Lives in Cricket No 25 - Tom Richardson

91 Writing on the public reaction to Kipling’s poem The Islanders (‘flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals’), Albert Craig recorded that Cricket thought that the poet of Empire had made a mistake in judgment and that when Tom Richardson applied for the licence of the Cricketers Inn at Kingston the recorder asked him whether he had read Kipling’s poem and the cricketer replied that he had and that he did not think much of it. His career with Surrey was now over, but notwithstanding his likely failure to agree terms with the committee, there seems to have been no rancour or ill feeling, at least with his fellow professionals. In September he brought a Surrey XI to The Green to open Mitcham’s new pavilion. The building is still in use. For Surrey, however, it was a poor season, post-Richardson and pre-Hobbs. It was the end of an era. Not until the 1950s were they to emulate the Lohmann, Lockwood and Richardson-led successes of the 1880s and 90s: So far from showing the improvement that had been hoped for, the eleven met with even less success than in the previous summer, and had the worst season they have experienced for over twenty years. One could not without regret note the disappearance of Lockwood and Richardson – but the once incomparable fast bowlers had to go. 217 Richardson, however, remained an icon, the benchmark against which others were measured. Writing on English cricket in the Sydney Referee, L.O.S.Poidevin said: They haven’t got anybody who stands out as Richardson and Lockwood used to. 218 Bath - 1905 to 1907 From 24 March 1905, Richardson had taken on the licence of the Wine Vaults on York Street in Bath, centrally situated and very close to the Abbey, the Roman Bath and the Pump Room, so clearly a busy district which must have been good for trade. Whether the move was just a wish to escape his broken marriage or whether he actually took the waters as a cure for the rheumatism – or maybe a bit of both – is unknown. He stayed there for two years, taking over from Thomas Baggs and in 1907 arranging to transfer the licence to his manager, Alfred Scott Tupling. 219 The pub is still there, now renamed the Ale House in what has become a World Heritage site. It still has a turn-of-the-nineteenth/twentieth century appearance, the main bar and metalwork probably being very little changed from Richardson’s day. The sporting element remains, the wall behind the bar being festooned with the scarves of visiting rugby clubs – Leinster, Montpellier and sundry Welsh and Irish sides. 217 Wisden 1905 p 17 218 quoted in Cricket 22 December 1904 219 Bath Chronicle 28 March 1907 The Twilight’s Last Gleaming