Obituaries in 1957

ABERDARE, THE THIRD BARON (Clarence Napier Bruce), who died on October 4, aged 72, was one of the best all-round sportsmen of his time. His death was caused by drowning after his car fell over a precipice in Yugoslavia into three feet of water in a river bed. As the Hon. C. N. Bruce, he was in the Winchester XI of 1904 and would have gained his Blue at Oxford as a Freshman but for illness. Against Cambridge at Lord's in 1907 he scored only five runs, but the following year his 46 in the Dark Blues' first innings was second top score. A fine batsman who hit the ball hard with perfect timing, due mainly to splendid wristwork, he first appeared for Middlesex in 1908 and played his last match for them in 1929. In all first-class games he scored 4,316 runs, average 28.96. Against Lancashire at Lord's in 1919 he hit 149 in two hours twenty-five minutes and two seasons later again trounced the Lancashire bowling on the same ground, scoring 82 not out and helping Hendren add 50 in quarter of an hour. In 1921 he also scored 144 against Warwickshire and 127 for Gentlemen v. Players at The Oval.

He won most honours at rackets, for he was the Winchester first string in 1903-4; won the Public Schools championship in 1904; played for Oxford v. Cambridge in 1905-8; won the Oxford University Silver Racket in 1907; won the Amateur Championship in 1922 and 1931; was ten times Doubles Champion; was Champion of the U.S.A. in 1928 and 1930. At tennis, Bruce was U.S.A. Amateur Champion in 1930 and of the British Isles in 1932 and 1938. He played eighteen times for Great Britain in the Bathurst Cup and six times won the Coupe de Paris. He carried off the M.C.C. Gold Prize on five occasions and nine times won the Silver Prize. He also excelled at golf, playing for Oxford against Cambridge from 1905 to 1908, was a good footballer and a capital shot.

In 1937 he was appointed chairman of the National Advisory Council in connection with the Government scheme for improving the physical fitness of the nation. For twenty years he was a member of the International Olympic Executive and he played a big part in organising the 1948 Games in London. In his later years he devoted himself closely to work for the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and the St. John Ambulance Association, and was a member of the executive committee of the National Playing Fields Association. He succeeded to the title in 1929.

ARNOLD, MR. WELLER, who died in Hobart on October 28, aged 75, was Vice-President of the Tasmanian Cricket Association. He was one of the most prominent sportsmen in Tasmania during this century, his interests including cricket, Australian Rules football and horse racing. A useful right-handed batsman, he played for Tasmania against Victoria in 1915, scoring 5 and 30, and in 1909-10 season headed the Tasmanian averages with 75.33, his aggregate being 453. In 1954 he received the O.B.E. for services to sport.

BATES, WILLIAM EDRIC, who died in a Belfast hospital on January 17, aged 72, did much fine work as a batsman for Glamorgan in their first eleven years as a first-class county. He could not secure a regular place in the side for Yorkshire, as did his more famous father, Billy Bates, and after seven seasons with the county of his birth he joined Glamorgan. A consistent batsman with a variety of strokes and watchful defence, he in six summers exceeded 1,000 runs in Championship matches for the Welsh county, scoring ten centuries. His best season was that of 1927 when his aggregate reached 1,575, average 45.00, and he reached three figures on four occasions, including 200 not out against Worcestershire at Kidderminster and 105 and 111 in the game with Essex at Leyton. Following his retirement from first-class cricket in 1931, he held several coaching engagements in Ireland.

BENNETT, LORD PETER, OF EDGBASTON, who died at his home at Four Oaks, Warwickshire, on September 27, aged 77, was chairman of Warwickshire C.C.C. From 1951 to 1952 he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and National Service, was Knighted in 1941 and elevated to the Peerage twelve years later.

BEOKU-BETTS, SIR ERNEST, who died at Freetown, Sierra Leone, on September 11, aged 62, was Speaker of the Sierra Leone House of Representatives. For many years he was a member of the Council of the Sierra Leone Cricket League.

BOOTH, MR. ALBERT, who died in February, aged 69, was for over 40 years well known as a cricketer and Association football journalist. For 23 years he was Sports Editor of the Manchester edition of the Daily Herald.

BOWELL, ALEC, who died at Oxford on August 28, aged 76, played for Hampshire from 1902 till 1927. An opening batsman sound in defence and specially skilled in cutting, he scored 18,510 runs, average 24.13, and was a splendid fieldsman at cover-point. His highest innings was 204 out of a total of 377 for Hampshire against Lancashire at Bournemouth, to which venue the match was transferred from Portsmouth owing to the outbreak of the First World War. He took part in the celebrated match with Warwickshire at Birmingham in 1922 when Hampshire, after being dismissed by H. Howell and the Hon. F. S. G. Calthorpe for 15 and following-on 208 behind, put together a total of 521 and triumphed by 155 runs. Bowell was one of eight men dismissed without scoring in the first innings.

BURGE, MR. THOMAS JOHN, who died at his home in Brisbane on January 7, aged 53, while listening to a radio commentary on a cricket match in which his son was batting, had been a member of the Australian Board of Control since 1952. He suffered a heart attack while his son was touring England in 1956. He was a life-member of the Queensland C.A. and managed the first Australian team to tour the West Indies in 1955.

BURNS, JAMES, who died at Hampstead on September 11, aged 92, played as a batsman for Essex from 1890 to 1895. He was in the side when the county acquired first-class status in 1894. The following season, when Essex were admitted to the Championship competition, he hit 114 against Warwickshire at Birmingham.

