Lives in Cricket No 44 - LCH Palairet

he was not a natural captain though at the time most county captains were amateurs; he was struggling with his own form, he seemed unable to act or cope with individual needs of his team, or how he could get the best of them. It did not help that the side changed every game and the batting was at times dire. At worst, the evidence that I have is that he was snobbish and often people of this nature seem aloof to others of a more humble upbringing. Peter Roebuck in his book From Sammy to Jimmy stated ‘he was a reserved fellow, incapable of inspiring affection save amongst his closest friends’. Not really then in Roebuck’s assessment captain material. But it needs to be noted that he was brought up in an upper-class manner, educated well and was a hard worker in his own orbit throughout his life. He was though well respected in his own circles, joining many committees ranging from cricket to fisheries. He clearly worked hard on these committees, helping as best as he could. It is surprising though that in his obituary in Wisden that there is no mention of his connections to golf as he spent almost 25 years of his life as a player and faithful servant to the sport, particularly in Devon where he lived. He won many trophies in his time, played golf for Devon for a number of years and held many top positions, at Devon and English amateur level. Over 50 representatives from the golfing world attended his funeral, yet only a few from cricket, and only one regular former team-mate, the old wicket-keeper AE Newton. I think this lop-sided attendance is mainly due to the fact that from 1905 he lived most of his life in Devon and golf replaced cricket as his main sport, though he did in 1901 state that hunting was his first love. Lionel too was not a great attender at funerals. The only one I have found him attending was poor Ernest Robson in 1924 who died of cancer, having only retired the year before. Lionel did though send wreaths to many of his old cricket colleagues such as WG Grace, Herbie Hewett and Sam Woods. Lionel also played county football for Dorset and Somerset, was a good athlete, played hockey and croquet, and enjoyed a game of billiards. He was above all a good loyal worker and a family man; he seems to have put these as his main priorities. He was quite right as he was only an amateur and had to earn a His cricketing legacy 120