Lives in Cricket No 17 - Fuller Pilch

The change of employment and accommodation must have suited them all, as the 1861 census tells us that they were still in residence after six years. William is listed as ‘innkeeper’, with Fuller using the all-embracing title of ‘cricketer’ this time. They have a resident cook, barmaid, housemaid, ‘boots’ and an ostler for the stables. There are two boarders, one is a seventeen-year-old jockey, and the other has put himself down as a horse-dealer. After his retirement in 1855 Fuller was not completely lost to cricket, of course. There was still work to do at St Lawrence’s as groundsman, coaching at King’s School, and he stood as umpire during Canterbury Cricket Week in one or both matches every year from 1855 to 1866. Other occasional umpire duties in Kent took him to Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone, Chatham, Cranbrook and Folkestone, as well as trips outside the county to Hove, Kennington Oval and Lord’s. 19 He was asked to play in a benefit match for William Hillyer in 1858, but did not feel up to joining the eighteen ‘Veterans’, including Thomas Adams, William Martingell, Thomas Box, Alfred Mynn and Ned Wenman, who faced an England eleven at The Oval. He was not involved in the formation of a New Kent County Cricket Club at Maidstone in 1859 either. The club, with Ned Wenman and Alfred Mynn on the committee, would represent the county as a whole with matches to be shared among several grounds, leaving William de Chair Baker with sole responsibility for the Canterbury Cricket Week. Fuller’s loyalties naturally stayed with Canterbury, although he continued to travel to the other grounds to act as umpire for county matches when requested. 118 Umpire, coach, groundsman, bat-maker and mine host The face of fortitude. Fuller Pilch in a studio photograph taken in 1861, aged 57. Rowland Bowen, writing in 1970, thought he had an ‘air about him of Abraham Lincoln’. Lincoln was United States President from 1861 to 1865; Fuller lacked his loquacity, but outlived him. 19 He stood in 29 first-class matches between 1855 and 1866. Other games may come to light in the future.