WG Grace

by Low, Robert

  In the 1870s W.G. had been top of the first-class batting averages every year but one (1875, when he still scored most runs). He topped the averages in 1880 but thereafter never again although he was often the heaviest scorer. In the first few years of the 1880s he was diverted by his new professional responsibilities, attending to his medical practice in Bristol and usually starting the first-class season late.

  So in 1880 he played club cricket in Gloucestershire during May and June, scoring heavily, as might have been expected, for the likes of Thornbury, Lansdown and Bristol Medicals. For the Gentlemen v Players on a damp and deadly Lord’s pitch he compiled a monumentally patient 49 in 160 minutes, another exemplary display of coping with the shooter. Returning to HQ, he scored a much more typically brisk 51 and 49 for the Over-Thirties v the Under-Thirties.

  It was not until August that he really hit top form, with a series of excellent scores for Gloucestershire. Against Yorkshire at Clifton he made 89 and 57 not out to win the match against the clock, of which the Bristol Evening News commented: ‘The captain was evidently on his mettle and hit out in rattling style … W.G. carried out his bat … in quite his old style.’ Other good performances were against Middlesex at Lord’s (69), Surrey at Cheltenham (67, 31 not out and 7–65), and Lancashire at Clifton (106) at the end of the month.

  This was his first first-class century of the season, and he made it out of 223, having put himself down the batting order at number seven. Lancashire had made 186 (W.G. 4–53) and at 58–5 Gloucs were in danger of following on, but W.G. at seven and E.M. at eight (what a pair to have coming in as lower-order batsmen) stopped the rot and turned the match. W.G. dislocated the Lancashire bowler Barlow’s finger with a stinging cut but he returned to the field and with the first ball of a new spell had E.M. given out caught at the wicket, ‘the decision being loudly disputed by W.G.’

  When he was out, caught at slip, he had been at the crease for 175 minutes. ‘He went in at a most critical stage of the innings, and throughout he played in the vigorous style that has characterised his performance during the past fortnight,’ said the Sportsman. ‘In all-round play he has again shown himself the foremost cricketer of his time, and his present contribution … was in the very best form of his younger days.’ The result was that Gloucestershire won by seven wickets.

  The match against Surrey gave rise to one of the great Grace stories, involving the three brothers. Both sides had made high first-innings totals (Surrey 285, Gloucs 351) and it was only after lunch on the third and final day that Surrey went in again. A draw looked the likeliest outcome and at the luncheon interval Fred Grace, in high spirits, laid odds of either 100–1 or 5–1 (depending on the authority) on that result. Both W.G. and the Surrey player L.A. Shuter, a friend of Fred’s, swiftly accepted the bet.

  Surrey were dismissed for 117, leaving Gloucestershire 52 to win in forty-five minutes. Being the quickest scorer in the team, E.M. assumed he would open and show Fred what a bad judge he was, but as he was strapping on the pads saw his other brother striding out to the middle with W.R. Gilbert. ‘There they go,’ growled the Coroner, ‘the slowest pair of run-getters in England.’ They knocked off the runs in twenty-five minutes and Fred had to pay up.

  Another Grace brother, Henry, who was usually to be found watching Gloucestershire’s home matches, played a shrewd part in events: before Surrey batted again, he took W.G. and Midwinter, Gloucestershire’s most effective bowlers, into the refreshment tent and bought them a pint of champagne each. Thus restored, the two skittled Surrey out, W.G. taking seven wickets. Perhaps the formula should be tried out on England’s bowlers today.

  All this was a mere prelude to the big event of the cricketing year, the first Test Match in England, against Australia. When one considers its significance, it is strange to realise that it was nearly not played at all. After the pioneering work done by several England tours of Australia, including Grace’s of 1873/74, and the successful venture to England by the Australian team of 1878, relations between the two cricketing communities had cooled sharply as a result of a riot at Sydney during Lord Harris’s team’s tour in 1878/79, when thousands of angry spectators invaded the pitch intent on lynching the umpire and possibly a few Englishmen as well.

