Leonard Sidgwick Howell (Winchester and Surrey), who died on September 7th, was a valuable member of the Surrey eleven at a time when the fortunes of the county were at a very low ebb. He was born at Dulwich on August 6th, 1848, and, after being in the Winchester eleven in 1864, 1865, and 1866, played first for Surrey in 1869. He was a fine, free hitter, and, without ever making a great name for himself, scored well so long as he kept up the game. He appeared first at Lord"s for Surrey against the M. C. C. on the 14th of May, 1872. The match, in which play was impossible on the first day owing to rain, was finished off on the second day in very sensational fashion. The M. C. C., who went in first, lost seven wickets without a run, and were all out for 16. In the end Surrey won the game by five wickets.

MR. R. G. Henderson, who died on September 22nd, will be remembered for the excellent service he rendered to Middlesex as a bowler during several seasons in the "70"s. He was one of the few cricketers who, despite the enormous disadvantage of having to play in glasses, have met with success in first-class matches. He was a right-handed bowler, slow to medium pace, and, without ever being great, was decidedly above the average among amateurs. Mr. Henderson was educated at Harrow, and was considered very unfortunate in just missing a place in the eleven. He was only 44.

Harry Wright died at Atlantic City, New Jersey, on the 2nd of October. He was well known in America in connection both with cricket and baseball. He was born in Sheffield, on January 10th, 1835, but was taken out to the States when only a year old. His association with baseball caused him to visit England in 1874 with the Boston Athletics.

MR. A. C. Cattley, who died in October, was a younger son of Mr. Wildman Cattley, the treasurer of the Surrey Club. He was in the Eton eleven in 1878 and 1879, but did not have the satisfaction in either year of being on the winning side. In 1878, Harrow won a keenly-contested game by 20 runs, while in 1879 the match was left drawn. His scores in the two matches were very small- 1 and 9 and 14 and 1. For some few years before his death ill-health kept him out of the cricket field.

MR. Charles R. Tatham died on October 26th at the age of seventy-seven. He will be remembered for his long association with the old Islington Albion Club, of which body he was for several years president.

MR. W. S. Trollope died in October. Born on the 31st of July, 1854, Mr. Trollope was only in his forty-second year, and his early death was a great grief to a large circle of friends. Educated at Westminster, where he distinguished himself at cricket, Mr. Trollope made a few appearances in the Surrey eleven, and, without doing anything remarkable, revealed abilities as an all-round player which would have repaid cultivation had circumstances admitted of his devoting more time to first-class matches. He was closely connected with the Streatham Club, and was a member of the Surrey committee.

DR. Henry Grace, the eldest member of the famous cricket family, died on November 13th from an attack of apoplexy. He was born on January 31st, 1833, and was thus in his sixty-third year. Though never coming prominently before the public, like his younger brothers, E. M., W. G., and G. F., Dr. Henry was, in his young days, an excellent cricketer, and but for the calls of his profession would probably have played more frequently in important matches. He is described as having been a vigorous bat, a medium-pace round-arm bowler, and an excellent field-mostly at point. He appeared at Lord"s for the first time on July 18th and 19th, 1861, and, with a first innings of 63 not out, materially helped the South Wales Club to beat the M. C. C. by seven wickets. The match is a historical one, inasmuch as it introduced Mr. E. M. Grace to Lord"s ground. Dr. Henry Grace was from the formation of the county club an enthusiastic supporter of Gloucestershire cricket, and was never absent from the county matches played at home.

George Freeman, the famous Yorkshire cricketer, died at Thirsk on November 18th, in his fifty-second year. He was by general consent the finest fast bowler of his generation. His career was short, but quite dazzling in its brilliancy. Coming before the public when Jackson was done with, and Tarrant on the wane, he jumped to the top of the tree and remained unapproachable so long as he devoted himself to the game. A profitable business as an auctioneer, however, soon drew him away from the cricket field, and after playing for Yorkshire, if we remember rightly, from 1867 to 1871 inclusive, he practically retired, his powers being almost unimpaired. He bowled against Mr. W. G. Grace in a benefit match at Sheffield in 1872 (the great batsman on that occasion scoring 150), but for some years after that he was a stranger to first-class cricket. Having, in the meantime, prospered in business, he reappeared for Yorkshire at Lord"s in 1878-playing as an amateur-and in 1880, at Huddersfield, he assisted his county against the second Australian eleven. These, however, were merely fugitive efforts, and cannot be regarded as belonging to his real career. In 1882 he was invited by the Surrey Club to play for the Gentlemen of England at the Oval against the greatest of all the Australian teams, but he did not think himself quite good enough for such a match, and politely declined the honour. He was a member of the English professional team that, under Willsher"s captaincy, went to America in the autumn of 1868, and met with extraordinary success, his spin and tremendous pace being altogether too much for the American batsmen. Mr. W. G. Grace has always described Freeman as the best of the fast bowlers he met in his younger days, and he remembers especially an innings he played against him and Emmett, with Mr. C. E. Green as his partner, on a terribly rough wicket, at Lord"s, in 1870. Mr. Grace scored 66, but when he had finished he was covered with bruises from shoulder to ankle. Mr. Green made 51, and to this day Mr. Henry Perkins, the secretary of the M.C.C., says the batting was the best he ever saw. George Freeman was a man of singularly fine presence, and in the Yorkshire eleven of his day was by many degrees the most striking and picturesque figure.

MR. A. J. Biddulph died during 1895. He was always a great supporter of cricket in West Sussex, and was one of the trustees of the Cricketer"s Fund. He was a personal friend of the late John Wisden and James Dean.

MR. Tom H. Knight, the official scorer to the Somerset County Club, was intimately associated with cricket for many years, and was closely connected with the Bedminster club, and several clubs in the Bristol district.

MR. M. Bowen, for many years in charge of the printing office at Lord"s ground, died on the 7th of December, 1894, aged seventy-three.

George T. Humphreys, who died on December 19th, 1894, was an elder brother of Walter Humphreys, the famous lob bowler. Born in 1845, he played from time to time for Sussex, but, though he was a fair bat and wicket-keeper, it cannot be said that he ever met with any great success in first-class cricket.

MR. E. J. Bousfield ( Lancashire) died late in December, 1894, or early in January, 1895, in his fifty-seventh year. He was in his day a well-known cricketer in the North of England.

MR. E. J. Hiscock, a member of the Adelaide Club, died on December 16th, 1894, at the age of twenty-six. He played for South Australia in inter-colonial matches on more than one occasion.