Obituaries in 1974

ALLCOTT, CYRIL FRANCIS WALTER, who died in Auckland on November 21, 1973, aged 77, was a good left-handed all-rounder who played in six Test matches for New Zealand. He visited England in 1927 and 1931 and played against England and South Africa in his own country. He also toured Australia in 1925-26. Though he achieved little in Test cricket, he did some notable performances in other first-class cricket during a career extending from 1921 to 1946. In 1927 he (131) and C. S. Dempster (180) scored 301 for the second wicket against Warwickshire at Edgbaston and he (102 not out) and J. E. Mills (104 not out) added 190 in an unbroken eighth wicket partnership against Civil Service at Chiswick. In 1925-26 he (116) and W. R. Patrick (143) put on 244 for the second wicket against New South Wales at Sydney. As a slow to medium-pace bowler, one of his best feats was when he returned figures of 5 overs, 3 maidens, 3 runs, 5 wickets at Weston-super-Mare in 1927. Somerset, set to get 162 to win, were all out for 67 and beaten by 94 runs. For Hawkes Bay, Auckland and Otago Allcott did much excellent work.

ANDERSON, REV. STUART KNOX, who died on March 2, aged 89, was in the Rugby XI in 1900, 1901 and, as captain, in 1902. He did not get a Blue, but played for Oxford Authentics and the Band of Brothers.

ASHLEY, LT-COL. RICHARD, who died at Bognor Regis on August 9, played in two matches for Somerset in 1932, away to Leicestershire and Essex. In the former match he sent down his only two overs, both maidens, for the county, and by bowling W. H. Marlow, his first-class analysis stands at one wicket for no runs.

BAGNALL, HAMAR FRASER, of Harrow, Cambridge University and Northamptonshire, died in London on September 2, aged 70. A talented batsman, he rarely did himself justice, yet on his day he was brilliant. He was in the Harrow XI of 1920, 1921 and 1922, but accomplished little in the matches against Eton, yet in 1922 when opposed to Arthur Gilligan and Maurice Tate he hit 103 for Northamptonshire at Northampton. Bagnall spent three years at Cambridge and gained his Blue as a Freshman when he scored hundreds against Free Foresters and H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI, but he was left out of the 1924 and 1925 Light Blue sides although he still made runs for his county. Altogether in first-class cricket Bagnall had to be satisfied with 2,936 runs, average 19.31.

BAUCHER, REGINALD HERBERT, who died on April 9, aged 70, was in the Harrow XI for four years from 1919, being captain in 1922.

BELL, JOHN THOMPSON, who died at Guiseley, near Leeds on August 14, aged 76, was one of the legion of Yorkshire cricketers who have made a name outside the county. Having failed to gain a regular place for Yorkshire in 1921 and then again in 1923 despite the fact that once he helped Norman Kilner put on 117 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, Bell found success with Glamorgan. He opened their batting from 1926 to 1931, and in his ten years playing first-class cricket scored 8,343 runs at an average of 28.76.

His best season with Glamorgan was his first, when he hit 1,471 runs, average 38.71, to head their averages. Among four centuries that summer was 225 against Worcestershire at Dudley, during which he and Trevor Arnott put on 177 in seventy minutes. He scored another double century the next season, carrying his bat for 209 for Wales against M.C.C. He also helped to set up two Glamorgan partnership records in putting on 165 with J. T. Morgan for the fourth wicket against Nottinghamshire at Cardiff in 1927 and 167 with W. E. Bates for the first against Lancashire at Swansea in 1929.

When Bell gave up county cricket, he returned to Yeadon, where he had first played, to serve as professional, groundsman and captain, and after similarly helping a club near Scunthorpe, he reappeared on first-class grounds as an umpire from 1948 to 1951.

BIRTWELL, ALEX J., one of the great cricket characters of the Lancashire League and a well-known Burnley solicitor, died in November, aged 65. He played for Nelson, Colne, Burnley and Lowerhouse, and really made his name at Nelson in their noted side of the 1930's when Learie Constantine was the professional. A talented spin bowler, he appeared in 14 matches for Lancashire between 1937-39 when he took 25 wickets, average 39.96. He also played for Buckinghamshire.

BLUNDEN, EDMUND, who died in January, aged 77, was a lover of cricket and author of Cricket Country. A celebrated poet and writer, he was professor of English literature at Tokyo University for three years from 1924, fellow and tutor of English literature at Merton College, Oxford, from 1931 to 1943, professor of English in Hong Kong in 1955 and Oxford University professor of poetry till he resigned through ill health in 1968. He kept wicket for J. C. Squire's Invalids.

BOOTH, ARTHUR, who died in a Rochdale hospital on August 17 aged 71, had one of the most extraordinary careers of any first-class cricketer. It began in 1931 with two matches, ceased at the end of the summer and did not continue until 1946. Then, having headed both the Yorkshire and the complete county bowling averages at the age of 43, with 84 and 111 wickets respectively, Booth appeared in only four matches in 1947, disappearing once more into the Bradford League and comparative obscurity, never to play for Yorkshire again.

That one season between the untimely death of Hedley Verity and the emergence of Johnny Wardle could not have been more dynamic. The 111 wickets taken by Booth with slow left arm bowling cost only 11.61 runs each, an average better than anything recorded in the previous 23 years, and Yorkshire retained the Championship they had won in the last season before the war.

Booth took six for 33 against the touring Indian side that year, but his best return was six for 21 against Warwickshire, a county with whom he later became associated as a scout. He never lost his love for the game; a love which prompted him to say in later life: Just imagine, they don't even teach cricket in some schools now.

BOWLEY, EDWARD HENRY (TED), the Sussex and England cricketer, died in Winchester Hospital on July 9, aged 84. Born at Leatherhead, in Surrey, he learned his early cricket in Liss and Stodham Park, Hampshire, and qualified by residence for Sussex, for whom he made his début in 1912. He became a regular member of the side in 1914 and for fifteen successive seasons (excluding the First World War) he scored at least 1,000 runs. After serving in the Army he returned to Sussex in 1920. A sound and often brilliant opening batsman and a very useful slow right arm leg break bowler, he hit his maiden century that year, 169 against Northamptonshire at Northampton, putting on 385 with Maurice Tate for the second wicket, a Sussex record that still stands.

