Lives in Cricket No 11 - CP Lewis

home in Llandovery on Monday, 28 May 1923, months short of his ‘three score years and ten’. Just two days before, J.T.D.Llewelyn had celebrated his 87th birthday. Lewis was not well enough to attend the party held by the Grand Old Man of Welsh sport who was deeply moved by the death of the man who some fifty years before had been his right-hand man with the South Wales Club and had spent so much time promoting both cricket and rugby in Wales. By the time of his passing, both games were in a healthy state, with Glamorgan having achieved, in 1921, the goal that the South Wales Cricket Club had hoped for by being elevated into the County Championship. C.P.Lewis lived long enough to see Glamorgan achieve first-class status, and perhaps there was a smile on his face when he read in the newspapers that their inaugural side in the County Championship – they beat Sussex at Cardiff Arms Park – included a descendant of the Whittingtons of Neath, who had instilled a love of ball games when he first entered Llandovery College. C.P. left an estate worth £18,933 (equivalent to £750,000 at 2009 prices) and his funeral was attended by the great and the good of Welsh sporting circles. Many warm tributes were paid to this great Welsh sporting pioneer and a man who held dear the true Corinthian values of sporting participation. Perhaps the last word on Lewis should go to his former Llandovery teammate Frank Chapman, who was living in Wokingham when Lewis died. Despite having moved away from South Wales he was sufficiently moved to write to The Cricketer magazine, saying C.P. was one of the most enthusiastic cricketers I ever met. He never missed the Varsity match and Gentlemen v Players. In fact he spent his honeymoon at Lord’s – a true sporting gentleman! Later Years 110