Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

95 The grave at Acton had already received the body of his son, Walter Ingram and eventually his wife, Ada Sarah (1927), his daughter-in-law Henrietta (1961) and granddaughter Georgie in 1990. Although the inscription on the gravestone makes reference to John and George Vernon, their bodies lie in Canada and South Africa respectively. Hornby’s oldest son, Albert Henry, was buried at North Kilworth in Leicestershire along with his wife, Esmé Lonsdale. According to the churchwarden at Acton the plot is now closed. The obituaries flowed like runs from Hornby’s bat with the Manchester Guardian leading the way on 18 December 1925: Hornby’s virtue, especially as a batsman, was a passion for taking a risk. Though he was probably as clever technically as most of the modern masters, skill was not enough for the expression of his vigorous spirit. When Hornby was at the wicket nobody could be certain what was about to happen; the one thing we could be pretty sure was, sooner or later, Barlow would be run out. Hornby played on wickets that were continually springing their surprise into the game; now a good length ball would shoot along the grass and now it would ‘kick’ chest high. The cricket of Hornby’s period was not only a thing that compelled admiration and excitement but it also compelled laughter. Later in the obituary, the Guardian painted this evocative picture of Hornby’s batting style: Hornby at the wicket went after a ball rather as he went at a dangerous ditch in the hunting field. Much has come into cricket since Hornby’s day – a more ordered and extensive technique. But the spirit of the game has never been warmer and more lovable than it was when the breeze that was Hornby blew over Old Trafford. Hornby’s obit in the 1926 edition of Wisden recalls that: Hornby in playing Spofforth [in the MCC match against Australia in 1878] met with an injury of so severe a description that it compelled his retirement and would certainly have kept most men out of the field for a week or so, but such was his indomitable pluck that with his side faring disastrously – they were all out for 19 – he came [back] to resume his innings. A Lancashire legend is laid to rest