CARROLL, MR. THOMAS DAVIS, who died at Hobart on June 3 following a road accident, aged 73, was one of the best-known cricketers and cricket administrators in Tasmania in the early part of the century. He played in ten matches for the State as a fast-medium right-arm bowler between 1908 and 1922, taking 16 wickets for 48.3 runs each. He was Tasmanian member of the Australian Board of Control for two years after 1929, and was, in 1930, appointed an Australian Selector, a position he was compelled to relinquish within a year because his employment was transferred to Western Australia. Carroll was opening bowler for Tasmania in 1912 when M.C.C. scored 574 for four wickets in four and a half hours, of which F. E. Woolley made 305 not out.

CHESTER, FRANK, who died at his home at Bushey, Hertfordshire, on April 8, aged 61, will be remembered as the man who raised umpiring to a higher level than had ever been known in the history of cricket. For some years he had suffered from stomach ulcers. Often he stood as umpire when in considerable pain, which unfortunately caused him to become somewhat irascible at times, and at the end of the 1955 season he retired, terminating a career in which he officiated in over 1,000 first-class fixtures, including 48 Test matches.

The First World War cut short his ambitions as an all-rounder for Worcestershire. In 1912, at the age of 16, he joined that county's staff and in the following season he scored 703 runs, including three centuries, average 28.12, and took with off-breaks 44 wickets, average 26.88. Wisden said of him that year: Nothing stood out more prominently than the remarkable development of Chester, the youngest professional regularly engaged in first-class cricket... Very few players in the history of cricket have shown such form at the age of seventeen and a half. Playing with a beautifully straight bat, he depended to a large extent on his watchfulness in defence. Increased hitting power will naturally come with time. He bowls with a high, easy action and, commanding an accurate length, can get plenty of spin on the ball. Having begun so well, Chester should continue to improve and it seems only reasonable to expect that when he has filled out and gained more strength, he will be an England cricketer.

In 1914 he put together an aggregate of 924 runs, average 27.17, with an innings of 178 not out--including four 6's from the bowling of J. W. H. T. Douglas--against Essex at Worcester, his highest. Then came the war and, in the course of service with the Army in Salonika, he lost his right arm just below the elbow. That, of course, meant no more cricket as a player for Chester; but in 1922 he became a first-class umpire and, with the advantage of youth when the majority of his colleagues were men who had retired as Cricketers on the score of Anno Domini, he swiftly gained a big reputation. His lack of years caused him difficulty on one occasion at Northampton for a gate-man refused him admission, declining to believe that one so young could be an umpire, and suggested that he should try the ground of a neighbouring works team!

From the very beginning of his career as an umpire, he gave his decisions without fear or favour. In an article, Thirty Years an Umpire, in the 1954 Wisden, Vivian Jenkins told how, when standing in his first county match, Essex v. Somerset at Leyton, Chester was called on to give decisions against both captains, J. W. H. T. Douglas and J. Daniell, and did his duty according to his lights--Douglas lbw, Daniell stumped. You'll be signing your death warrant if you go on like that, he was warned by his venerable colleague, but he went on undeterred.

Chester began the custom, now prevalent among umpires, of bending low over the wicket when the bowler delivered the ball, and his decisions were both prompt and rarely questioned. Yet the ruling which probably caused most discussion was one in which Chester was wrong. This occurred during the England v. West Indies Test match at Trent Bridge in 1950, when S. Ramadhin bowled D. J. Insole off his pads. Chester contended that the batsman was leg before wicket, because he (Chester) gave his decision in the brief time before the ball hit the stumps, and as lbw Insole remained in the score. Soon after this, M.C.C. added a Note to Law 34 which made it clear beyond dispute that, where a batsman is dismissed in such circumstances, he is out bowled.

Chester had some brushes with Australian touring players, whose demonstrative methods of appealing annoyed him, but nevertheless Sir Donald Bradman termed him the greatest umpire under whom I played. Chester, for his part, rated Bradman the greatest run-making machine I have ever known, and considered Sir John Hobbs the greatest batsman of all time on all pitches.

Throughout his long spell as an umpire Chester used, for counting the balls per over, six small pebbles which he picked up from his mother's garden at Bushey before he stood in his first match.

Tributes included:--

Mr. R. Aird, Secretary of M.C.C.: He was an inspiration to other umpires. He seemed to have a flair for the job and did the right thing by instinct. He was outstanding among umpires for a very long time.

Sir John Hobbs: I played against him in his brief career and am sure he would have been a great England all-rounder. As an umpire, he was right on top. I class him with that great Australian, Bob Crockett.

F. S. Lee, the Test match umpire: Frank was unquestionably the greatest umpire I have known. His decisions were fearless, whether the batsman to be given out was captain or not. There is a great deal for which umpires have to thank him.

COLEY, MR. ERIC, who died at Northampton on May 3, aged 53, was at one time honorary secretary to Northamptonshire. Better known as a Rugby footballer for Northampton, he represented England as a forward against France in 1929 and Wales in 1932 and also played for the Barbarians. From 1937 to 1947 he was a member of the International Selection Committee.

COLLINS, BRIGADIER LIONEL PETER, who died at his home at Fleet, Hampshire, on September 27, aged 78, was an excellent hard-hitting batsman for Marlborough and Oxford University. In his second year in the Marlborough XI, 1897, when Wisden described him as a batsman second to none among schoolboys, he headed the batting averages with 670 runs, highest innings 203, for 55.10 per innings. He also represented the school at hockey, for which he gained his Blue from 1898 to 1900 besides cricket against Cambridge in 1899. He did good service for Berkshire from 1897 to 1899. He joined the Indian Army in 1901 and while on tour with a Ghurka Brigade team hit three double centuries in the course of ten days. During the First World War he was three times mentioned in dispatches and awarded the D.S.O.; in 1934 he became a C.B. and he also held the C.S.I. and the O.B.E. From 1934 to 1936, when he retired, he was A.D.C. to King George V.