  The Australians were due to tour England in 1880 but it was not until late spring that this was confirmed, by which time the county fixture list was in place. The Australians duly arrived to find they had nobody decent to play. All they could muster was a series of meaningless games against club sides far below their own standard. They were even reduced to advertising for opponents. Yorkshire contrived to play them twice, unofficially, but for most of the season it looked as if there would be no game against an England side. Grace tried to fix one up, the proceeds to go to the Cricketers’ Fund, but failed.

  Only at the end of August did Lord Harris, Grace and C.W. Alcock manage to arrange a three-day match at The Oval for 6–8 September. It was very late in the season, and most of the leading amateurs had to be summoned from their shooting on the moors, a telling indication of the social climate of the day. Grace was no exception; he was at Kingsclere in Hampshire for a few days’ shooting and thought he might be out of practice for the big match.

  The fixture caught the public imagination, which perhaps demonstrates how out of touch the cricket authorities were with popular demand. Fifty thousand people were estimated to have watched over the three days. The atmosphere on the first morning was electric. As the Sportsman reported:

  From an early hour amateur cricketers by the thousand streamed into the ground and took up positions to see the game with a perseverance and a skill which were both alike admirable. Stands improvised from water-carts and steps from office-stools and Windsor-chairs, from old orange boxes, from little Plevnas [Plevna was a Bulgarian town taken by Russia from the Turks in 1877 after a siege lasting 143 days] of dirt which were hastily thrown up, and had to be stoutly defended against attack – stands, in fact, of all kinds and sizes were the general order of the day.

  The roofs, balconies and windows of the houses which overlooked The Oval were packed; some even got on to the top of the famous gas-holder. ‘Men of an aspiring turn of mind swarmed the large tree which grows near one of the entrances of The Oval, and this leafy monarch of all it surveyed bore about as dense a crop of human fruit as was ever seen looking proudly over the heads of the rest of creation.’ When the Australians were recognised they were given hearty cheers. The crowd grew throughout the day so that after lunch (i.e. 2.45 p.m.) ‘The Oval was literally packed, and anyone who could have bought it for export with its various adjuncts would have been able to send abroad a fairly representative slice of English life’. The official total of paying customers was 20,736 ‘and a more orderly crowd has never been seen on a cricket field’.

  The three Grace brothers had all been selected for this historic fixture. Lord Harris won the toss and W.G. and E.M. walked out to open the batting to more cheers and applause. The wicket was in perfect condition and the weather had cooled after a heatwave that had gripped London in the previous weeks. The Graces were doubtless cheered by the news that the great Spofforth had withdrawn on the eve of the match because of an injury to his right hand. The Australian attack, deprived of its most potent weapon, did not trouble the Graces. The 50 came up in forty-five minutes, 60 in an hour, and ‘a splendid cut for four by W.G. brought down the house’ and brought up 80. At 91 E.M. holed out to mid-off for 36, but W.G. sailed serenely on and when the luncheon bell rang at 2 p.m., the score was 167–1, Grace on 82 and the crowd in raptures.

  After lunch, Grace, partnered by A.P. Lucas, began to score even faster and soon reached his century, to loud cheers. He was dropped in front of the pavilion on 134 and finally bowled by Palmer for 152, made out of 281, with ten fours. ‘The general satisfaction felt at the splendid cricket he had shown was proved by the universal applause showered on him.’

  England’s total was 420, Australia’s only 149, so they followed on 27
1 behind and at the end of the second day looked down and out on 170–6. Then came one of cricket’s great rearguard actions, with Australia’s captain Billy Murdoch batting doggedly on through the morning of the third day to top Grace’s total by one run and help add 140 for the last two wickets. Although George Giffen was later labelled ‘the Australian W.G.’ for his all-round ability, Murdoch was a nearer equivalent, a big, imposing but good-humoured man who captained his country in six series against England and, like W.G., loved to accumulate big scores, including the first Test double century at The Oval in 1884. It was not surprising that he and W.G. should become firm friends. Faced with only 57 to win, England nearly bungled it, losing five for 20, before W.G. came out and, with Frank Penn, steered his country to victory without further loss of wickets.

  Of the Graces, only Fred failed with the bat, suffering the indignity of a ‘pair’ but, ever the superb athlete in the field, he redeemed himself with probably the most famous catch in the history of the game. Bonnor, who stood 6ft 6in tall, sent up such a mighty hit that the batsmen had crossed for two before Fred, racing round the boundary, clutched it safely to his chest. The distance from wicket to where he caught it was measured by the groundsman and found to be 115 yards. Little did the cheering crowd, or anyone else on the ground, know that they would never see Fred again.

