Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

* * * * * The general committee of the County Cricket Club met the next day. After standing in silence in his memory, they discussed some of the practical realities facing his widow and young family. They agreed that, with the help of the Leicester Mercury , they should arrange an appeal. They were clear that they wanted to make a significant donation to start the fund off. After some discussion, they rejected the original suggestion of 300 guineas and agreed on £500, with no one voting against, and two abstaining. This must have been one of the most difficult management meetings of the decade, because Charles Palmer also announced that, as his seven-year contract would expire in March, he intended to play for only the following season before retiring both as captain and secretary to follow a business opportunity. They rather brushed aside a request by Vic Jackson for the club to pay the £82 insurance premium on his rain-affected benefit match. By November, he had left the club. The Leicester Mercury announced on the following day the launch of the appeal, headed by the county’s £500, a personal donation of £50 from the president, and one of 25 guineas from the Mercury itself, and a total for the day of £612. The paper gave regular updates: Leicester City F.C. gave 50 guineas and Kettering Town ten guineas; and it reported that Charles Palmer had donated the five-guinea fee from speaking to the Lancashire and Cheshire cricket society. Donations came from all areas of the cricketing world, many county cricket clubs and cricket clubs in Leicestershire, as well as individuals. Some of the more poignant donations were from schools. The boys of Form 2A at South Wigston Secondary School sent ten shillings and Forms 2A and 3B from Lansdowne Boys’ School twelve shillings and six pence. The appeal officially ended on 3 November, by which time the sum of £4,303 had been raised, and Sheila Tompkin wrote in the Mercury : As this wonderful response to the Memorial Fund to Maurice has grown, I have found it more and more difficult to find a way to say ‘thank you’ to so many kind people. My boys and Maurice’s mother and I have been deeply touched and we have had great consolation from the splendid tributes that have been paid to Maurice. I only wish that many more people who have suffered loss could have been helped as we have been by such expressions of esteem. My heart goes out to all who have suffered such a loss. I would like to say how grateful I and my family are for all that you and the Leicester Mercury and the Leicestershire County Cricket Club have done and to offer sincere thanks to all who have in any way associated themselves with the fund. It will be a wonderful help to me in looking after my children. 120 Final days