Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

he had before and during his career with Yorkshire, on a fairly regular basis and for a variety of sides. He was in his element, enjoying the opportunity to continue playing cricket and the company and hospitality of his many friends, cosseted, it has to be said, against the economic problems that Britain was experiencing as the 1920s wore on. Accounts and stories of his appearances in club cricket in this later period of his cricketing life demonstrate that Rockley retained all his bowling skills, even beyond his fiftieth year. To give a few examples, from 1925 until 1931 he played regularly for the McGaw family team on a picturesque country house ground at St Leonard’s Forest, Horsham. “Old Man” John Thoburn McGaw, shown in the photograph on the previous page, who owned extensive properties in Australia and Argentina, was a keen all-round sportsman and an excellent wicket-keeper. (Rockley referred to him as “flypaper McGaw”.) Trained as an engineer, he used his mechanical skills to design scoreboards for grounds with which he was associated, including Charterhouse School and Christ’s Hospital. He was able to attract teams of the calibre of Free Foresters, Charterhouse Friars, Old Malvernians, the Cryptics and the Royal Navy to play his own invitation elevens. Over the seven seasons Rockley played for these elevens, he achieved the astonishing figures of 201 wickets from 1,231.3 overs at an average of 9.7 and with five wickets or more in an innings on scores of occasions, ten or more in no fewer than eleven matches. He also took a large number of catches, mainly at first slip. Not only is this an impressive record of his performances on the field of play, it shows how committed Rockley could be to clubs and friends who played the game as he liked it to be played and in agreeable surroundings. Another favourite venue was the Vale of Clwyd Cricket Club ground at Denbigh. At the invitation of his friend Gerard Powys Dewhurst, Rockley played for the local side in the Clwyd Cricket Week on a number of occasions in the 1920s against such teams as Shropshire Gentlemen, Royal Welch Fusiliers, and Old Cheltonians. Rockley would stay at Gerard Dewhurst’s country house at nearby Llandegla for the duration of the Cricket Week. 93 Playing against Old Cheltonians in 1927, he Later Years 101 93 Rockley Wilson had first played with Gerard Dewhurst, and with two of his brothers, for Northern Nomads sides in the early 1900s. Of the brothers Harry Dewhurst was the best-known cricketer; he played for Cheshire as well as for club sides. Gerard was better known at soccer: he played for England against Wales in 1895. The family had made its fortune in the cotton industry (Sylko sewing thread was one of the business’ best known products) though Gerard Dewhurst’s business interests went beyond those of the family cotton firm. In later life he was chairman of Williams Deacon’s Bank.