COOKE, ERNEST J., who died at Nottingham on October 22, aged 58, was a first-class umpire from 1936 to 1956. In 1948 he officiated in the England v. Australia Test match at Trent Bridge. He was at one time a member of the Nottinghamshire ground staff.

DAVIES, MR. GEORGE A., who died in Melbourne on November 27, aged 66, was manager of the Australian team who toured England under A. L. Hassett in 1953. In a few appearances for Victoria in the early 1920's, Davies scored 143 runs, average 20.42, and took five wickets for nearly 18 runs each. He was a member of the executive committee of the Victorian Cricket Association.

DAVISON, ROBERT WATSON JAMES, who died in June, aged 78, played as a slow-medium left-arm bowler for Yorkshire Second XI while professional to Dewsbury.

DEAN, HARRY, who died at his home at Garstang, near Blackpool, on March 12, aged 71, was one of the most successful bowlers who ever played for Lancashire. He first appeared for the county in 1906 and before he left them at the end of the 1921 season he took, with left-arm bowling, 1,301 wickets in all first-class matches for 18.14 runs apiece. He suited his methods to the conditions, bowling fast-medium with deceptive swerve or slow according to the state of the pitch. He made an auspicious start, for in his first season he dismissed 60 batsmen, and in each of the next seven summers he took over 100 wickets, as he did also in 1920. Six times he obtained nine wickets in an innings, his best analysis being 15.1 overs, 8 maidens, 31 runs, 9 wickets against Somerset at Old Trafford in 1909.

The performance which afforded Dean most satisfaction, however, was against Yorkshire at Aigburth in 1913 in an extra match arranged to mark the visit to Liverpool of King George V. He took nine wickets for 62 in the first innings and eight for 29 in the second, bringing his match figures to 17 for 91. There is no recorded instance of greater success by a bowler in a Roses match. In his best season, 1911, Dean secured 183 wickets, average 17.43. He played for England in two Test matches against Australia and one against South Africa in the 1912 Triangular Tournament, his 11 wickets in these three games costing 153 runs. After the end of his first-class career, he played for some years for Cheshire and from 1926 to 1932 was coach at Rossall School.

DE ZOETE, MR. HERMAN WALTER, who died in March, aged 80, played for Cambridge against Oxford in 1897 and 1898. He bore a big share in victory by 179 runs in the first of these University matches, helping C. E. M. Wilson in an eighth wicket stand of 56 and, with medium-pace bowling, dismissing four men for 26 runs in the Oxford second innings. He also represented Cambridge at golf in 1896, 1897 and 1898. He was in the Eton XI of 1895 and in 1898 appeared once for Essex.

DOUGLAS, THE REV. ROBERT NOEL, who died at Colyton, Devon, on February 27, aged 88, played both cricket and Rugby football for Cambridge. He went to the University from Dulwich College in 1889 and for the three following years appeared against Oxford at Lord's, scoring as opening batsman an aggregate of 97 runs in the six innings. Twice he assisted Gentlemen against Players and he later turned out first for Surrey and then for Middlesex. Altogether he hit 2,661 runs in first-class cricket, average 23.13. He played as a forward in the University Rugby match of 1891 and also helped the Harlequins. He was a master at Uppingham before serving as headmaster of Giggleswick from 1910 to 1931.

EVERSHED, MR. EDWARD, who died in Birmingham on February 18, aged 89, played with his brother for Derbyshire from 1888 to 1892 when they were a second-class county. At one time captain of Rosslyn Park R.F.C. and of Handsworth Golf Club, he was also a member of the Committee of Warwickshire C.C.C.

FERGUSON, MR. WILLIAM HENRY, who died at Bath on September 22, aged 77, was the best-known cricket scorer in the world. For 52 years, from the time he first visited England with Joe Darling's Australian side of 1905, he acted as scorer and baggage-master for England, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and, naturally, Australia, in no fewer than 43 tours. In all that time his boast was that he never lost a bag. Fergie, as he was affectionately known in the cricket world, scored in no fewer than 208 Test matches in every country where big cricket is played. He liked to relate how he first took up the job. The office in Sydney, his birthplace, where he was employed as a clerk, overlooked the harbour and he often felt the urge to travel. So in 1905 he thought up a nice toothache, went to see his dentist, M. A. Noble, the Test batsman, and brought up the question of scoring. Amused at the ingenious method of approach, Noble put forward Fergie's name to the authorities, with the result that this short, slightly-built man began his travels which totalled well over half a million miles. His salary for the 1905 tour was £2 per week, from which he defrayed his expenses, and he paid his own passage.

For all his long connection with it, Fergie never took much active part in the game, but figures, for which he always had a passion, fascinated him, and he loved to travel. Besides actual scoring, he kept diagrams of every stroke played, with their value, by every batsman in the matches in which he was concerned, and could account for every ball bowled--and who fielded it. Touring captains, including D. G. Bradman and D. R. Jardine, employed his charts to study the strength and weaknesses of opposing batsmen.

When in England with the Australian team of 1948, Fergie was presented to King George VI. That summer Bradman scored 2,428 runs. Said the King: Mr. Ferguson, do you use an adding-machine when the Don is in?

Fergie, who received the British Empire Medal in 1951 for his services to cricket, emerged from two years' retirement to score for the West Indies last summer. A fall at an hotel in August prevented him from finishing the tour, and he spent some time in hospital, returning home only two days before his death. His autobiography, titled Mr. Cricket, was published in May, 1957.

