Lives in Cricket No 25 - Tom Richardson

95 known as the Duke’s Head after the second Duke of Ormonde (1665-1745) whose claim to fame rests on his victory at Vigo Bay in 1702 in the War of the Spanish Succession and to notoriety on his impeachment for treason. As a consequence of the latter the establishment was re-engineered as the Prince’s Head . A local journalist, Royman Browne, was to suggest later that the pub be renamed The Fast Bowler in honour of its most famous licensee. The idea was supported by the landlord at the time, Cyril Muller, the owning brewery Fuller, Smith and Turner – and by John Arlott who wrote: What a great idea to call the Prince’s Head the ‘Fast Bowler’ in honour of Tom Richardson. There are many pub princes and dukes of all sorts, but this would be a unique and worthwhile naming because, after all, Tom Richardson was the classic fast bowler. 228 The idea was, however, not pursued. By this time, Richardson’s marriage had broken down, but the children continued to live with him at the Prince’s Head along with a ‘housekeeper’, a couple of servants described as a barmaid and a domestic, and a lodger. His wife, Edith, was working as a nanny in Putney. She appears on the 1911 Census as a ‘maternity nurse’ to Mr Alfred Patterson, a postman, and his wife who have two daughters aged three and one month. She is 228 Richmond and Twickenham Times 16 August 1958 The Twilight’s Last Gleaming Richardson’s last home – the Prince’s Head on Richmond Green.