His best year was in 1929 when he made 2,359 runs and took 90 wickets. In 1929 he hit his highest score, 280 not out in a day against Gloucestershire at Hove and with J. H. Parks put on 368 for the first wicket, a record for the county. That was surpassed in 1933 when against Middlesex at Hove with John Langridge he engaged in a stand of 490, also still the best for the county.

A number of great batsmen stood in his way as far as England was concerned, but at the age of 39 he appeared twice for England against South Africa in 1929 before touring New Zealand and Australia with A. H. H. Gilligan's M.C.C. team. He played in three Tests in New Zealand and made 109 in the one at Auckland.

According to R. C. Robertson-Glasgow the back stroke was his glory. He wrote: I never saw a batsman who played this stroke with his bat and elbow so high, meeting a rising ball which others would leave, with tremendous force, and hammering it straight or to the off boundary. Again, he would lean back and cut square from the off stump balls which others were content to stop. In all else his equipment was full and correct. He was a notably fine player to slow bowling, but sometimes he was too impatient perhaps, too much the pure stroke player who would rather force a good length ball for a couple past cover-point than kill it gloomily a few yards from the bat.

On his retirement he moved to Winchester, where for 23 seasons successive generations of boys profited from his coaching and enjoyed his friendship.

BOYES, G. STUART, who died on February 11, 1973, aged 74, rendered fine all-round service to Hampshire between 1921 and 1939. After one season as an amateur, he turned professional and during his career he scored 7,515 runs for the county, average 14.45 and took with slow left-arm bowling 1,415 wickets for 23.68. A splendid fieldsman at short-leg, he held 474 catches. Boyes hit two centuries, 101 not out against Lancashire at Liverpool in 1936 and 104 from the Northamptonshire bowling at Newport, I.o.W. in 1938. As a bowler able to spin and flight the ball, and deadly on helpful pitches, he three times took 100 wickets in a season, his best performances being nine wickets for 57 runs against Somerset at Yeovil in 1938, six for five v Derbyshire at Portsmouth in 1933 and four for three v Somerset at Southampton in 1936. Twice he performed the hat-trick, at the expense of Surrey at Portsmouth in 1925 and against Warwickshire at Edgbaston the following year. He took part in the historic game at Birmingham in 1922 when Hampshire, dismissed by H. Howell and the Hon. F. S. G. Calthorpe for 15--their lowest total--in the first innings, Hampshire made such a remarkable recovery that they defeated Warwickshire by 155 runs. From 1946 till 1963, Boyes was a highly popular coach at Ampleforth.

BROCKLEBANK, SIR JOHN MONTAGUE, Bt., died at his home in Malta on September 13, aged 59. Chairman of Cunard from 1959 to 1965, he placed the order for the construction of the QE2. In his younger days at Eton and Cambridge he was a talented bowler of quick leg-breaks and top spinners. He appeared against Harrow at Lord's in 1933 and took four wickets. In the Arab tour of Jersey in 1935 Hugh Bartlett recognised his possibilities and the following year caused a surprise by inviting him to tour with the Cambridge team three weeks before the University match. In nine innings he took 33 wickets, average 18.48. Bowling from a good height and keeping an accurate length, Brocklebank--a nephew of Sir Stanley Jackson--took ten wickets for 139 in the match against Oxford at Lord's and helped Cambridge to victory by eight wickets.

On leaving Cambridge, he was apprenticed by his father, Sir Aubrey Brocklebank, in a shipyard where he found few opportunities for first-class cricket. He played in four matches for Lancashire in 1939 when he also appeared for Gentlemen against Players at Lord's. Although he took only three wickets in that match he caused such an impression that M.C.C. chose him for the tour to India, 1939-40, which was abandoned on the outbreak of war, in which he reached the rank of Major with the Royal Artillery, having joined as a Territorial. In 1943 he was taken prisoner by the Germans on the island of Cos in the Dodecanese.

BROWN, HERBERT ARTHUR, secretary of Nottinghamshire from 1920 to 1958 died on July 23, aged 83. His interest in Nottinghamshire covered sixty years and he was a member of the M.C.C. Advisory committee in the early 1920's. A most popular personality, he was known as Uncle Herbert on local children's broadcast programmes and he was Uncle Herbert to the county cricketers. He bore a heavy burden during the bodyline dispute in 1932-33.

BUCKLEY, CYRIL FRANCIS STEWART, who died as a result of an accident on June 11, aged 69, was a wicket-keeper at Eton, but he did not get into the XI. He played many years for Berkshire, including 1928 when they won the Minor Counties Championship.

BURDETT, JOHN WILDER, who died on April 16, aged 85, was in the Oundle XI before turning out in 1919 for Leicestershire, of which club his father had been Secretary. He also represented the county at hockey.

CHETHAM-STRODE, R. WARREN, who died on April 26, aged 78, was in the Sherborne XI in 1913. He became a playwright, whose most successful work was The Guinea Pig in 1946. When serving in the Army in the First World War, he won the M.C. His father played for New Zealand in the first team from that country to oppose an England XI, in 1879.

CORNWALLIS, CAPTAIN OSWALD WYKEHAM, who died on January 28, aged 79, played for the Royal Navy and figured in one match for Hampshire in 1921, though he did not appear on the field of play. A brother of Lord Cornwallis, the Kent cricketer, he rose from a cadet at Osborne to Captain before retiring from the Royal Navy in 1944.

CREESE, WILLIAM LEONARD CHARLES, who died in hospital at Dover on March 9, aged 66, played as a professional all-rounder for Hampshire from 1928 to 1939. A hard-hitting left-hander born in South Africa, he scored most of his runs by drives and leg-side strokes. He scored six centuries, the highest in his last season, when he took 241, inlcuding thirty-seven 4's, from the Northamptonshire bowling at Northampton.