  From The Oval the youngest Grace went straight to Stroud, Gloucestershire, to play in a three-day match for the United South against a local XXII lasting from Thursday 9 September to Saturday 11 September. It rained heavily on Thursday and again on Saturday and Fred got wet on both occasions. Although he was not feeling well, he managed to score 44 in one innings, and arrived home at Downend on the Sunday. He had a cold and a cough, which he was thought to have acquired at Stroud, although he also mentioned he had slept in damp sheets somewhere. He stayed at home until Tuesday, when he set off for Basingstoke, en route to a benefit match at Winchester starting on Wednesday, although his family did not think him well enough to travel. He, however, said he felt well enough to go and stayed at the Red Lion Hotel in Basingstoke on Tuesday night.

  Next morning he was about to leave for Winchester when a friend, Dr Frere Webb, became concerned about his health and ordered him to return to bed. Next day Dr Webb found that Fred’s right lung was affected and wrote to his eldest brother, Henry, a surgeon at Kingswood, Gloucestershire, asking him to come urgently. Meanwhile W.R. Gilbert arrived to look after his cousin. Henry arrived on Saturday and, finding Fred improving, departed that evening. He returned on Monday, when Fred still appeared to be on the mend. Early on Wednesday morning, however, he took a sudden turn for the worse and Webb and Gilbert sent telegrams to Henry and W.G. Henry had gone off to Bradford and W.G. headed there to tell him personally that he was needed in Basingstoke. Meanwhile their sister, Mrs Dann, and her husband, rushed to Basingstoke but were too late: Fred died at about noon on Wednesday 22 September 1880 the infection having spread to both lungs. W.G. and Henry received the news as they were about to leave Bradford.

  It was a terrible blow for the whole family, the youngest child being the first to die. It was all the more difficult to bear because Fred had always been in such good health. More than that, he was a captivating character and popular in all the circles in which he moved.

  As a cricketer, he was in the next category beneath his incomparable older brother, a batsman who loved to attack, a good quick bowler and a fielder without equal in England. The news of his death, coming so soon after he appeared among the world’s finest players at The Oval, shocked the cricketing world. The Sportsman’s obituary recorded: ‘Right up to the day of his death, he upheld his reputation as a thoroughly representative cricketer. His fast round-arm bowling was the terror of his opponents, and the style in which he defied fatigue was little short of a marvel.’

  The County Gentleman’s Cricket Notes commented: ‘It is not too much to say that the lamented young gentleman was all but idolised in the county of his birth, and amongst almost all classes, not only in England, but in our most distant colonies, was a universal favourite.’

  The same newspaper’s leader writer added: ‘Wherever this thoroughly English game is played, the deepest regret will be experienced at so talented a cricketer being cut off in the very prime of life … There were few finer specimens of the British athlete than the late Mr G.F. Grace, and his untimely end is a sad instance of how liable the strongest man is to the insidious attacks of disease, mainly through overrating his own strength.’

  The Bristol Evening News, the Graces’ local paper, noted that G.F. had played in every single Gloucestershire match since the county club was founded in 1870, more even than W.G., who had missed some by being in Australia in 1873–4. ‘Popular everywhere for his genial manner and good humour, and for his skill as a cricketer, he will be deeply and sincerely mourned.’

  The players in the match between the Australians and the Players of England at Crystal Palace wore bows or bands of black crepe as a mark of mourning. Like all the Graces, Fred had loved riding, shooting and fishing and like his three brothers was set on a medical career. He had studied at Bristol Medical School and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, passed his preliminary examinations in anatomy and physiology and was expected to pass his finals the following winter.

