Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

118 arrangements for a testimonial fund for his widow and family which remained open till the end of the season. 189 His funeral was held at Shirley in Croydon four days after his death, and although a private affair was attended by members of the family (only the male ones; it was not the practice for women to attend funerals at this time) and representatives from the world of cricket and commerce. One significant absentee was Charles Alcock, his boss at The Oval during the time of the Assistant Secretaryship, himself in his final illness. Floral tributes were numerous. His grave is in the churchyard of St John the Evangelist, Shirley. It consists of an upright stone Celtic cross and is simply inscribed: In ever loving memory of Walter William Read, died Jan 6th 1907 aged 51 years. Peace, Perfect Peace. On the side is added: Also his wife Florence, died October 14th 1935 aged 76 years. O Perfect Love. 190 So, Florence’s death was very nearly fifty years after the wedding, 21 years of marriage being followed by almost 29 of widowhood. Among a number of Obituaries, Cricket said For 25 years Mr Read played first-class cricket and for at least ten years of that time no Eleven could have been chosen to represent England unless it included him in its ranks. From 1883 to 1893 may be the decade referred to, and in some of those years he was bracketed with Shrewsbury as second only to “W G”. 191 Five years after his death, he remained an iconic figure. On the death of George Bonnor, J.N. Pentelow, now Editor of Cricket wrote So the mighty Bonnor has passed to the Elysian fields, where a friend of mine pictures Johnny Briggs and George Lohmann and William Murdoch and Walter Read taking wickets and 189 Surrey CCC minutes 16 May & 5 September 1907 190 The epitaphs sound biblical. In fact both are from the first lines of hymns, Walter’s from Edward Henry Bickersteth, Bishop of Exeter 1885-1900, which concludes: It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease, And Jesus call us to heaven’s perfect peace. and Florence’s from Dorothy Frances Gurney’s wedding hymn, first used at the marriage of Princess Louise of Wales and the Duke of Fife in 1889, and has an almost parallel ending: …the glorious unknown morrow That dawns upon eternal love and life. Whether the family had this coincidence in mind is a matter of speculation, but maybe like Walter and Florence, it is something approaching a perfect fit 191 Cricket 31 January 1907 Last Years