After the Second World War, he served as groundsman at the Central Ground at Hastings for some years, during which he suffered the agonising experience of seeing his small grandson, whom he idolised, killed by the heavy roller in the interval between innings in a Festival match. He later became head groundsman at the Sussex County ground at Hove.

Len Creese was the son of W. H. (Bill) Creese, whose family were curators, caterers and even secretaries at the famous Newlands Ground, Cape Town for nearly sixty years. The reign ended on August 30, with the death of Ronnie Creese at the age of 57. He was the son of Frank Creese, brother of Bill, who was baggage-master to J. W. H. T. Douglas's team in 1913-14 and went to Newlands in 1915. Frank joined him in 1923 and was in charge of the ground and secretary till 1958. It was an extraordinary devotion to the game by two sons and two fathers, but Len alone made his name first as a cricketer. His father did play once for Transvaal in 1897-98 and once for the M.C.C. team in a minor engagement against Border at King Williamstown in 1913.

DAILY, CHARLES EDWIN, who died suddenly at his home at Ockley, aged 74, on June 30, was a sound steady batsman who played for Surrey between 1923 and 1929, but his opportunities in the County side were infrequent owing to the galaxy of batting talent at that period at the Oval. His hobbies were cricket and singing and he was a stalwart of Capel Choral Society. Until his death he sang in the Guildford Cathedral concerts with the Surrey Festival Choir under its conductor, Ralph Nicholson. For many years Daily was coach at St. Paul's School, West London.

DAWSON, ANDREW CHRISTOPHER, who died on January 14, aged 65, gained a place in the Stowe XI and later appeared for Leicestershire Second XI. His elder brother, E. W. Dawson, got his Blue at Cambridge and played for Leicestershire and England.

DEMPSTER, CHARLES STEWART, who died in Wellington, his birthplace, on February 13, aged 70, was one of the greatest batsmen produced by New Zealand. He played in 10 Test matches between 1929 and1932, scoring 732 runs, average 65, and hitting two centuries, both against England--136 at Wellington in 1929-30, when he and J. E. Mills shared an opening stand of 276 which remains a New Zealand record, and 120 at Lord's in 1931. It was difficult to realise that such a stylish, gifted batsman never enjoyed the benefit of coaching.

He toured England on two occasions, in 1927--when he said that he really learned cricket--and in 1931 when, despite missing several matches because of a leg strain, he registered 1,778 runs, average 59.26. Of his seven centuries during the latter tour, he made 212 from the Essex bowling at Leyton.

In 1953 Stewie Dempster made his first appearance as an amateur for Leicestershire and from 1936 to 1938 he both captained the county and headed the batting averages each season. Of his 35 centuries, he obtained three in successive innings in 1937: 110 v Sussex at Leicester and 133 and 154 not out v Gloucestershire at Gloucester, and he repeated the feat the following year with 105 against the Australians at Leicester, 110 v Hampshire at Southampton and 187 v the University at Oxford. Later he played occasionally for Warwickshire. In a career extending from 1921 to 1948, he hit 12,267 runs, average 45.43, many for Wellington in State cricket.

DONNELLY, DESMOND LOUIS, who was found dead in a London hotel bedroom on April 4, aged 53, founded in 1940 the British Empire XI which, including many famous cricketers, all unpaid, raised much money for the Red Cross. In the first season over 80,000 people watched the Empire XI's 37 matches, the Red Cross benefiting by £1,239. Donnelly afterwards joined the R.A.F., serving with the Desert Air Force, and following the end of the Second World War became a Member of Parliament, firstly with the Labour Party and then as an Independent. A journalist, he was the author of eleven books.

DURHAM, D. F. (BOB), who died in January, aged 66, was not only match and team secretary for Suffolk County C.C., but acted as scorer for them for nearly forty years.

EBERLE, VICTOR FULLER, who died in Bristol aged about 90, claimed fame as the man who in 1899 dropped A. E. J. Collins when he had scored 20. It was in the House Match at Clifton College in which Collins went on to score 628 not out!

ELLIS, JOHN LESLIE, who died on July 28, aged 83, was one of those unfortunate cricketers destined to live under the shadow of the famous. He never played for his country because he had a contemporary in Bert Oldfield, who kept wicket for Australia from 1920 to 1936. Ellis made one tour to England with H. L. Collins' 1926 side and distinguished himself with 21 catches and 23 stumpings, but Oldfield played in all five Tests. His career with Victoria stretched from 1918 to 1931 when he gave way to Ben Barnett. In one of his 48 Shield games, Ellis, batting number ten, scored 63 against New South Wales in 1926-27 and took the side past the thousand and on their way to 1107, still the highest total in first-class cricket. Ellis certainly was no mean batsman; he once hit a century against South Australia. His final recognition came in 1935 when at the age of 44 he went to India with a veteran Australian team led by Jack Ryder.

FALLOWS, JACK, who collapsed and died on January 20, aged 67, rendered excellent service to Lancashire as captain in 1946 when the county were in the process of building a new side after the Second World War. Though he scored only 171 runs at an average of 8.14 in his one season of first-class cricket, he proved an able leader and under him the team blended harmoniously. He played for Cheshire for a time before that and gained prominence in club cricket. For a number of years till retiring in 1971 through pressure of business, he served on the Lancashire Committee and was chairman of selectors.

FERNANDO, H. IRWIN, who died in June at the age of 45, was a stylish left-hander. Educated at Prince of Wales College, Ceylon, he played for Sinhalese and Moratuwa Clubs with great success and was a good cover fieldsman. He toured Pakistan in 1950 and together with S. Jayasinghe and V. Prins was one of the few batsmen who stood up to the wiles of Sonny Ramadhin and Bruce Dooland against L. E. G. Ames's Commonwealth XI in 1951.