FIRTH, CANON JOHN D'EWES EVELYN, who died at Winchester on September 21, aged 57, was Master of the Temple and Canon Emeritus of Winchester Cathedral. A scholar of Winchester and Christ Church, he later became a master at the school. Budge Firth was in the Winchester XI of 1917, when heading the bowling averages with 29 wickets, average 6.55, and captained the side the following year. A leg-break bowler who cleverly varied pace and flight, he set up a Winchester record in a one-day unofficial match with Eton at Winchester in 1917 by taking all ten Eton wickets for 41 runs. Even so, Eton won by seven runs. Nine days earlier he dismissed eight Harrow batsmen for 48 runs. Only once previously had the feat of taking all ten wickets been achieved in an Eton v. Winchester match. That was in 1902 when G. A. C. Sandeman, of Eton, did so at a cost of 22 runs. At Oxford, Firth played in two matches for the University in 1919 and 1920, but did not get his Blue. He also appeared for Nottinghamshire in 1919.

FOWLER, CAPTAIN R. H., who died in May, aged 99 years and 11 months, played in two matches for Ireland in 1888. He was the father of R. St. L. Fowler, who in 1910 was the hero of the Eton v. Harrow match--known ever since as Fowler's Match. Eton followed on 165 behind and, despite an innings of 64 by Fowler, Harrow needed only 55 to win, but Fowler, with off breaks, bowled in deadly form, taking eight wickets for 23 runs, and Eton snatched victory by nine runs.

FOY, MR. PHILIP ARNOLD, who died in the British Hospital, Buenos Aires, on February 12, aged 65, was for many years prominent as a bowler in Argentine cricket. He distinguished himself against the M.C.C. touring side captained by Lord Hawke in 1912. Educated at Bedford school, Foy played for Bedfordshire and when on leave assisted Somerset, for whom, in 1920, he took 31 wickets, average 22.48, and scored 352 runs, with 72 against Essex at Leyton his highest innings in first-class cricket.

FREEMAN, MR. ERIC HOWARD, who died suddenly at his home at Sedgley, Wolverhampton, on July 12, was a qualified M.C.C. coach who did much work in training boys and old boys of King Edward's School. He played on occasion for the Warwickshire Club and Ground side and was also a keen golfer and Rugby footballer.

GUNN, GEORGE VERNON, who died in hospital at Shrewsbury on October 15, aged 52, as the result of injuries received in a motor-cycle accident, played for Nottinghamshire from 1928 to 1939, scoring in that time just over 10,000 runs and taking close upon 300 wickets. In 1931 he scored 100 not out--his first century--against Warwickshire at Edgbaston and in the same innings his father, George Gunn, then 53, hit 183. This, it is believed, is the only instance of a father and son each reaching three figures in the same first-class match. G. V. Gunn's best season as an all-rounder was that of 1934 when he obtained 922 runs and, with slow leg-breaks, dismissed 77 batsmen. In that summer he achieved his best bowling performance, taking 10 wickets for 120 in the game with Hampshire at Trent Bridge. He exceeded 1,000 runs in each of his last five seasons with the county, his highest aggregate being 1,765, average 44.07, in 1937. His biggest innings was 184 against Leicestershire at Nottingham the following year a display featured by brilliant driving. After giving up county cricket, he coached in the north of England and later at Wrekin College and for Worcestershire C.C.C.

HARRIS, LIEUT.-COLONEL FRANK, who died at Tunbridge Wells on July 2, aged 91, was for thirty-five years captain of Southborough C.C., for whom he first played when 16. In his younger days an enthusiastic runner, he walked from Bidborough to London on his 70th birthday because his father did the same thing and had told him that he would not be able to do so when he was 70. The journey occupied him just over thirteen hours. He served in the Royal Engineers during the First World War, being mentioned in dispatches.

HIPKIN, AUGUSTUS BERNARD, who died in a Lanarkshire hospital on February 11, aged 56, did much excellent work as a slow left-arm bowler for Essex from 1923 to 1931. A discovery of J. W. H. T. Douglas, then Essex captain, Joe Hipkin took in all first-class matches 528 wickets at an average of 25.56. He flighted the ball cleverly with a high action and spun it considerably. His best season was that of 1924 when, in dismissing 109 batsmen for 20.34 runs each, he headed the Essex averages. That year he performed the hat-trick against Lancashire at Blackpool. He was also a capital fieldsman and a useful batsman, scoring 4,446 runs, average 16.40. When Essex did not renew his contract, he went to Scotland, meeting with marked success as professional with the Uddingstone and West of Scotland clubs.

HOLLAND, FREDERICK CHARLES, who died on February 5, five days before his 81st birthday, played as a batsman for Surrey from 1894 to 1908, scoring 10,384 runs, including twelve centuries, average 25.57. Four times he exceeded 1,000 runs in a season. Encouraged by his seven elder brothers, he played cricket from the early age of three, and when 17 joined The Oval ground staff. Of graceful style, he showed to special advantage in cutting and hitting to leg, and he was also a very good short slip. His highest innings was 171 against Cambridge University at The Oval in 1895, when he and R. Abel (165) added 306 for the third Surrey wicket. Next season he hit 153 from the Warwickshire bowling at Edgbaston. Following his retirement from first-class cricket, he became coach at Oundle.

HOSIE, MR. ALEC L., who died on June 11, aged 66, played periodically for Hampshire between 1913 and 1935 when on leave from India. He was educated at St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate, and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained Blues for hockey, lawn tennis and Association football. A quick-footed, hard-hitting batsman, he scored 4,176 runs in first-class cricket, average 26.10. His best season for the county was that of 1928, when, with 1,187 runs, average 31.23, he stood third in the Hampshire averages. That summer he made his highest score, 155 against Yorkshire at Southampton, and he also hit two centuries against Middlesex--132 at Portsmouth and 106 at Lord's.

