Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

89 for just 66 in a mere 70 minutes, their innings lasting for just 18 overs. This was largely due to the bowling of Desmond Roberts who took six for 37. When Lionel Robinson’s XI batted they ran up the relatively huge total of 355, with Norfolk’s George Neville scoring 104 and Colonel Lancelot Ward 84. Australia House did slightly better in their second innings but their score of 110 meant that they were defeated by the little matter of an innings and 179 runs. As usual, the Eastern Daily Press was full of praise for the wicket, which was now being prepared by Leonard, the head gardener, but the paper also noted that Robinson was seriously ill. It turned out to be his last public appearance of any significance as he had less than two months to live. The death and funeral of Lionel Robinson Lionel Robinson died in his own bed on the 27 July 1922 aged only 55. His wife, Mary, survived him but the Eastern Daily Press reported that she had been an invalid for some years. The funeral took place at the All Saints Church, Old Buckenham, on the afternoon of Monday 31 July, ‘in the presence of a very large gathering’. The body was carried from the Hall to the Church on a simple farm wagon, a mode of transport specifically requested by the deceased, and was met by the choir and the officiating clergy; the local vicar, the Rev Henry Anderson and the Rev R Jones, from the neighbouring parish of Banham. Psalm 121 was sung, followed by two of Lionel’s favourite hymns, ‘For All The Saints’ and ‘O God, Our Help In Ages Past’, accompanied on the organ by Len Hart, who appears to have been the renaissance man of Old Buckenham. As six employees from the Estate bore the coffin down the aisle, the ‘Nunc Dimittis’ was chanted. The principal mourners were his wife, his two daughters and their husbands Colonel Brockbank and Major Evans, his brother, W.S., his nephew Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Frederick Robinson and William Clark, described as the ‘deceased’s partner and life-long friend’. There were many beautiful wreaths which showed the great respect in which Lionel was held. The Norwich Mercury reported that the silence and immobility of the crowd at the graveside was ‘most impressive’; the grave itself, just to the north of the church, had been lined with evergreens by Lionel’s garden staff. Robinson was unlucky with the weather to the last as it began to rain towards the end of the service – however the villagers were not deterred from paying their last respects. The Eastern Daily Press stated that Robinson had ‘fully recognised the duties as well as the privileges of a landowner and will be sorely missed by all those resident on the estate, and by many others in the vicinity’ whilst the Norwich Mercury finished its coverage by stating that ‘Old Buckenham mourns the loss of a friend’. The overwhelming impression given by the local press is that, whilst Lionel Robinson may not have gained acceptance as a fellow ‘toff’ by the English aristocracy, his conduct as a squire had certainly passed muster with his villagers and, indeed, with the county of Norfolk. That none of the papers made any reference to mourners from the cricket world, one can only assume that, unless he had alienated every single cricketer (which is most unlikely), the funeral had intentionally been restricted to relatives and locals. The death of Lionel Robinson and the fate of his cricket ground