FISHER, HORACE, a left arm slow bowler, who played infrequently for Yorkshire, 1928-1936, died at his home at Overton, near Wakefield on April 16, aged 70. A contemporary of Hedley Verity, Fisher seldom played unless Verity was on Test duty. In first-class cricket he took 93 wickets, average 28.18. He was also a useful batsman at a crisis and a splendid close-to-the-wicket fieldsman. A careful man, he bowled with a low trajectory, just short of a length and he counted his overs, his maidens and the runs that were hit off him.

Fisher was the first bowler to register a hat-trick of lbw victims when he took five wickets for 12 runs against Somerset at Sheffield in 1932. The story has often been told that when umpire Alec Skelding having given out Mitchell-Innes and Andrews lbw, started up the wicket at Luckes when the third appeal was made, uttered almost in disbelief, As God's my judge, that's out, too, and he lifted his finger. Earlier in that same week in August, Fisher had taken six wickets for 11 runs against Leicestershire at Bradford. In 1934, Fisher toured West Indies with the Yorkshire team. A League professional for 20 years, Fisher played for various clubs in the Bradford, Huddersfield, Lancashire and Central Lancashire Leagues.

FRANKS, FRANK HAROLD, who died at Haslemere on May 2, aged 87, was in the Malvern XI in 1905 as a batsman and in the Kent 2nd XI, 1906-10.

FULCHER, MAJOR ERIC ARTHUR, stated in the 1974 edition to have died on August 15, was not the Devon player, who was Edward Arthur Fulcher, whose death was reported in the 1947 edition.

GARDNER, R. J. C. ( Hobbs), who died at his home, Nahoon, East London, South Africa, on December 10, 1973, aged 61, was a noted provincial administrator. He played cricket at School and in the League, and for over 20 years served the Border Cricket Union as selector, manager of Currie Cup teams and finally as President for seven years. He was given the nickname Hobbs because he wrote to the great man of Surrey and England when a young schoolboy--the start of a long correspondence between them.

GOODLAND, MAJOR EDWARD STANLEY, who died on January 12, aged 90, was captain of both cricket and football teams while at Taunton School and he played in a few matches for Somerset in 1908 and 1909. With the Somerset Light Infantry in the First World War, he was awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre and was mentioned in dispatches. For 40 years after the War he was with a Bond Street firm of antique dealers, becoming chairman and managing director. In the Second World War he served with the Civil Defence, ending as Chief Warden of the City of Westminster.

GOONERATNE, MAJOR MERVYN OSWALS, who died suddenly on May 28, aged 59, was one of the best leg-break and googly bowlers produced by Ceylon. For St. Thomas's College against Royal College in 1935 he played a great part in a memorable victory by scoring 107 and taking seven second-innings wickets for 34 runs and performed the hat-trick for the Sinhalese Sports Club against Burgher Recreation Club two seasons later. He played against the Australians in 1938 and was easily the outstanding bowler for Dr. C. H. Gunasekara's team who toured Malaya in that year.

GOSLING, MAJOR CECIL HENRY, who died on May 19, aged 64, was in the Eton XI as a middle-order batsman in 1927and 1928. He went up to Oxford, but did not gain a Blue. He became a Deputy Lieutenant for Essex in 1949.

GRACE, DR. EDGAR MERVYN, of Hilltop, Alverston, Bristol who died on November 24, aged 88, was the son of Dr. Edward Mills Grace, known in his cricketing days as The Coroner. He was a nephew of W. G. Grace and G. F. Grace. Dr Edgar made his first appearance for the Thornbury club at the age of nine when he came in as a substitute against Cinderford and took six wickets for 24 with innocent-looking lobs. He went on to become captain of Thornbury for 37 years and altogether served the club for 79 years. In 1920, his best season, he scored well over 1,000 runs and took 146 wickets for only seven runs each. Dr Edgar's son, Gerald (G. F.) and grandson, (E. M.) now carry on the family association with Thornbury.

GUNASEKERA, L. D. S. (Chippy), who died in January aged 69, was a former Ceylon captain who led the team against Jack Ryder's Australians in 1935. He had a successful career at Royal College, Colombo, which he captained in 1925. A fine left-handed opening batsman he took part in many three-figure partnerships with M. K. Albert for the Sinhalese Sports Club and he was a splendid cover fieldsman. Toured India in 1932 and he had the best analysis with his leg-spinners in 1938 against Bradman's Australians. A shrewd tactician, eminent coach and one of the Island's leading criminal lawyers.

HANDS, WILLIAM CECIL, one of four survivors of Warwickshire's 1911 Championship side, died on August 31, aged 87. An amateur, business prevented his full-time participation in county cricket. Hands played in eight of Warwickshire's 20 Championship matches in 1911 when Frank Foster (116 wickets) and F. E. Field (122 wickets) were the big men in the attack. Right hand, medium pace with an easy action, Hands claimed only 17 victims that year; he was so lean in body that he could not make a sustained effort. His best performance was five for 10 against Surrey at the Oval in 1912 on a hard, fast pitch. Altogether, between 1909 and 1920, Hands took 142 wickets average 24.71 and he held 35 catches. He averaged 12.96 with the bat.

HILL, JOHN CHARLES, who died in Melbourne on August 11 at the early age of 51, played all his Test cricket for Australia overseas. His first-class career with Victoria amounted to just 15 games when the selectors picked him along with two other leg spinners, Benaud and Ring, for the 1953 trip to England. He took 63 wickets, average 20.98 in all matches that tour, though like the other two bowlers of his type, left little impression in the Tests.

Nevertheless, Hill's seven England victims were not inconsiderable, consisting as they did of Graveney, May, Bailey and Kenyon at Trent Bridge and Bill Edrich, Bailey and Laker at Old Trafford. To these he added Holt of the West Indies on his only other appearance for his country, at Bridgetown in 1955.

