Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

104 help the County to retain the proud position that it now holds. I remain, Dear Sirs, Yours faithfully W W Read The velvet glove contained an iron fist. At the end of the season, shortly after the boat had been rocked by the professionals selected for England (Abel, Hayward, Lohmann and Richardson) for inter alia parity with the amateurs on pay, the Committee attempted to confirm and enforce that decision. Read was having none of it. I am quite at a loss to understand why any such proposed alteration be made, considering that during the present season I have been a regular member of the team and scored nearly 1000 runs, and besides having for the past fifteen or sixteen years, done more than any other member of the team to uphold the privilege of Surrey Cricket. I would suggest in all fairness both to yourselves and myself that the above mentioned office be continued at all events until December 31st 1897 upon the following terms viz: That the remuneration for the said office remains as heretofore £150 and railway season ticket and in addition to the extra payment of £100 and £4.4.0 for each match played which have been given to me in lieu of any increase in salary, these latter payments be made to me in the same proportions as the matches in which I take part. 180 £375 was offered ‘in lieu of all future payments’. It was declined. Not enough. The President of the Club, Sir Richard Webster QC, MP, later Lord Alverstone and Lord Chief Justice of England, got involved in the detail, bringing into play the razor-sharp legally trained mind one would expect in the Attorney-General which he was at this time. The correspondence closes with some cutting- edge negotiations, but once Webster was involved, Read was always going to come second. In the end £400 was then offered and accepted in full and final settlement, and the curtain fell on an illustrious career. Following a meeting at the Attorney-General’s chambers, having been accompanied by the Captain and Secretary (3-1 up and playing at home!), Sir Richard wrote: 180 Surrey CCC minutes 3 November 1896 Negotiations...no broken Read, he