HUISH, FREDERICK HENRY, who died at Northiam, Sussex, on March 16, aged 87, was the first of a line of exceptional Kent wicket-keepers which L. E. G. Ames and T. G. Evans continued. First appearing for the county in 1895, he continued until the outbreak of war in 1914, accounting in the meantime for no fewer than 1,328 batsmen--952 caught and 376 stumped. Yet, unlike Ames and Evans, he was never chosen to play for England and only once, at Lord's in 1902, for Players against Gentlemen.

It was a curious fact that while Huish, born at Clapham, was a Surrey man who played for Kent, H. Wood, from whom he learned much of his skill, was Kentish by birth and assisted Surrey. One of the ablest and least demonstrative wicket-keepers of his generation, Huish was among the few to assist in the taking of 100 wickets in a season. This performance he achieved twice, for in 1911 he obtained 100 victims (62 caught, 38 stumped) and in 1913 raised his tally to 102 (70 caught, 32 stumped). In 1911 he enjoyed his greatest triumph in a single match when, against Surrey at The Oval, he caught one batsman and stumped nine, thus dismissing ten in the two innings. On five other occasions he disposed of eight men in a game. Four times he helped Kent to carry off the County Championship, in 1906, 1909, 1910 and 1913.

Huish showed his readiness and resource in memorable if lucky fashion in a match between Kent and the Australians at Canterbury in 1902. He was standing far back to W. M. Bradley, the famous amateur fast bowler, when R. A. Duff played a ball a few yards behind the wicket and the Australian's partner called for a run. To get to the ball, Huish had to move so far that he realised that he would not have time to gather it before the batsmen got home. Accordingly he attempted to kick it on to the stumps at his end. The ball missed its immediate objective, but Huish put so much power into his effort that the ball went on and hit the wicket at the other end before Duff could make the necessary ground.

Though not generally successful as a batsman, Huish scored 562 runs in 1906, his best innings being 93 against Somerset at Gravesend. When Huish became the Kent senior professional, he was reputed to exercise remarkable control over his colleagues. Indeed, it used to be alleged that, unless he appealed, no brother professional dared to ask for a catch at the wicket!

HUTCHEON, MR. JOHN SILVESTER, C.B.E., Q.C., who died at Brisbane on June 18, aged 75, represented Queensland at cricket and lacrosse. He was a member of the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket from 1919 onwards and at one time chairman. He was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1914 and became a member of the Queensland Bar in 1916.

JONES, MR. W. E., who died in hospital at Chester on December 13, aged 69, was in his younger days a prominent all-rounder for Cheshire, whom he often captained. His brother, two sons and two nephews all played for the county. When he gave up active participation in the game, he bore a leading part in administrative affairs, being one of the sponsors of the county scheme for coaching young players. He was a Chester City magistrate.

KEMPTON, MR. ANDREW, who died in a London hospital on November 17, aged 72, did much good work over nearly 50 years for Surrey. He was the Father of the Surrey Colts team, whom he captained up to last season. In his younger days he played as an excellent wicket-keeper-batsman for Catford and Richmond. It was while he was President of Catford that J. C. Laker, now the England off-break bowler, returning from military service overseas, turned out for the club, and Kempton brought him to the notice of the Surrey authorities. A great friend of Sir John Hobbs, Kempton was a founder-director of his sports-outfitters firm in 1919.

LANGFORD, W., who died in Faversham Hospital on February 20, aged 81, played as a fast-medium bowler for Hampshire between 1902 and 1908, taking during that time 215 wickets, average 26.88. He headed his county's averages in 1904 with 42 wickets at a cost of 13.95 runs each, his most successful match being against Warwickshire at Southampton that season. In the first innings he dismissed five men for 30 runs and in the second six for 41. After retiring from first-class cricket, he served for some years as coach at Tonbridge School.

LEVICK, CAPTAIN THOMAS HENRY CARLTON, who died at Bournemouth on October 19, aged 90, was a member of M.C.C. for over forty years. He was honorary manager of the M.C.C. touring teams who visited West Indies in 1925-26 and 1934-35, South Africa in 1930-31 and Canada in 1937. He was a member of the Southgate Club for 58 years.

LEWIS, MAJOR NORMAN ALLEN, who died at his home at Blackheath on December 22, aged 78, played in his younger days for Lancashire Second XI. Rising from private to major in the Sportsmen's Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War, he was awarded the D.S.O. and the M.C. with bar. For long services to the boys of London, and the Boys' Brigade in particular, he received the O.B.E. in 1950.

PITT, MR. THOMAS ALFRED, who died at Northampton on April 23, aged 63, played for Northamptonshire in 1934 and 1935, taking 43 wickets for just over 26 runs each. Of medium-pace, he kept a good length and made the ball turn a little either way. A pilot in the R.F.C. during the First World War, he served with the R.A.F. in the Second.

RHODES, ARTHUR CECIL, who died on May 21, aged 50, played for Yorkshire from 1932 to 1934, taking 107 wickets, average 28.28, with fast-medium bowling and, by forcing methods, scoring 917 runs, average 17.93. Among his performances was the taking of nine Gloucestershire wickets for 117 runs in the match at Sheffield in 1933, in which season he hit his highest first-class score, 64 not out against Leicestershire at Leicester. He was well known in Yorkshire and Lancashire League cricket.