Always known as Jack, Hill was not the most elegant of leg spinners in his approach to the wicket and he was apt to make life difficult for the wicket-keeper by his constant attack on or about the leg stump. He took 121 wickets in all for Victoria, taking over from another Test cricketer, Jack Iverson. A civil servant by profession, Hill also excelled at football, playing for St. Kilda until he twice fractured his skull. He served with the Royal Australian Air Force during the war.

HOLMES, JOHN WILLIAM, who died on November 20 at Worcester, aged 73, was on the Lancashire staff in the 1920's and played regularly for the Second XI as a genuine fast bowler. Afterwards he played with considerable success in the Lancashire League and in a match for Lancaster against Darwen in August 1928 he took eight wickets for three runs including the hat-trick. He went to Worcestershire in 1930 where he played club cricket until after the war.

HUBERT, GEORGE S., who died on June 2, aged 62, hailed from a family of sportsmen in Ceylon. An opening batsman at Royal College he excelled in the slips and at cover. He toured India in 1932-33 under the captaincy of C. H. Gunasekera and scored 78 against All Karachi at Karachi and 67 against Northern India at Lahore. He also played for Ceylon against the Australians, led by Stan McCabe, in 1938.

INSOLE, JOHN HERBERT, who died on February 23, aged 74, was father of D. J. Insole, of Cambridge University, Essex and England. Jack Insole served on the Essex Committee from 1959 to 1970. As a member of the Festival Committtee at Leyton from 1963 till 1973, he called upon every member of his family, including grandchildren, to lend a hand at matches there. When Essex finances were at a low ebb, he instituted the collecting of trading stamps, the sale of which raised several hundreds of pounds for the county funds. Though never a prominent player, he took part in club cricket in East London in his younger days.

JEFFREYS, HUGH, who died suddenly at Swansea on November 14, aged 74, had been honorary scorer for Glamorgan for many years, the last fourteen with the first team. A retired bank official, he was an expert statistician and he kept the records with meticulous care, for he was a keen student of the game. He will be remembered also for his loyalty and kindness to all.

JOHNSTONE, CONRAD POWELL, who died suddenly at his Eastry home on June 23, aged 78, had spent the previous three days at Lord's watching the Test with India in which country he had spent much of his life. He was awarded the C.B.E. for his efforts on behalf of cricket in Madras. A talented left-handed batsman, Johnstone was in the Rugby XI in 1912, 1913, being captain the second year and he played in both Schools matches at Lord's. Going up to Cambridge after the war, he gained his Blue in 1919 and 1920 when he usually opened the Light Blues innings. He played for Kent between 1919-1933 and later served many years on the County Committee, being President when Kent first won the Gillette Cup in 1967. In 1920 he led Cambridge to a surprising golf victory against Oxford despite being opposed to C. J. H. Tolley and R. H. Wethered.

KERR, SIMON, who was found stabbed to death in a flat in Bristol on March 17, performed the extraordinary feat of scoring, when 19, five not out centuries in six innings for St. George's College, Salisbury, in 1972. (See Wisden 1973, page 134). The following year he paid his own fare from Rhodesia, joined the Gloucestershire ground staff and lived in the pavilion on the Bristol ground. He played for the Second XI. He was recommended to the County by M. J. Procter, the South African Test match all-rounder.

KILBY, LEN, physiotherapist and medical attendant to Kent C.C.C. for the last five years, died on July 22, the day set for his second marriage. He was 69 and a widower. His wedding was set two days earlier, but he put it back in case Kent got into the final of the Benson and Hedges Cup. He retired as chief physiotherapist at Canterbury Hospital some years ago and was a very popular figure on all the Kent grounds. He was also well known in the athletic world and accompanied many British teams abroad, including the Olympic Team to Melbourne.

KING, HORACE DAVID, who died on March 7, aged 59, played as an amateur wicket-keeper for Middlesex between 1936 and 1946.

KIRTON, HAROLD OSBORNE, who died at Holland-on-Sea, Essex, on May 9, aged 80, played as an amateur in two matches for Warwickshire and made 82 runs in three innings. Against Surrey at Edgbaston in 1925 he went in first and scored 12 and 8, and five years later at number three he made top score, 52 against Middlesex at Lord's in a patient display of three hours on a difficult pitch.

LEATHAM, HUGH WILLIAM, who died on December 20, 1973, aged 82, was in the Charterhouse XI in 1909 and 1910, heading the bowling figures in the second year with 41 wickets at 9.85 runs apiece. In 1910, too, he played for the Public Schools at Lord's, being almost certainly the last, and probably the only, boy to be selected for this side purely as a lob bowler. He played in trials at Cambridge without getting a Blue, and later turned out for I Zingari and Free Foresters, but virtually dropped out of the game after 1914. He gained fame as a rackets player.

LONGRIGG, EDMUND FALLOWFIELD, who for fifty years rendered great service for Somerset cricket as a sound left-handed batsman, captain, chairman and president, died at his home in Bath on July 23, aged 68. Educated at Rugby, he was in the XI for four years, finishing as captain in 1925. He was a Cambridge Blue in 1927 and 1928 and he played for Somerset from 1925 to 1947.

Altogether in first-class cricket, Longrigg scored 9,416 runs, including ten centuries for Somerset, average 24.64 and he held 134 catches. His best season was 1930, when he made 1,567 runs and hit 205 against Leicestershire at Taunton. A solicitor by profession, he did not play regularly between 1931 and 1937, but he captained Somerset in 1938, 1939 and 1946 when he led them to fourth position in the Championship and their best at that time since 1892. Longrigg served on several M.C.C. Committees and was a member of two sub-committees of the Test and County Cricket Board. A well-known golfer and county hockey player, he was an R.A.F. officer during the Second World War and for 18 years he was president of Frome R.A.F.A. He will be remembered for his unfailing courtesy, goodwill, and understanding, especially in some very heated county committee debates.

