Wisden Cricketer obituary
On New Year's Day Charles Standish Elliott, last of the pre-war Derbyshire cricketers, passed away at the age of 91. His long life had been devoted largely to cricket in many of its aspects but in particular to Derbyshire. He joined the club in 1932 as the young nephew of Harry Elliott, the long-serving wicketkeeper and subsequent county coach. Charles played 18 matches in 1936, the Championship winning side, but thereafter did not keep a regular place until the war had ended.

During this period he was able to concentrate on his other sporting career playing football for Coventry City. There he was under the management of Harry Storer, who also played some cricket for Derbyshire at the time. Harry had a reputation as a hard competitor taking no prisoners. Charles was a great admirer of Storer and played his sport accordingly.

After the War Charlie became the county's most reliable and determined opening batsman and brilliant close fielder. He scored well over 1,000 runs in each of six successive seasons. He had a solid defence and was particularly good running between the wickets. In all he scored 11,965 first-class runs at an average of 27.25 and held 209 catches.

In 1947 he made his highest score of 215 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge when he shared a then Derbyshire record second wicket partnership of 349 with John Eggar, the Repton schoolmaster. In his latter years Charlie was our senior pro - a position to which he was well suited as a loyal and strong supporter of his captain and friend Guy Willatt. In 1953 he retired as a Derbyshire player and applied for the first-class umpires' list where he quickly made a name for himself. He was accepted as a firm, fair and experienced person with a happy ability to get on with the players while retaining the total impartiality required.

He quickly gained the confidence of captains and players of all counties and was appointed to the Test match panel, where he served for many years gaining the respect of all the ICC countries, He stood in 42 Tests in the days before neutral umpires became a requirement of ICC.

Having retired from umpiring in 1973 Charlie next accepted an invitation to join the Lord's selection committee under the chairmanship of Alec Bedser and he was happy scouring the country for new talent. His umpiring experience gave him a background in the standards required at Test level both on and off the field.

After six years of selecting Charlie decided that the time had come to leave the international stage since he was about to reach his 70th year. But he was a glutton for punishment and returned to his original love - Derbyshire. He was elected to the committee and was appointed chairman of the cricket sub-committee. Having served for some 10 years he was finally honoured by being elected president of the club in 1994.

It was some 60 years since he had first arrived there as a promising young player. He knew every aspect of the cricketing scene and his reward was to be given the highest position in the club. This, together with an MBE for services to cricket and an honorary life membership of MCC, gave him and all his many admirers satisfaction for a job truly well done.
Donald Carr

• Umpire, batsman, selector ... and guest-house proprietor (Jan 6, 2004)