Famous Cricketers No 60 - Ernest Tyldesley

An even greater honour was to follow after the war when he became one of the first 26 professional cricketers to be admitted as Honorary Cricket Members of the M.C.C. The invitation was extended at a Special General Meeting held on July 14th, 1949 and was accepted by all 26, amongst whom were other former Lancastrians in Syd Barnes, George Duckworth and Eddie Paynter. By this time Ernest and Nellie had left Roe Green for Southport, where they lived for a dozen or so years at 20a, Trafalgar Road, Birkdale. When Cyril Washbrook became Lancashire’s first officially appointed professional captain in succession to Nigel Howard in 1954 he made Ernest Tyldesley his Match Committee Chairman. This was the year that Ernest reached the age of 65 and retired from Cryselco; by 1958 he and Nellie had left Southport and gone to live in the upstairs flat of a house in Rhos-on-Sea, owned by her widowed sister. Over his later years he was crippled with arthritis and towards the end suffered with failing eyesight. Yet his stoical charm and good humour survived to the end. Sir Neville Cardus used to recount the story of one of the last visits paid to him by his great friend, George Duckworth. Ernest was, by this time, a very sick man and when Duckworth inquired after his health he replied “Well, George, I was at the specialist’s yesterday and he says my eyes are in a bad way and I’ve had awful pains in my thighs and my chest’s been giving me gyp.” He then paused before adding “But mind you, George, there’s nothin’ the matter with me!” He died in the flat at 8, Francis Avenue, Rhos-on-Sea on May 5th, 1962, aged 73. The death certificate listed coronary thrombosis as the prime cause of death. He was brought home and buried at Worsley Parish Church in a plot near his brother “J.T.” By an odd coincidence, Patsy Hendren died in the October of the same year. To conclude, may I quote some words which sum up Ernest Tyldesley the cricketer better than all the scores and statistics in this book. Who better to turn to than the great Neville Cardus again, writing under the byline “The Cricketer” in The Manchester Guardian of Thursday, May 5th, 1932: “He opened with two lovely strokes off his toes to the on, both clean, easeful, rapid and gracious, with that quiet modesty which makes Ernest Tyldesley’s cricket so likeable and so true to the man himself. He is never a vulgar or blatant batsman; even when he drives or pulls strongly there is a certain courtesy in his play, the poise of taste and discretion.” 10