Cricket 1912

602 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. D ec . 14. 1912. Obituary. M r. W illia m M c C a ffr e y , a well-known Canadian cricketer, was drowned near Peterborough (O n t.) on Septem ber 28. W ith him perished his m other, his wife, his son, and his daughter. The cricketer and his fam ily, whose hom e was at R osedale, Toronto, were staying at Omemee with Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCaffrey, and the entire party had gone fishing in a canoe, the fatality apparently being due to the strike of a big fish. Mr. M cCaffrey was assistant and general manager of the Supply D epartm ent of th e Canadian General Electric C om pany of Toronto. H e was a fine swimmer, and there can be little doubt that he m ade desperate efforts to save the lives of his dear ones. A really good all-round athlete also, McCaffrey was a m ember at one tim e or another of the (now defunct) St. Sim on’s, the Rosedale, and the Toronto clubs, and was a very enthusiastic cricketer. H is age was 39. The death of M r . H u gh G l e n d w r O w e n on O ctober 20 made the cricket world the poorer by the loss of a man whose career was over, it is true, but whose lovable nature, high sense of sportsmanship, and fine qualities as a leader still kept for him a green place in the memories of Essex cricketers and others. Born at Bath on M ay 18, 1859, Mr. Owen went up to Cambridge in 1879 with the disadvantages of a private education and no cricket coaching, and perhaps it is not to be wondered a t that, like m any another good man before and since, he failed to get his blue. Indeed, he did not play in a trial m atch until 1882, and, though he made no end of runs for Corpus Christi College, he only once appeared in the Light Blue ranks, at Fenner’s v. M.C.C. in 1882, when he scored 9 and 5. B ut he had begun to represent Essex (not then first-class, of course) in 1880, and he continued to do so until 1902, playing during those 22 seasons as m any as 401 innings, with 28 not outs, for 8,216 runs, average 22-02. H e made four centuries for the county, his highest being 153 not out v. Leicestershire in 1889. Though scarcely reckoned as a bowler, he would go on at times as a change, and for Essex took 27 wickets for 736, his best figures being those of 1891, when he had 9 for 138. F or years he held a mastership at Trent College, under his brother, the R ev. J. R . B. Owen, and he m ade m any centuries in Derbyshire cricket, am ong them 205 for the College v. Derbyshire Friars in 1888. H is highest score in any class of cricket was 224 for W itham v. E arl’s Colne in 1886. H e held for a long tim e a qualification for three counties, Somerset b y birth, Derbyshire by residence, and Essex by the fam ily hom e clause ; but he never swerved from his allegiance to Essex. H e had been captain of the Essex team for several years prior to his retirement in 1902, and a better and more unselfish leader no side could have had. On the occasion of his first century, v. Leicestershire, he carried his bat right through the innings, and in 1894 he made 195 (109 and 86 not out) in the match v. Oxford University. His other centuries were 134 v. Hants in 1900 and 106* v. Derbyshire in 1901 ; and it is a significant fact that in the two years 1900 and 1901, just before his retirement, he totalled as m any as 1,321 runs, with an average of nearly 26— figures which suggest that he m ight have gone on longer without fear of lagging superfluous on the stage. In strictly first-class cricket his record was : 230 innings— 18 not outs— 4,548 runs ; average 21-45. Though never known to fam e as a first-class cricketer, M r. W a l t e r B. H orn , who died at H ollis, Long Island, U .S.A., on O cto­ ber 10, aged 60, was in his younger days a prom inent member o f the Lafayette C.C. of Brooklyn, and a useful bowler. H e was one of the secretaries of the great banking firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. at the time of his death, having been connected with the firm ever since boyhood. M r. D a vid A l le n R o berts died at Philadelphia on August 16, aged 32. H e was one of the keenest o f cricketers, and a very fine wicket-keeper. As a m ember of the H averford University team he toured England in 1900, am ong his com rades being C. C. Morris, F . C. Sharpies, R . H . Patton, and S. W . Mifflin, all representative Philadelphian players since. Later he played for and often captained M oorestown, a club in whose welfare his heart was bound up. A real cricketer and a big-hearted, generous man, he will be greatly missed. On July 3 passed away M r . R eg in ald H o w e l l , who played in a few matches for Surrey thirty years or so ago. H e was b om on April 16, 1856, and was a m ember of the Streatham club. E liciu s B e n e d ic t D w y e r , who came from N.S. W ales to Lord’s, was spotted there b y C. B. Fry, qualified for Sussex, but did not prove as valuable as had been anticipated, and had lately been playing for Crewe Alexandra in the N orth Staffordshire league, died at Crewe on October 19. Dw yer is said to have been a great grandson of Michael