Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

35 Chapter Four The Hornby-Barlow partnership begins As the run stealers flicker to and fro, To and fro: O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago! – Francis Thompson in At Lord’s Fitzgerald’s tour of North America in 1872 was an early landmark event in cricketing history and it was in that same year that Richard Gorton Barlow, known throughout his lengthy career as Dick Barlow, joined the Lancashire staff. It was to prove a pivotal moment in the club’s history. Barlow opened the innings with Hornby once in the following season, but by 1875 the pair had forged the county’s most illustrious first-wicket partnership. In June of that year they were presented with a bat each after they put on 148 against Yorkshire at Old Trafford, winning the match without being separated in the Lancashire second innings. Francis Thompson aged 19, a few months after he attended the match that inspired At Lord’s.