McBRIDE, WALTER NELSON, who died on January 30, aged 69, was in the Westminster XI from 1922 to 1924, being captain in the last season. Going up to Oxford, he gained a Blue in 1926, being the first victim in a hat-trick with which R. G. H. Lowe, who was in the Westminster side with him, finished off the Dark Blues' first innings. He later played for Hampshire. McBride also got a Blue at Association football, keeping goal in 1927 when Oxford won by 6-2 at Stamford Bridge.

MANNING, JAMES LIONEL, who died in King's College Hospital, London, on January 18, aged 60, had been troubled with indifferent health for some years, but as a campaigning writer and broadcaster for all that was good in sport he kept going right to the end. A member of M.C.C., cricket was his favourite sport. He had been Sports Editor on the Sunday Chronicle, Sunday Dispatch and Daily Mail and was for some years a columnist on the Evening Standard. He wrote many reviews on Wisden. His father, L. V. Manning, wrote his first sports column in 1919 and the father's attitude to sport and the philosophy of sport had a marked influence on the son.

METHUEN, LORD (Paul Ayshford Methuen), Fourth Baron, who died in a Bath hospital on January 7, aged 87, was in the Eton XI in 1905, taking five wickets for 91 runs in a drawn match with Harrow at Lord's. From 1914 till the First World War, in which he served with the Scots Guards, he was an assistant at the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria and for a time afterwards held a post with the Ministry of Agriculture. A celebrated artist, he became a Royal Academician in 1959.

MOULT, THOMAS, a poet and author, who reported cricket extensively before the 1939-45 war, died in Essex, where he had retired to Finchingfield, on November 19, aged 89. In 1931 he edited Jack Hobbs' autobiography Playing for England which Sir Leonard Hutton said inspired him as a lad of 15. Among forty books he wrote or edited were also two books of verses Bat and Ball and Willow Pattern. He became President of the Poetry Society in 1952, an office he held for ten years, and he was chairman of the editorial board of the Poetry Review from 1952 to 1962.

NEWMAN, JOHN ALFRED (JACK) of Hampshire died on December 21, 1973 and not December 27, the day of his funeral, as stated in the 1974 Wisden.

NEWTON-THOMPSON, JOHN OSWALD, who died in an air-crash in South West Africa on April 3, aged 53, played for the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, before going as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where he gained a Blue in 1946. He also took part as scrum-half in the University Rugby football matches of 1945 and 1946 and was twice capped for England in 1947. Returning to South Africa, he became a lawyer and entered the South African Parliament in 1961, becoming a distinguished member of the United Party. During the Second World War he won the D.F.C. while serving with a Spitfire Squadron of the S.A.A.F. in Italy.

O'GORMAN, JOE G., who died at Weybridge on August 26, aged 84, was famous as the other half of a comedy act with brother Dave, but he always delighted in his cricket adventures with Surrey, which included batting with Jack Hobbs. This gave him as much pleasure as seeing his name in lights on Broadway. An all-rounder, he might well have made his mark in the game had he chosen. He played in three Championship matches for the county in 1927, sharing with Andy Sandham a partnership of 119 in sixty-five minutes, against Essex. O'Gorman hit 42 of those runs, with Sandham scoring altogether 230. A slow bowler, he took a wicket with his first ball in county cricket against Glamorgan at The Oval when he dismissed W. E. Bates, the opening batsman. For many years he and his brother played club cricket for Richmond for which club he took over 1,500 wickets.

PARNABY, BRIGADIER ALAN HERRING, who died at Camberley, Surrey on November 25, aged 58, was born in Sunderland and will be remembered as an attractive opening batsman for Sunderland, for whom he first played when he was 16, and for Durham County, Minor Counties and The Army. He had a distinguished record of service of 32 years with the regularly army, which he joined as a soldier in the R.A.O.C. in 1939, being later commissioned. He retired in 1971, having in the previous year being appointed Aide de Camp to the Queen while serving as Deputy Director of Ordnance Services at Headquarters, Southern Command.

PATIALA, MAHARAJA OF, latterly LT-GENERAL YADAVINDRA SINGH, died on June 17 in The Hague where he had been Indian Ambassador to Holland since November 1971. He was 61. In his only Test Match, against England at Madras in February 1934, he made India's top score, 60, but his side were beaten by D. R. Jardine's team by 202 runs. A tall, graceful batsman, he played for the Hindus in the Quadrangular Tournament and captained Southern Punjab in the Ranji Trophy, scoring 132 against Rajputana in 1938-39. He was chosen for the 1936 tour of England but State business caused him to decline. The Yuvraj played in many representative matches against touring sides from overseas and in minor cricket he hit about 50 hundreds, including 284 against a Bombay XI at Patiala in 1938. His father was a noted patron of cricket, besides being a first-class player and was donor of the Ranji Trophy.

PATON-WILLIAMS, CANON FRANCIS, who died on August 4, aged 89, was President of Lancashire in 1963-64. A leading figure in Lancashire Freemasonry, he was a Past Grand Chaplain of England in 1951.

PATRICK, JOHN CHURCHILL, died suddenly on October 8 while playing squash in Devon, where he taught at Blundell's School and was master-in-charge of cricket. He was 33. In fact, while enclosing the Blundell's averages for this edition of Wisden he remarked, I think it is a great pity that the representative school matches (Public Schools v. The Rest, and v. E.S.C.A. etc) are no longer reported in Wisden, mainly I presume because they are no longer played at Lord's. Patrick was a useful all-rounder in the very strong Winchester XI's of 1958 and 1959, which included the Nawab of Pataudi and R. I. Jefferson.

PEATE, EDMUND, who died on June 12, aged 92, played as a professional for a number of League clubs in Yorkshire. His father, also Edmund, played in nine Test matches for England when a professional with Yorkshire.

RITCHIE, LT-COL. DAVID MAUDSLEY, who died at Stevenage on September 10, aged 82, played in one match for Lancashire in 1924 against Northamptonshire at Liverpool. He was in the Loretto XI.

