Lives in Cricket No 23 - Brief Candles

8 John Walsh McMaster, the mill’s owner, and his wife, Mary Herron McMaster (née McKee), had 12 children, the oldest of whom, Hugh Dunbar McMaster (b 1843), inherited the mill on his father’s death in 1872. Several of Hugh’s younger brothers were also involved, one way or another, in the linen trade. But, apart from securing his privileged upbringing, linen seems to have played no part in the life of the seventh son, Joseph Emile Patrick. The first we hear of Emile’s youth is in September 1875 when, at the age of 14½, he enters Harrow School. Sadly no records survive that tell us anything of his character, or academic achievement, if any, during his time there. But we soon learn that he played cricket. I have traced no certain record of any other members of his family being involved in cricket in Ireland, though an ‘H.D.McMaster’ is recorded as playing for the Gentlemen of the North of Ireland against the Gentlemen of Northumberland at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1867. This could well have been Emile’s oldest brother; if so, we can imagine that Emile was probably brought up with family games of cricket on the lawns of Dunbarton House in Gilford. But there is no certain evidence for this. 3 Whether his earliest cricket was in Ireland or at Harrow, by the summer of 1877 Emile was somewhere on the fringe of the Harrow eleven. Full records of the school’s cricket at this time have not survived, so for details we must rely on secondary sources, notably Scores and Biographies . There we first read of ‘E.J.P.McMaster’ playing for the school in a twelve-a-side match against a strong I Zingari side on 30 June 1877. Only 16, Emile played alongside ten of the eleven who played for the school against Eton a fortnight later. He batted at No.12 and was bowled without scoring; but his bowling was effective in securing for the school a narrow first-innings lead (159 to 140), as in 57 balls he dismissed five IZ batsmen for 32 runs. All five had already played cricket at first-class level, so they were no easy touches. One of them, Spencer Gore, was just a fortnight away from the achievement that would immortalise him among followers of another sport: on 16 July 1877 he won the Gentlemen’s Singles title at the first-ever lawn tennis championships at Wimbledon. Of tennis, more in a moment; but as a cricketer, Gore was less of a world-beater, and Emile was able to dismiss him for a duck. So our first impression is that Emile was a bowler rather than a batsman. Regrettably, I have found no record that tells us anything of his bowling style. For some reason I imagine him bowling lobs, but I have no firm evidence for this one way or the other. On the other hand, there is reason to assume that he was a right-handed batsman: lefties were rare enough in those days for this to be remarked upon, but I have found no such remark in the few, later, references to his batting. 3 W.D.McMaster and P.G.McMaster, who represented North of Ireland against visiting English sides in 1867 and 1875 respectively, were not siblings of Emile, as he had none with those initials. But it is likely that they were members of his extended family. The Unlikeliest Test Cricketer