Famous Cricketers No 72 - Lord Cowdrey of Tonbridge, C.B.E.

Cricket administrator Cowdrey’s enthusiasm and commitment to the game was given rein in the cricket administration that followed the end of his playing career. It was yet another contradiction that the man so often open to the accusation of indecision should play such a decisive part in a number of major issues that came his way. As President of the M.C.C. in 1987, the Club’s bicentenary, he oversaw a year of turbulence as the discontent between the M.C.C. and the Test and County Cricket Board was resolved at the cost of both the Secretary and Treasurer of the M.C.C. As President of the International Cricket Council (twice) he travelled the world endlessly using cricketing high diplomacy to resolve seemingly intractable issues such as the return of South Africa to the world arena, the introduction of an international code of conduct, and the appointment of match referees to oversee international games. Personal Cowdrey married Penelope (Penny) Chiesman on 15 September 1956 at St. Nicholas Church, Chislehurst. His father-in-law, C.Stuart Chiesman, had built up the family draper’s business into a chain of departmental stores across Kent. Chiesman was also a great supporter and benefactor of Kent cricket, becoming Chairman of the County Club (the pavilion at Canterbury is named after him). That family connection provided the material stability to support Cowdrey’s cricket. For many years he was a director of the Chiesman’s company – a sniffy Who’s Who disdainful of including a sportsman in its pages actually justified his entry because of his role as a “department store executive”. The marriage produced four children Christopher (Chris), Jeremy, Carolyn (Carol) and Graham. Chris and Graham followed their father into the Kent county side playing in a style that owed not so much to their pedigree as to the demands of a game increasingly dominated by one-day attitudes. Chris also followed his father to the captaincy of Kent and for one test, England, matching the achievement of F.G.Mann and F.T.Mann. In September 1985, Cowdrey married for a second time, following a divorce, Lady Anne Herries of Terregles, daughter of the 16th Duke of Norfolk. The Duke had been a close personal friend and after his death in 1975 Cowdrey became closely involved in maintaining the cricketing affairs of the family estate at Arundel. Cowdrey was awarded the C.B.E. for services to cricket in 1972 and in 1992 he was honoured by a knighthood. Then in 1997 Prime Minister, John Major, raised him to the peerage to promote in the House of Lords plans to extend sporting opportunities for the young. In deference to his old school he took the title of Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge. Other honours which came his way were Master of the Skinners’ Company, Tonbridge School’s trustees and governing body, in 1986; President of the Oxford University Cricket Club; President of the Lord’s Taverners 1995-1997; Freeman of the City of London; President of the Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers; and President of the Cricket Memorabilia Society. Cowdrey’s name appears as the author of five books: Cricket Today (1961); Time For Reflection (1962); Tackle Cricket This Way (1964, revised editions 1969 and 1974); The Incomparable Game (1970); and M.C.C.: The Autobiography of a Cricketer (1976). The latter published on his retirement was a best seller. For Kent he served on the Committee from 1972 to 1983 and the county honoured him by naming the new stand built in 1986 at Canterbury as the Colin Cowdrey Stand in 1992. Throughout his career Colin Cowdrey’s health had not been robust. He was prone to bouts of pneumonia – his captaincy of Kent ended in anti-climax with one particular vicious bout in 1971. His presidency of the M.C.C. was severely disrupted by heart-bypass surgery. Somewhat belatedly in 9