RICH, MR. ARTHUR, who died on December 14, aged 90, often played as a hard-hitting batsman for Cambridgeshire during a cricket career extending over more than thirty years. He was in the county side when Sir John Hobbs appeared as an amateur in 1901.

RICHMOND, THOMAS LEONARD, who died on December 30, aged 65, was a prominent slow bowler for Nottinghamshire between 1912 and 1928. During his career in first-class cricket he took 1,158 wickets, average 21.24. The number of runs he scored exceeded his total of wickets by no more than 406, so that when he scored 70 in a last wicket partnership of 140 in sixty-five minutes with S. J. Staples against Derbyshire at Worksop in 1922 the general surprise may readily be imagined. The batting skill he displayed in this his highest innings was not repeated and it is as a skilful leg-break bowler who did not allow occasional heavy punishment to upset him that he will be remembered.

In one or two appearances in the county side before the First World War he accomplished little, but afterwards he became one of the best bowlers of his type in the country. He dismissed more than 100 batsmen in each of eight seasons, his best being that of 1922 when his 169 wickets cost him 13.48 runs each and exceeded the Nottinghamshire record of 163 set up by T. Wass in 1907. Among his most notable performances were: nine wickets for 21 in Hampshire's second innings at Nottingham in 1922; nine for 19 (three for 9 and six for 10) in the match with Leicestershire at Trent Bridge and fourteen for 83 (seven for 30 and seven for 53)--all in one day--against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham in 1925; thirteen for 76 v. Leicestershire at Nottingham in 1920; thirteen for 107 v. Essex at Leyton in 1922, and thirteen for 165, including a hat-trick, v. Lancashire at Nottingham in 1926. For Pudsey St. Lawrence in 1920 he disposed of all ten Lowmoor batsmen in an innings for 39 runs. Tich Richmond played in one Test match for England, against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1921, taking two wickets for 86 runs.

ROBINSON, MR. LAURENCE MILNER, who died in a nursing home at Dorking on September 15, aged 72, was in the Marlborough XI of 1904, heading the bowling averages with 24 wickets for 16.20 runs each. He also represented the school at hockey and Rugby football. Going up to Cambridge, he played at centre half-back in the University hockey match from 1906 to 1908, being captain in the last year. In each of these games his twin brother, J. Y. Robinson, played for the Dark Blues against him. The brothers also figured in the England half-back line on three occasions. For services in the Consular service, he was made C.M.G. in 1944.

ST. HILL, EDWIN LLOYD, who died at Withington, Lancs., on May 21, aged 51, played as a medium-paced bowler for Trinidad and for the West Indies against the Hon. F. S. G. Calthorpe's M.C.C. touring team in 1930. On the occasion of St. Hill's second representative match appearance, George Headley set up a record by scoring a century in each innings. From 1943 to 1951, St. Hill played in Central Lancashire League cricket.

SANTALL, SYDNEY, who died at his home at Bournemouth on March 19, aged 83, rendered valuable service to Warwickshire as a right-arm medium-pace bowler from 1892 to 1914. From 1894 when the county attained first-class status, till the outbreak of the First World War he took 1,219 wickets, average 24.41, and held 150 catches. He appeared for Northamptonshire as an amateur before going on trial to Warwickshire in 1892 and he remained, first as player and then as coach, till 1920.

He was also a useful batsman, and in his first-class career he scored 6,651 runs, average 15.58. His best season as an all-rounder was probably that of 1905, when he dismissed 94 batsmen at a cost of 24.59 runs each and obtained 685 runs, including his highest score--67 against Hampshire at Southampton--average 22.83. On four occasions he headed the Warwickshire bowling figures, his greatest success with the ball occurring in 1907 when he took 100 wickets, average 16.79. In that season he numbered among his performances seven wickets for 38 runs v. Leicestershire at Coventry; eight for 72 v. Yorkshire at Sheffield and seven for 77 v. P. W. Sherwell's South African team at Edgbaston. Other good analyses were seven for 39 v. Lancashire at Liverpool and eight for 32 v. Essex at Edgbaston in 1898; eight for 23 v. Leicestershire at Edgbaston in 1900 and eight for 44 v. Somerset at Leamington in 1908, when Warwickshire, after being 86 behind on the first innings, dismissed their opponents for 93 and won by 161 runs. His son, F. R. Santall, who died in 1950, played for many years as a batsman for Warwickshire.

SARAVANAMUTTU, LIEUT.-COLONEL S., who died suddenly at Colombo on July 17, aged 59, was President of the Board of Control for cricket in Ceylon. While a schoolboy at St. Thomas's, he hit 121 against St. Anthony's, Kandy, in thirty-eight minutes, the fastest century scored in Ceylon. He captained the Tamil Union Club for eight years, played in the European-Ceylonese Test series and for Ceylon against New Zealand, M.C.C. and Australia, being captain on two occasions. He figured with some success in the University trials at Cambridge from 1921 to 1923 without getting a Blue. He held the M.B.E.

SCOTT, MR. ROBERT STRICKLAND GILBERT, who died after an operation at Peasmarsh, Sussex, on August 26, aged 48, was a former Oxford Blue. After three seasons from 1926 to 1928 in the eleven at Winchester, where he was captain in the last year, he went up to Oxford, appearing with much success against Cambridge in 1931. In that game A. T. Ratcliffe set up a record for the University match by hitting 201 in the Cambridge first innings--a record which lasted only one day, for in the Oxford reply the Nawab of Pataudi scored 238. Despite Ratcliffe's big innings, Scott, bowling above medium-pace, took six wickets for 64 runs in a total of 385 and in the second innings helped further towards victory by eight wickets when dismissing two men for 23. He played in one game for Sussex that season and for the next two years was a regular member of the county side. In 1932, when the health of K. S. Duleepsinhji broke down and Scott captained the team in several games, he hit 559 runs, average 20.70, including 116 out of 169 (seven 6's, eleven 4's) in a hundred minutes, and took 54 wickets, average 20.31. He also played in a Test Trial match. The following summer he took 113 from the Hampshire bowling at Horsham. The end of his first-class career came when his father died in 1933. He figured prominently in Sussex affairs and became High Sheriff of the county.

