Obituaries in 1967

BLOODWORTH, BERNARD SYDNEY, who died on February 19, aged 73, served Gloucestershire as player, scorer and groundsman at Bristol from 1919 until he retired in 1965. A left-handed batsman and a natural hitter, he would have met with greater success had he been able to curb a tendency to attack the bowling too early. He scored one century in his aggregate of 3,617 runs (average 16.15)--115 against Essex at Leyton in 1925 when, during his best season, he failed by only two runs to complete 1,000. Bernie was also a capable wicket-keeper and though he received few chances of figuring behind the stumps for the county, he brought off 69 catches and made 24 stumpings. A fine Rugby footballer in his younger days, he captained Cheltenham R.F.C.

CLARK, HORACE GEORGE, who died after a long spell of poor health on February 28, aged 78, was for many years a Committee member and Vice-President of Essex C.C.C. At a time when the county finances were at a very low ebb, he acted as honorary secretary from 1950 to 1954.

KING, HENRY PERCY, who died on February 26, aged 87, served for many years on the Committee of the Essex C.C.C. and was a Vice-President. He was known as the Father of the Clacton Festival, of which he was chairman since its inception in 1930. He continued in that position till failing health compelled him to give up.

MORTIMER, JOHN, who died on March 22, aged 56, appeared for Scotland three times between 1932 and 1946. Like his father and two of his uncles, he played for Aberdeenshire and, as a medium pace off-break bowler and aggressive batsman, was a member of the team which won the Scottish Counties' Championship in four successive years from 1946 to 1949. He served as the Club's honorary secretary from 1951 to 1963 and became President of the Scottish Counties' Cricket Board.

SEYMOUR, JOHN, who died on December 2, aged 84, played as a professional for Sussex for four years from 1904 before joining Northamptonshire, whom he served from 1908 to 1919. In all first-class cricket he scored 3,430 runs, average 17.06; took with right-arm bowling of medium pace 107 wickets for 26.42 runs each and held 97 catches. Going to Northamptonshire primarily as a bowler, he developed into a useful batsman. His one century was a highly valuable effort. Going in at Blackwell in 1913 when Northamptonshire had lost six wickets to the Derbyshire bowlers for 112 runs, he hit 136 out of 206, including one 5 and twenty-one 4's, in two hours ten minutes and was not out when the innings closed. Northamptonshire won the match by nine wickets. John was the brother of James Seymour, of Kent.