Lives in Cricket No 45 - Brief Candles 2

89 Tragedy The fact that the two unrelated Boys 62 both met tragic ends is not the only coincidence that links them. As cricketers, both first come to our notice in county colts matches; both were wicketkeepers who also bowled; and both were given a chance in county cricket as the wicketkeeper for a side which had no established or regularly available player in that position. A Scottish parent also features in both their stories, though rather more remotely in the case of John rather than Dick. John was a Hampshire lad, born in Titchfield (between Southampton and Portsmouth) on 17 August 1856 to William and Sarah Boys. He was their seventh child, and fourth son, and was followed later by three younger brothers. In the 1861 census William was a master carpenter, but John was destined not to follow in his father’s footsteps. Towards the end of March 1872, seven months past his 15th birthday (though he claimed to be two months older), and barely 5ft 1in tall, 63 John signed up at Woolwich for a 12-year stretch in the Royal Artillery. His initial rank was ‘Boy’, upgraded to ‘Gunner’ in 1875. But his role in the Artillery was principally a musical one, and he soon became ‘Musician Boys’ - the name by which he was known both as a soldier and as a cricketer. Of the background to his musical career we know little. Was he from a musical family? Had he already shown talent as a musician before joining the Army? Was it, indeed, because the Army was seen as the best place for an already competent musician to develop his skills that he joined up when he did? Or more practically, did he simply see becoming a ‘Musician’ as a route to avoid being thrown into the more stressful military arenas? Such questions sadly must remain unanswered: the sources that might answer them simply have not survived. The initial impression conjured up by hearing of a young ‘Musician Boys’ in the Royal Artillery might perhaps see him strutting up and down, oompahing his way through military marches and the like. But in his case that may well be a little wide of the mark. In the later 19th century, the Royal Artillery had not only a famous military band but also an equally celebrated symphony orchestra. At the time ‘the standard of the Royal Artillery Orchestra remained unsurpassed in Britain, [and it was] regularly engaged to play during and after state banquets at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle’, 64 as well as giving regular concerts in Woolwich that attracted substantial civilian audiences. The orchestra had around 80 members at the height of Queen Victoria’s reign; and one of these just might have been John Boys, for his military record shows him in possession of a ‘garrison cello’ from 1873. There is also a record that in July 1876 he was confined to barracks and fined for ‘improper conduct [and] neglecting duty in not reporting his violin bow broken’. A violin bow 62 This spelling of the surname is not as uncommon as I first thought, when I assumed that it was just an unusual variant of the more familiar ‘Boyes’. But a random dip into London telephone directories from the 1950s and 1990s has shown the number of phone subscribers with the surname ‘Boys’ was almost exactly the same as the number with ‘Boyes’. 63 He later grew to 5ft 8in in height, with a weight of around 11½ stones. 64 Wikipedia