SHEPHERD, THOMAS F., who died in Kingston Hospital on February 13, aged 66, was one of Surrey's great batsmen at a period after the First World War when the county were richly endowed with run-getters and a place in the side was extremely difficult to command. Between 1919 and 1932, when he retired and became head groundsman and coach to Wandgas C.C.--a post he held till his death-- Shepherd hit 18,719 runs, including 42 centuries, average 39.82, in first-class cricket, took 441 wickets, average 30.81, with medium-pace bowling, and, generally fielding in the slips, held 268 catches.

His rise to fame was sensational. In 1920 he provided almost the entire batting strength of the Second XI. He hit 236 from the Essex Second XI bowling at Leyton and altogether scored 709 runs, average 101.28. As he also took 38 wickets, average 15.50, he headed both sets of averages. These performances literally forced Surrey to give him a regular position in the Championship team, and he seized his opportunity with such avidity that in each of eleven successive seasons he exceeded 1,000 runs. In 1921 he distinguished himself by hitting 212 against Lancashire at The Oval and 210 not out against Kent at Blackheath--then known as The Surrey Graveyard--in following innings and he obtained 1,658 runs, including six centuries, in Championship fixtures, average 51.81. He did even better in 1927, putting together eight scores of three figures, with 277 not out against Gloucestershire at The Oval the highest. In the course of this innings which, the biggest of his career, occupied four and three-quarter hours, he and A. Ducat put on 289 in two and three-quarter hours for the fourth wicket. Shepherd's aggregate that summer reached 2,145, average 55.00, of which 1,681 were registered in competition matches. The previous season he hit two separate centuries in a match--121 and 101 not out from the Leicestershire attack at The Oval.

Born at Headington Quarry, near Oxford, Shepherd played for his village team at the early age of eleven. A player of imperturbable temperament, he suited his methods to the conditions and the state of the game, for while he could pull and hit to the off with exhilarating power, he was capable of considerable patience. He appeared in Test Trial matches and for Players against Gentlemen, but, so great was the competition during his time, he never played for England.

SIMPSON, MR. GERALD AMYATT, who died on February 22, aged 70, took part in a few first-class matches for Kent in 1929 and 1930 after spending his early manhood in the Argentine. For many years he captained Kent Second XI; he led the Club and Ground team till he was 63, and he played for the Band of Brothers and the St. Lawrence clubs. A hard-hitting batsman, he was also a splendid fieldsman close to the wicket. As a member of the Committee, he rendered long service to Kent. During the First World War he served in the Royal Artillery and was wounded in France.

SKIMMING, MR. EDWARD HUGH BOWRING, who died at Taplow, Bucks, on October 20, aged 82, was in the Marlborough XI of 1893. He dismissed four batsmen in 45 overs for 89 runs in the match with Rugby at Lord's and headed the bowling averages with 45 wickets for 11.20 runs each. Rheumatic fever contracted while at school ended his athletic career. He was a well-known figure in London shipping circles.

SPENCER, MR. GEORGE ALFRED, who died in hospital at Nottingham on November 21, aged 84, was President of Nottinghamshire in 1949. When Socialist M.P. for the Broxtowe Division in 1918-29 he played for the House of Commons cricket team. One of a family of eighteen, he was a past-President of the Notts and District Miners Federated Union and vice-chairman of the North Midlands Coal Board.

STEVENS, GEORGE, who died at his home at Gaywood, Norfolk, on March 28, aged 89, played cricket with and against the brothers E. M. and W. G. Grace. In fifteen matches for Norfolk from 1905 to 1911, Pro Stevens scored 257 runs and, with left-arm medium-pace bowling, took 27 wickets. His best performance with the ball was six wickets for 56 runs against Suffolk in 1909. Born at Bognor, Sussex, he served as professional to Lynn Town C.C. before becoming groundsman at King Edward VII School, King's Lynn, a post he held for 41 years. Dr. E. M. Grace once wrote of Stevens: No one knows better how to prepare a first-class cricket pitch, and also praised him as an all-rounder.

SUSSKIND, MR. MANFRED J., collapsed and died on July 9, aged 66, at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, of which he was a member for thirty years. Educated at University College School and Cambridge University, he played in a few games for Middlesex before returning home and assisting Transvaal, for whom he obtained 2,595 runs, average 49.90, in Currie Cup matches, hitting six centuries. He and H. B. Cameron set up a Transvaal record when adding 207 for the sixth wicket against Eastern Province in 1926-27. In 1924 Fred Susskind, as he was always known, was one of H. W. Taylor's South African team in England, playing in all five Test matches. He was second in the Test batting averages with 268 runs, average 33.50, and in all games scored 1,469 runs, including two centuries, average 32.64. A tall batsman, he was often cramped in style and his proneness to pad-play caused a good deal of criticism during the tour.

SYED HASSAN SHAH, who died on September 28, aged 67, following a car accident at Multon, played for about nine years in the Bombay Quadrangular Tournament, captaining the Muslims on two occasions. Educated at Government College, Lahore, and M.A.O. College, Alligarh, he later took the Civil Engineering course in England.