Dw yer, the insurgent W icklow chieftain of 1798, who was transported to Australia in 1804. His descendant was born at Sydney on M ay 3, 1876, and, after doing well with a m inor team, began to play first-grade club cricket in 1903-4. It was in that season that he fielded'as substitute for Cotter (injured) in the return match between N.S.W . and the M.C.C. team, and was reported by cablegram to have batted, though this was an error. Transferred speedily from Lord’s to H ove on his arrival in England, he played in a couple of matches, against the Universities, for Sussex in 1904, and took 10 wickets for 193 runs. In 1905 his one appearance was against the Australians, and in an innings of 556 he bowled 53 overs and took 6 wickets for 178. H igh hopes were aroused by the form he showed when the com pletion of his residential qualification allowed him to take his place in the ranks of the cou nty team. In his first championship match, v. Derbyshire, he lowered 9 for 35 (7 bowled, 1 l.b. w .). A m onth later he did an even better perform ance v. M iddle­ sex— 7 for 56 and 9 for 44. He bowled in really splendid form then, maintaining his length while varying pace ; but he never again approached this standard. H e did useful work in several other matches, however, and took 96 wickets during the season, though at the somewhat heavy cost of nearly 27 each. Something had been hoped of his batting ; but a hard hit, 63* in 50 minutes v. Surrey at H ove was his one really notable feat in this department. H e fell away in 1907, when 58 wickets cost him 27-65 each ; but in the Hants match at Portsm outh, which the hom e side drew with only one wicket to go, his all-round form (top scorer first innings with 54*, and 7 for 80 when Hants went in to get 276 to win, and lost 9 wickets for 196) was really good. In 1908 his bowling seemed to have de­ serted him altogether, and after playing in a few matches without success he was dropped, though given another short trial in 1909. His com plete first-class figures were : batting— 92 innings, 9 not outs, 986 runs, average 11-87 ; bowling— 1,563-3, overs 5,002 runs, 179 wickets, average 27-94. For Crewe Alexandra he did good service, but he had been in poor health during the greater part of the 1912 season, and had been obliged to stand dow n from several matches. The death of J oseph F l in t , an old Derbyshire cricketer, aged 72, was announced a m onth or so ago. H e played in only a few matches for his county, but generally did well. H e was highest aggregate scorer (with 13 and 19*) v. Lancashire at Manchester in 1872, and against Prince’ s C. and G. in the same season took 11 wickets for 77. For X V . of Derbyshire v. N otts, at W irksworth in 1873 he took 6 for 10 in the first innings, 4 for 44 in the second. In the return match at Trent Bridge early in 1874, when Derbyshire played sixteen men, he had 8 wickets cheaply ; against Lancashire at Manchester a little later he scored 23 and took 8 for 97 ; against Kent at W irksw orth he had 8 for 52 ; against Lancashire at Chesterfield he made 24 ; against the Yorkshire United X I. (a secession team ) at Leeds he had 8 for 97 ; and for X V I. of Derbyshire v. the United X I. he took 11 for 87. In all matches for the county in 1874 he took 47 wickets at about 12 each. H e never did much after that, however, and soon dropped out of the team, thereafter having professional engagements with several clubs. J ohn W r ig iit , who was born at Nantwich on September 23, 1861, died there after a long illness on N ovem ber 5. A useful, if somewhat uncertain fast bowler, and good bat, he first played for Cheshire in 1884, when he took 16 wickets at 16-50 each. In the following season he totalled 247 runs with an average o f between 14 and 15, and a highest score of 59*, and took 14 wickets at 19 each. In 1886 he batted five times without scoring a run, and bowled 14 overs without taking a wicket. Left out in 1887, he returned to the team in 1888 with moderate results ; but in 1889 he was second in the batting averages with 27 per innings, and, though only taking 8 wickets, headed the bowling. H e continued to do good work for the side until the break-up of the county club in 1895. H is highest score was 95 in 1891, and his bowling was frequently useful as a change. M r. W illia m J am es L a id l a y , F .R .G .S., who was born at Cal­ cutta on August 12,1846, died at Glenbrook, Isle of W ight, on October 25 last. H e was educated at Loretto and Cambridge, and played a good deal of cricket with the fam ous Grange C.C. (Edinburgh). Valuable as an all-round player, he was a better bowler than bats­ man. Am ong his best performances in matches of some note were 7 wickets in an innings for Edinburgh v. Glasgow in 1873, 5 for 18 for X V . of Edinburgh v. the LT.S.E.E. in the same year, and scores o f 35* and 32 for Edinburgh v. Glasgow in 1877. Mr. Laidlay was an artist, as well as a barrister and advocate ; he exhibited at the R oyal A cadem y, the Salon, and the N ew Gallery, and was one of the founders of the New English Art Club. Mr, J. E. Laidlay, of golf fame, was his brother.