Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

10 The Early Life of George Barkley Raikes; Family and Schooling Francis’ bride was Martha Barkley; she was nine years his junior, having been born in Yetminster, Dorset, on 18 April 1831, the only daughter of Rev John Charles Barkley, the vicar of Melton Parva (now Little Melton) in Norfolk, and Mary Yacker. They were wed at Melton Parva on 28 May 1850, early in his tenure at Carleton Forehoe, and their family was almost as productive as that of George senior and Marianne Currie. They had nine children in 20 years, all born in the parish, and were housed in a modern brick-built rectory. Eldest daughter, Ellen, married Charles Dashwood, a farmer, and, in their old age, the couple emigrated to Argentina. Second daughter, Edith Marion died young but the third child, Francis Walter (1857-1950), lived to a ripe old age. He made his living as the managing director of a nail and iron works in Newport and married Lilias Gertrude Cochrane in 1886. They had one daughter (note 2) and two sons, one of whom was Kenneth Cochrane Raikes, who played cricket for Wales between 1925 and 1929 and for Monmouthshire between 1908 and 1934 (note 3) . Lilias Gertrude Cochrane is also of relevance as the sister of Maud Cochrane, who was later to marry ‘our’ George (see below). The third daughter of the Rev Francis Raikes, Mabel was described as being of ‘independent means’ whilst the fourth, Ada, married an Edward Routh Clarke, and lived out her days in the relative luxury of Wattlefield Hall. And so to the two other members of the Raikes family, apart from Kenneth, and the subject of this book, who were outstanding cricketers. The first was Rev Francis’ sixth child, Ernest Barkley Raikes (1863-1931), The teams contesting the first Presidency Match between The Europeans and The Parsees on 26 August 1892, played at the Gymkhana Ground, Bombay. One of The Europeans is George Raikes’ older brother, Ernest, but, alas, it is not possible to identify which of the European players is our man. Ernest played no first-class cricket in England.