ROSEBERY, SIXTH EARL OF, who died on May 30, aged 92, was a cricketer, soldier, politician and administrator of distinction. When Lord Dalmeny, he was in the Eton XI of 1900, scoring 52 against Harrow and 55 against Winchester. In 1901 he turned out for Buckinghamshire, took part in two matches for Middlesex the following season and began playing for Surrey in 1903. He took over the Surrey captaincy in 1905 and held the post till 1907. Both his centuries for the county were made at the Oval in 1905, against Leicestershire and Warwickshire. While hitting the first, he drove fiercely during a stand for the sixth wicket of 260 with J. N. Crawford. That season was the first for Surrey of J. B. Hobbs and Lord Dalmeny was always proud of the fact that he awarded that great batsman his cap after two games.

He succeeded to the title of Lord Rosebery when his father, a former Prime Minister, died in 1929, and became President of Surrey from 1947 to 1949. It was thanks to his approach to the Prince of Wales in 1905 that the county club adopted the Prince of Wales's feathers as their crest. For many years Lord Rosebery was a celebrated figure in the world of horse racing.

In 164 innings in first-class cricket he scored 3,551 runs, average 23.05.

He left £9,650,986 net.

RUSSELL, CLIFFORD REGINALD, who died on February 6, aged 69, was a school-teacher by profession. He made a few appearances for Devon.

RUTTER, RONALD HOWARD, who died on August 8 after a long illness, was a noted fast bowler in the Tonbridge XI before he left his mark on Buckinghamshire cricket. He took five or more wickets on 26 occasions. But his personal highlight came against Oxfordshire at High Wycombe in 1932 when he spent only three-quarters of an hour scoring 106, which remains the fastest century for Buckinghamshire.

SCALES, HAROLD STRATTON, who died on January 4, aged 67, was a keen statistician who for years provided useful information to the Obituary section of Wisden. For a longtime Tod, as he was known to his friends, suffered courageously from a disability which made it impossible for him to walk or to travel alone.

STONES, CHARLES EDGAR, who died on April 10, aged 74, was in the Westminster XI from 1915 to 1918, being captain in the last year. He later played for Surrey Second XI.

THOMAS, PETER, who died in Cornwall at the early age of 26, helped Troon win the Haig National Village Championship in its first two years, 1972 and 1973. He was a fast-medium bowler.

TITLEY, UEL ADDISON, who died on November 11, 1973, aged 67, appeared for the XI while at Rugby, but did not get his colours. He went up to Cambridge and for some years afterwards held an appointment in Brazil. He wrote on cricket for some years for The Times, but was better known as the Rugby correspondent for that newspaper. His excellent style and occasional flashes of humour earned him great respect in the football world, but his biggest achievement was the compilation of the History of the Rugby Football Union published in their centenary year, 1971. His unusual first name was given by his father, Samuel Titley, who said: Everybody calls me Sam. The boy can have the other half.

TOWELL, EDGAR FREEMANTLE, who died on June 2, 1972, aged 70, played as an amateur all-rounder for Northamptonshire from 1923 to 1934. A left-hander, he scored 1,199 runs and, with medium to fast bowling, took 101 wickets.

VIALS, GEORGE ALFRED TURNER, who died on April 26, aged 87, was in the XI at Wellingborough and played as an amateur for Northamptonshire from 1904 to 1922. He was captain from 1911 to 1913 and later became President from 1956 to 1968. In first-class cricket he hit 3,808 runs, average 18.30, his highest innings being 129, and held 98 catches. He also played Association football for Northampton Town and represented the county at hockey.

VILJOEN, KENNETH GEORGE, who died in Johannesburg on January 21, aged 63, played in 27 Test matches for South Africa between 1930 and 1947. A fine batsman, who suited his methods to the needs of the occasion, and an outstanding deep fieldsman, he took part in Currie Cup cricket for Western Province and Orange Free State from 1926 to 1947, scoring 2,658 runs, average 59.06. In all first-class cricket he hit 23 centuries, the highest being 215 for Griqualand West v Western Province at Kimberley in 1929-30. His best home season as a run-getter was that of 1936-37 when he scored 743 runs at an average of 92.87.

In Test cricket, he registered two three-figure scores while scoring 1,365 runs, 124 against England at Old Trafford in 1935--the year in which, under H. F. Wade, South Africa gained their first Test win on English soil--and 111 v. Australia at Melbourne in 1931-32. He visited England a second time in 1947, distinguishing himself by taking 205 not out from the Sussex bowling at Hove. After his playing career ended, he managed South African teams in Australia and New Zealand in 1952-53 and 1963-64 and in England in 1955. He became President of the South African Cricket Association.

WALTERS, THE REV. EMRYS, who died on May 20, aged 55, was a member of M.C.C. and the Sussex Cricket Council who was well-known as a broadcaster, particularly on cricket and football. He was minister of the Central Free Church, Brighton.

WARD, FRANK A., who died in March, aged 65, was an accomplished leg-spinner who had the misfortune to be in action at the same time as two of Australia's best exponents of the art, Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O'Reilly. Consequently, his Test appearances were limited to four matches, all against England, three in Australia in 1936 and one on the 1938 tour. He took 92 wickets at an average of 19.27 on that trip, but with O'Reilly on hand gained a place in only the first Test, at Nottingham. He failed to take a wicket in a total of 658 for eight declared which included a double hundred by Paynter and single centuries from Barnett, Compton and Hutton.

Ward did best on his first Test appearance, taking six for 102 in 46 overs during England's second innings at Brisbane. Then he served his country well in the third game at Melbourne with dogged work as a nightwatchman which preceded a partnership of 346 by Bradman and Fingleton. This was the beginning of a recovery which took Australia from two games down to win the series three-two.

Beginning his career in similar fashion to Bradman by playing for the St. George Club in Sydney before moving to Adelaide, Ward took 120 wickets for South Australia in 28 Shield matches, and 187 wickets in all matches for the State side. Oldfield described him as a unique bowler who flighted the ball with great skill. It was sheer delight to keep wicket to him was the tribute paid by Australia's greatest stumper.