THWAITE, DR. HAROLD, who died at his home at Lower Kingswood, Surrey, on October 26, aged 74, was President of Warwickshire C.C.C. from 1942 to 1955. He had been in poor health during the previous year. A prominent figure in Midlands medical circles for nearly fifty years, Thwaite began his association with Warwickshire when a medical student at Birmingham University in 1900. He became a member of the Committee in 1926 and served as honorary treasurer from 1930 till he was elected President.

WILMOT, WILLIAM, who died on May 19, aged 84, played occasionally for Derbyshire between 1897 and 1901. An excellent wicket-keeper, he was unfortunate to be contemporary with W. Storer and J. Humphries.

WILSON, BENJAMIN B., who died on September 17, aged 77, played as opening batsman for Yorkshire between 1906 and 1914 and later coached at St. Peter's School, York, and at Harrow. During his first-class career he scored 6,454 runs, including fifteen centuries, for an average of 27.69. His highest innings was 208 against Sussex at Bradford in 1914, when he put together an aggregate of 1,605 runs--his best--and altogether he exceeded 1,000 runs in a season five times. Yet, as illustrated by references to him in Wisden by that excellent judge Sydney H. Pardon, he rarely showed his real capabilities and this led to his services being dispensed with by the county following the First World War. Of him in 1909 Mr. Pardon wrote: Playing in excellent style, he had everything in his favour, but for some reason that one is quite unable to explain, his success made him unduly cautious; next year: If he would only give free play to his natural ability, he might soon be first-rate; and the following season: Possessing every physical advantage, he is at his best a very fine hitter, but he is apt for no reason whatever to subside into laborious slowness. He ought by this time to have been Tunnicliffe's successor, but he cannot be considered as more than a partial success. Had Wilson given full rein to his natural skill in driving and cutting, he might well have earned himself a place among the great men of Yorkshire cricket.

WILSON, MR. EVELYN ROCKLEY, who died at Winchester on July 21, aged 78, was one of the best amateur slow right-arm bowlers of his time. Educated at Rugby, he was in the XI for three years from 1895, heading both batting and bowling figures when captain in 1897. With a highest innings of 206 not out, he averaged 51.11 in batting and he took 31 wickets for 14.93 runs each. Before he gained his Blue at Cambridge, whom he represented against Oxford in four matches from 1899 to 1902, he scored a century against his University for A. J. Webbe's XI. In the University match of 1901 he hit 118 and 27 and took five wickets for 71 runs and two for 38, and in that of 1902, when captain, he played a noteworthy part in victory by five wickets for the Light Blues by taking five wickets for 23 and three for 66.

He made a brief appearance for Yorkshire in 1899, but when, on going down from Cambridge, he became a master at Winchester, a position he held for forty years, he preferred to engage in club cricket during the school holidays, his stated reason being that he preferred to play in three matches a week rather than two. He did, however, go to America with B. J. T. Bosanquet's side in 1901; with the team of English amateurs who visited the West Indies in 1902, when he stood first in the bowling averages with 78 wickets for less than 11 runs each, and with the M.C.C. to Argentina in 1912.

A suggestion that Wilson might use his residential qualification for Hampshire led to him being pressed into service once again by Yorkshire when over forty years of age, but, whatever the reason, there could be no doubt as to his immense value to the county during the closing weeks of each season. In 1913 he made his only century for Yorkshire, 104 not out against Essex at Bradford, in the course of which he claimed to have hit the only six obtained by skying a ball directly over the wicket-keeper's head, but it was as a bowler that he achieved his best work. He met with such success in 1920 that he took 64 wickets for 13.84 runs apiece, being fourth in the English averages. This brought him a place in J. W. H. T. Douglas's M.C.C. team who, the following winter, toured Australia. Wilson played in his only Test match during that tour, of which Wisden of the time reported: A good deal of friction was caused by cable messages sent home to the Daily Express by Mr. E. R. Wilson. This led to a resolution passed at the annual meeting of the Marylebone Club in May deprecating the reporting of matches by players concerned in them.

Among Wilson's best performances was that in the match with Middlesex at Bradford in 1922 when, in the second innings, he sent down 44 overs, 22 of them maidens, for 62 runs and six wickets. He and A. Waddington shared in a last wicket stand of 53 for Yorkshire, but all the same Middlesex won an exciting struggle by four runs. Wilson was the first bowler to perform the hat-trick for Gentlemen against Players, which he did at Scarborough in 1919. Altogether in first-class cricket he took 385 wickets, average 21.66, and scored 3,033 runs, average 18.94.

Immaculate length and cleverly-disguised variation of pace made Wilson difficult to punish. His own explanation of his success was typically whimsical. I have always been a lucky bowler, he said, as my best ball has been the ball which broke from the off when I meant to break from leg. I bowled far more of these as a man of forty than as a young man. Another example of this slightly-built, diffident cricketer's sense of humour was provided at the nets at Winchester when to a somewhat inept boy batsman he said: My dear boy, you must hit one ball in the middle of your bat before you meet your Maker. He will always be remembered by the vast number of Wykehamists who enjoyed the benefit of his advice and of whom several gained cricket fame. His elder brother, C. E. M. Wilson, also captained Cambridge.

WORMALD, MAJOR JOHN, who died on November 14, aged 75, was in the Eton XI, in 1899 and the following year. A sound batsman, he scored 326 runs in 1899, average 29.63. From 1910 to 1912 he played in a few matches for Middlesex and subsequently he assisted Norfolk. He hit 61 against Yorkshire at Lord's in 1910 and he equalled that score against Sussex on the same ground the following season. He was awarded the M.C. while serving with the King's Royal Rifle Corps in France during the First World War.