Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

97 Whilst it must have been gratifying for Edgar’s widow to know that her husband had been held in such high regard, Sarah’s priority was to ensure that she and her four children were provided for. She obtained the grant of probate on 6 November, at which point Edgar’s gross estate was valued at £175, about £14,000 at today’s values. Although a reasonable sum, it was hardly a fortune. His benefit money and other savings had gradually dwindled through the failure of his shop, and indeed that of his final business venture, a billiard room upstairs at the George and Dragon pub on Blackheath Hill, which he had opened in October 1883. Fortunately, all of the Willsher children seem to have been employed; in the 1881 census, eldest child Ernest is described as a ‘turner at marine engine factory’, while daughters Edith and Alice are ‘dressmaker’ and ‘milliner’ respectively. Only youngest son Edgar junior is without occupation. By 1891, his siblings having flown the nest, Edgar is head of household and a clerk of works, a job that would have enabled him to look after his mother in a respectable fashion. By the time of her death in 1895, Edgar too has moved out, having married at the end of 1891. Regrettably, after his death in 1915, the trail runs cold, and no direct living descendants have so far been traced. The question remains as to what sort of legacy the Willsher family would now have to look back on from the perspective of the twenty-first century. Undoubtedly, from a purely playing point of view, what stands out is just how good a bowler he was, as attested by all his great contemporaries. If Test cricket had begun just a few years earlier, there can be no shadow of doubt that he would have been an England regular, and consequently his posthumous reputation would have been that much higher. Instead, he is remembered as the man who was no-balled for bowling above the shoulder in a major match in 1862, leading to the modern era of over-arm bowling. As such, he can be seen as a technical pioneer, pushing the limits of what is acceptable in a game steeped in the tradition of ‘fair play’. The question of what constitutes illegal bowling still haunts the game today, and so Willsher’s actions continue to resonate with a modern audience, even though it is now hard to see what all the fuss was about. However, perhaps Willsher should ultimately be remembered as someone who, through word and deed, fought for the right of all professional cricketers to be treated fairly and with dignity. Time after time, we see him standing up for his ‘brothers’, working like a shop steward to present a united front to, and earn the respect of, the establishment. Seen in this light, the events of August Epitaph