WATSON, GEORGE SUTTON, who died on April 1, aged 66, was in the Shrewsbury XI in 1924 and 1925, heading the batting averages in the second year. In 1929 and the following season he made occasional appearances as an amateur for Kent. In 1935 he became a professional with Leicestershire, for whom he played till 1950, as an attacking batsman and first-rate fieldsman, and later served as professional at Cranleigh School. He gained two England amateur International caps at Association football before turning professional with Charlton Athletic.

WATT, ALAN EDWARD, a noted fast bowler and fearsome hitter who played for Kent between 1929 and 1939, died in Pembury hospital on February 3, aged 66. He kept the Star Inn at Matfield. Born at Limpsfield Chart, near Westerham, Watt went to Westerham School and was a bull-dog breed of cricketer. In first-class cricket he scored 4,079 runs, average 13.60 and he took 609 wickets at 28.81 runs apiece, but mere figures could not convey the delight he gave as he approached the batting crease. In those days Watt formed a trio with Big Jim Smith ( Middlesex) and Arthur Wellard ( Somerset) famed for hitting sixes.

Watt excelled with the straight drive and the pull. For his highest score, 96 against M.C.C. at Lord's in 1932, he went in number 10, and hit one 6 and fourteen 4's, all in sixty-five minutes. Against Leicestershire at Maidstone in 1933 he struck 89 out of 124 in fifty-five minutes, including four 6's and eleven 4's. In that historic finish at Dover in 1937 when Kent set a record, which still stands, by scoring 219 in seventy-one minutes to beat Gloucestershire, Watt, 39 not out, gave such an amazing display that the last 51 runs came in ten minutes and Watt finished the contest with a straight 6 out of the ground. In 1937, also, at Folkestone, for Over Thirty against Under Thirty, he hit 77 in thirty-five minutes, striking four 6's and five 4's.

Tall and strong, Watt entered the Kent side when Tich Freeman was at his zenith and between 1928 and 1935 and for eight consecutive seasons took at least 200 wickets each year, so Watt was not required to do much more than see the shine off the ball. His best season with the ball was in 1937 when he took 108 wickets for 27.09 runs each. After Freeman retired, Watt and Leslie Todd formed a very effective opening attack during the four summers that preceded the war.

R. C. Robertson-Glasgow wrote: Alan Watt of Kent is a cricketer for all the day. He is never known to tire, never willingly relieved of his bowling which comes very sharply from the pitch. He can swing the ball awkwardly late from leg, does not pitch just a little short for safety and fields to his own bowling with a fierce agility that is a joy to watch. He is impervious to rain. Such a man was born to be a hitter. Coming in at number 10, he hit me five or six times from the middle wicket to the square leg boundary. Suddenly, he played a relatively calm stroke, missed, and was stumped. This was difficult to understand, I asked the square leg umpire what had happened. `Well, you see,' he answered, `he had both feet off the ground at once'.--N.P.

WHITTY, WILLIAM JAMES, who died on January 30, aged 87, was the last surviving member of the Australian team who visited England under M. A. Noble in 1909. In that tour Whitty took 77 wickets for 20.42 runs each. He again visited England with S. E. Gregory's side of 1912, when his victims numbered 100 and cost 18.08 runs each.

In 14 Test matches against England and South Africa from 1909 to 1912, Whitty, a left-arm bowler above medium pace, obtained 65 wickets, average 21.12, his chief performance being the dismissal of six batsmen for 17 runs at Melbourne in 1910-1911 when South Africa, facing the task of scoring 170 to win, were disposed of for 80. In all first-class cricket he took 525 wickets, 154 of them for 32.64 runs apiece in 37 Sheffield Shield appearances for South Australia. He was previously with New South Wales for one season.

WILLIAMS, LEWIS ERSKINE WYNDHAM, who died on April 24, aged 73, was in the Oratory School XI before playing for Glamorgan in a few matches from 1928 to 1930. Tip Williams will best be remembered in Welsh club cricket circles as joint founder in 1926 of the South Wales Hunts C.C., of which he was captain, chairman and, last year, President.

WRIGHT, NICHOLAS EDWARD, who died at Corby on May 20, aged 73, played in eight matches for Northamptonshire in 1921 and 1922. He was in the Wellingborough XI for three seasons, 1918-20, when altogether he scored 441 runs, average 20.45, and he took 60 wickets for 23.76 runs each. He was believed to be the last surviving Wright, nine of whom appeared for the county. His brothers were Bertie and Philip Alan (Bill), the brothers Ernest, Stephen, Richard and Albert were cousins. R.C.B. and A.J.B. were unrelated to that family. He umpired and scored in the Weldon, Kettering and Rockingham districts up to a week before his death.

YARNOLD, HUGO, who died on August 13 aged 57, served Worcestershire with great loyalty as a wicket-keeper from 1938 to 1955 and then helped the game as a whole from 1959 as an umpire. He was returning home from officiating in the Northamptonshire v. Essex match at Wellingborough when his car was in collision with an eight-wheel lorry in Leamington.

This little man with a big heart took his chance when an accident brought the premature retirement of Syd Buller, with whom in later years he was to stand in the white coat. Once in the Worcestershire side he became a permanent fixture, helping in the dismissal of 695 batsmen, 462 of them caught, 233 stumped. He also scored 3,741 runs, average 10.45.

In his best seasons, 1949, 1950 and 1951, Yarnold had a hand in 110, 94 and 95 wickets respectively, and during the last of those three years he entered the record books with six stumpings in an innings, as well as one catch, playing against Scotland at Broughty Ferry. His high percentage of stumpings--as big as 47 against 63 catches in 1949--was attributable to his uncanny understanding with Roly Jenkins, whose leg breaks delivered from a crab-like action were not easy to take.

Yarnold's character shone through in his last four years as a player when he overcame the handicap of the removal of both knee caps. His steadfastness helped again as an umpire, winning him recognition in three Tests, one against Pakistan in 1967 and two against Australia the following year.