  A massive cortege, estimated at three thousand people, attended his funeral in Downend on 28 September. The Australian team sent a telegram of condolence, and many cricketers who could not be present sent wreaths. Among them was Richard Humphrey, to whose benefit Fred had been on his way. It was a more than usually sombre scene. In almost every house, the blinds were drawn as a mark of respect, for young Fred had been a popular figure in the village. Because of the short distance between The Chestnuts and the Downend church, the mourners followed the coffin, covered with a plain back cloth, on foot. There was just one carriage, bearing Fred’s mother and his fiancée, Miss Robinson. After the church service, the crush in the churchyard was so intense that the family had difficulty in getting through to the graveside. Fred’s brother-in-law, the Rev. J.W. Dann, gave a short but moving address, speaking of the great affection in which Fred had been held and of the disbelief that the young man who had left the house a fortnight earlier would never return. Then Dann broke down in tears. It is a fair assumption that W.G. did not allow himself a similar public show of emotion, but no one felt Fred’s loss more. Miss Robinson, at least, found consolation in the arms of E.M., whose second wife she became, bearing him five children.

  The years 1881–2 were subdued ones for W.G. in the cricketing sense. In 1881 his main preoccupation was his new medical practice and he played comparatively few first-class matches: he had only 21 innings, in which he scored 792 at an average of 37. There were still two sparkling centuries: 100 for the Gentlemen v Players at Lord’s, which was said to be as good as any innings he ever played (he also took 7–61 in the Players’ second innings), and 182 for Gloucs v Notts at Trent Bridge, the highest in a county match on that ground until then, and the highest innings of that county season. It followed 51 in the first innings. In his second innings, he was dropped at slip on 3, but was untroubled thereafter. Like all great batsmen, he hated getting out, however many he had scored, and this was a good example. He was finally given out for obstructing the field, and left, grumbling vociferously, although he had taken Gloucestershire’s total to 440.

  He was also severe on Middlesex in Gloucestershire’s two matches against them. At Lord’s he made 64 and took 7–30, to secure victory by six wickets, and in the return, at Clifton, made 80 out of 102 while he was at the wicket. He contrived to run himself out, a most unusual occurrence for him, but he was run out twice more that summer, perhaps a reflection of his increasing girth and weight.

  The following season started badly for him. He caught mumps, was sidelined for several weeks, and did not get going properly until towards the end of the summer. Perhaps family pressures played their part: in March, Agnes gave birth to their fourth child,
and third son, Charles Butler Grace, completing their family. With the demands of a busy medical practice and a family of four children under the age of eight, W.G. had plenty on his plate. For the first time in his long career, he failed to score a first-class century, although he registered his usual clutch of them in West Country club games, and once again fell short of 1,000 first-class runs, making 975 at the abysmal average, for him, of 26.

  What little good form Grace showed in 1882 he reserved for the right opponents: the legendary Australian touring side, which he and other good judges of the era rated as the strongest ever to come to England.

  Australian cricket had made huge strides in the eight years since Grace took his side down under. Their batting had improved greatly – the captain, Murdoch, was rated the world’s best batsman after Grace – and the bowlers were the best group ever collected in one team until then, led again by Spofforth at the height of his powers, backed by Boyle, Garrett and Palmer.

  Grace pitted himself against them several times, first for Gentlemen of England at The Oval on 22–4 June, when he weighed in with 61 and 32. Gloucestershire had two matches against the tourists in August, both at Clifton. In the first Grace scored 77, in the second he took 12–152 in the match.

  The latter was the immediate precursor to perhaps the most historic Test match of all time between England and Australia, which took place at The Oval on 28–30 August. Before a capacity fifteen-thousand crowd and on a damp pitch, the all-conquering Australians were put out for 63, but struck back to restrict England to 101, Grace yorked by Spofforth for 4. In appallingly wet conditions, Australia managed 122 in their second innings (Sammy Jones run out by Grace in controversial circumstances when he wandered out of his crease thinking the ball was dead), leaving England 85 to win. When Australia cleared off the arrears, wrote H.S. Altham, ‘at point the Champion was seen to be pulling anxiously at his beard’. Perhaps he had a premonition of what was to come. His great antagonist Spofforth told his team-mates in the pavilion, ‘This thing can be done’ and so it could. At 15–2, England were in deep trouble. The Yorkshireman Ulyett joined W.G. at the crease and after Grace had survived a chance to Bannerman, fielding close in at silly mid-on, the pair took the score to 51, at which point England looked sure to win. But Spofforth bowled Ulyett and at 53 came the critical blow: Grace drove at Boyle but succeeded only in giving a catch to Bannerman at mid-off for 32, and with him went England’s last chance.