Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

92 Chapter Thirteen Epitaph The first indication that the Willsher family had moved away from Maidstone came in James Lillywhite’s Cricketer’s Annual of 1874, where their address is listed as 110 Amersham Vale, New Cross. Edgar’s mother had died in 1871 at the ripe old age of 85, and, with his contract at Prince’s starting in the following summer, it made sense to make a permanent move nearer to central London, especially as cousin William was only just down the road in Borough. Non-property owners moved around frequently in Victorian times to get the best rental deals, and the Willshers were no exception. We have several addresses for them in Maidstone, with most of the original buildings still standing, but of the five known in the Lewisham area, none appears to have survived. According to the South Eastern Gazette , it was at 10 Commercial Place, Lewisham Road, Greenwich, that Edgar set up a ‘cricket outfitting depot’ in 1875. Willsher, like many retired sportsmen through the ages, hoped to trade off his name for at least a few years, until the business had become firmly established. That his name was indeed worth something is shown by an advertisement in Kelly’s Directory of 1876, placed by Jefferies and Co of Woolwich, tennis-racket and cricket-bat makers. Amongst a list of glowing testimonials is this from Willsher himself, sent from Prince’s ground on 28 February 1874: The cricketing articles supplied by you to Prince’s Club last season gave general satisfaction – the cane-handle bats driving well, the wood being good, and the balls lasting well and keeping their shape. The fact that this endorsement was still being used in 1882 may simply mean that Jefferies did not spend much time updating their advertising, but it is perfectly conceivable that they gave Willsher favourable rates for its bats, especially as his premises were no more than four miles away. Whatever deals he may have been able to arrange, they were of no lasting benefit, for in 1881, according to Haygarth, ‘owing to lack of support, he had to resign his business.’