Lives in Cricket No 17 - Fuller Pilch

starting at Hove against Sussex on 17, 18 and 19 June. Fuller top-scored with 41 in the first innings and Kent won by five wickets. Rain prevented a result at Tunbridge Wells in the return with Sussex on 4, 5 and 6 July, although Kent would have needed 236 runs in their second innings to win the match after Wisden had scored 100 in the Sussex second innings. At Lord’s on 8, 9 and 10 July, Kent lost to England by six wickets after Fuller had top-scored in the first innings with 49 out of 129. They then went straight to The Oval where Surrey slaughtered them by an innings and 110 runs. After nought in the first Kent innings of 52, Fuller had contributed 31 out of 84 in the second in an attempt to save the game. There was a brief respite for Fuller from Kent’s agony with an East Kent Club match at Canterbury against Stilebridge in mid-July, but then he was back with the county at Cranbrook to play Clarke’s All-England Eleven. This was heading towards another defeat for Kent before time ran out with Kent on 44 for five chasing 131 to win, although Fuller had gone in to bat late and was not out with Mynn, Felix and Wenman still to bat. Fuller stayed with Clarke’s squad to return to The Oval to play Fourteen of Surrey on 25, 26 and 27 July. Two days later it was another Young v Old challenge at Lord’s for the benefit of William Caldecourt who had been a practice bowler for MCC for over thirty years. Fuller missed the next two All-England matches in order to prepare for Canterbury Cricket Week. Kent played England on 12, 13 and 14 August and were set a target of 179 runs to win. While Harvey Fellowes was blasting down seven Kent wickets, Fuller put up strong resistance with 51 before he too fell to the sheer speed of the bowling and Kent finished 16 runs short. Instead of his usual engagements in Kent and Sussex, Fuller spent the rest of the summer playing for Clarke in nine odds matches, each of two or three days, between 26 August and 2 October, at Peterborough, Manchester, Sheffield, Darlington, Bradford, Malton, Hove, Louth and Birmingham. Fuller had continued to struggle making runs when faced by larger groups of fielders: his best score was 52 against Sixteen Amateurs of Sussex, but he made a mere 98 runs from another fifteen innings. However, the crowds continued to gather at most of these grounds with the expectation of seeing the ‘great Fuller’ at the wicket as well as Mynn, Felix and the new star, George Parr, while Clarke counted up the profits. On 30 March 1851 there was another Census taken and this time we have confirmation of Fuller’s residence and household companions in Canterbury. They are all living at Bridge House in Lamb Lane, close to the High Street and overlooking the Great Stour, a narrow river that runs through the city. Surprisingly, Fuller is not listed as ‘head of household’ as this honour is taken by nephew William who also indicates that his occupation is ‘tailor’. Hephzibah is there as William’s wife and Alfred as his son. They have taken in one lodger, a schoolmistress named Amelia Christopher and engaged 20-year-old Mary Ann Wilkinson as a live-in servant. First on the handwritten list, however, is Fuller, aged 47, with the occupation of ‘bat-maker’. Fuller’s final seasons 107