Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

St James Lane which he crammed with his collections of cricket books and other cricketana, silver and furniture. There is a splendid story of George Hirst dining with Rockley after he had retired as cricket coach at Eton and on the occasion of the annual Winchester v Eton match. Having admired a painting of Fuller Pilch, Hirst is said to have pointed to the gap between Pilch’s bat and pads and remarked: “Ah think ah could put wun through there.” Doubtless Rockley would have concurred. Rockley shared his home for a number of years with his sister Phyllis, who also had a love of beautiful and old things. Some time after the Second World War failing health meant that Phyllis had to be looked after in a mental home in Perth. Rockley visited her from time to time despite the distance and the trying circumstances. Now living alone, he was helped by a housekeeper and by “my man Rayment” whose services were mainly as handyman and chauffeur. 96 The end of an innings Inevitably Rockley Wilson became something of an institution not just at Winchester College but also around the town. In his final years he continued to interest himself in cricket at Winchester and further afield, and, largely through correspondence, to keep in touch with his extended family. He had had some heart trouble, but when the end came on 21 July, 1957 it was a shock. Only on 1 July he had written a long letter to his nephew David Wilson in which he described in some detail the performances of Winchester College in four inter-school matches, a lunch he had recently provided for ten guests, and his plan to attend a wedding in London later in the month. He had signed himself off “Well, but a poor walker.” A few days later he had been guest of honour at a dinner of the Old Wykehamists when he had been presented with a silver salver as a mark of the Society’s appreciation of his great services to the school. Shortly before his death Rockley had travelled to Scotland, presumably to visit his sister Phyllis, and had also made plans to go to Leeds for the Test match against the West Indies scheduled to start on 25 July. 104 Later Years 96 Patrick Maclure in The Best of Rockley, privately published 1998 , p.4, refers to Rockley Wilson’s “man” as Raymond but before his death David Wilson, Rockley’s nephew, assured the writer that his name was Rayment. David Wilson, a frequent visitor to Rockley’s home, added “I liked him [Rayment] very much.”