Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

111 Chapter Eleven Postscript Clarke’s second wife, Mary, had moved from the Trent Bridge Inn to the home of her son, John Chapman, by the time of the 1851 census, as noted earlier. In 1861 she moved to the South Nottinghamshire village of Rempstone, where she took a house and at least in the 1861 and 1871 censuses lived alone, being shown as an ‘annuitant’. In 1881 she is living with the Jacobs family in Main Street, Rempstone as a boarder, but described as an ‘independent lady’, aged 93. She died in Rempstone and was buried in Rempstone All Saints churchyard on 7 December 1885, aged 97, under the name Mary Chapman, though her death was registered as Mary Clark. For someone of such a great age, one might expect an obituary in the local papers, but none seem to have been published. Her son, John Chapman, remained in Gainsborough for the rest of his life. When he had moved to the town he had five children aged 10, 7, 6, 4 and 2. Three more were added, making in all six sons and two daughters. His wife, Jane (née Richards) died in 1873 and twenty years later he was married a second time, to Mary Ann Thompson, 48 years his junior. He took an active part in the cricket of Gainsborough for many years; he continued his veterinary practice through the rest of his life, being in his 80s one of the oldest members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He died suddenly at home on 14 April 1896 soon after having eaten his dinner. This unexpected death brought about a coroner’s inquiry. The chief witness was his young wife; the press report states that her evidence was ‘very loose throughout’. There was a suspicion of poison, either self-administered or given by another. His wife stated that her husband unlocked a dresser drawer and took out a bottle with a red label. He could have either drunk from the bottle, or added the contents to a cup of whiskey which she brought him. She threw the bottle in the fire and poured the rest of the contents of the cup on the floor. The doctor was called after Chapman collapsed, but was unable to revive him. However, the doctor stated he could find no evidence of poison and the verdict was returned of death from apoplexy or natural causes. Mrs Chapman stated that his insurance had lapsed. The Gainsborough News published a long obituary, which detailed his cricket career at Trent Bridge and mentioned him playing with such cricketers as Alfred Mynn and Fuller Pilch, adding, ‘His father and he practically made the famous Trent Bridge Ground.’ Nowhere in the notice is there a mention of William Clarke. The piece contains a charming description of Chapman himself: Many of us will take long to forget the hale and hearty old man with his