Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

87 Raikes’ Second Spell for Norfolk: The Minor Counties Championship Won his autobiography to list the ‘kills’ of numerous less demented guests at shoots held on his estate. The highlight of the Duke’s life would certainly have been to host a week’s visit by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Hapsburg throne, to Welbeck Abbey in 1913. Franz Ferdinand was a man after Lord de Grey’s heart when it came to shooting (note 4) and the Duke naturally arranged something suitable for his guest. This nearly ended in disaster as the Duke recalled: “One of the loaders fell down. This caused both barrels of the gun he was carting to be discharged, the shot passing within a few feet of the archduke and myself. I have often wondered whether the Great War might not have been averted, or at least postponed, had the archduke met his death there and not at Sarajevo the following year (note 5) .” Quite why George Raikes, who was still a junior curate with little experience, was considered suitable material for the lofty post as chaplain to the Duke is a little unclear unless one inspects the pages of Men, Women And Things most carefully: there are a couple of tantalising references to his activities as a cricketer. The Duke reported that a Tenants’ Cricket Club was formed at Welbeck as early as 1884; that an initially poor wicket was improved sufficiently that two first-class games were played there (Nottinghamshire hosting Derbyshire in the County Championship in 1901 and 1904) and that players of considerable note had played at the ground; these included Richard Daft, Arthur Shrewsbury, William Barnes, Alfred Shaw, Sydney Barnes and ‘Dodge’ Whysall. He went on to state: “Before the [Great] War, my chaplain, the Rev G.B.Raikes, and my secretary, Captain H.H.Amory, A team shot of the Duke of Portland’s cricketers. George Raikes is seated second from left in the middle row. To his right is the Duke’s young son, the Marquis of Titchfield, whilst to his left is Captain H.H.Amory, the Duke’s secretary.