Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

Rockley Wilson died of heart failure at his home in Winchester, aged 78 years. The many obituaries reviewed the career of this remarkable cricketer, none more comprehensively, as might be expected, than the obituary in the 1958 Wisden , which described him as “one of the best amateur slow right-arm bowlers of his time” adding that “immaculate length and cleverly-disguised variations of pace made Wilson difficult to punish.” Others added more human touches to their account. Thus from the obituary in The Times on 22 July, 1957 already referred to: “He was a personality both on and off the field in a day when the word had not been debased and to achieve real fame required real skill and force of character. Both of these Wilson had.” And from Sir Pelham Warner’s obituary in The Cricketer , 3 August: “Wilson possessed a delightful personality and to talk cricket with him was an education. Modest to a degree, he never attempted to lay down the law and his sense of humour was great.” The obituary by Harry Altham, his friend and colleague at Winchester College, in the Hampshire Chronicle of 27 July, reprinted in The Wykehamist of 15 October, included this: “But Rockley Wilson was much more than a fine cricketer: he was a great personality in his own right. Few men can have been more often quoted among his friends, whether for story or repartee. The latter could be devastating, for he did not always suffer fools gladly, but increasingly with the years the abiding impression which he left will be of friendliness, of humour and of a kind heart.” Later his friend Bob Arrowsmith remembered him this way: “He was a man with natural gifts which might have won him distinction in many fields and which did win him distinction as a cricketer. But more than that he is remembered with deep gratitude and affection by many generations of Wykehamists and by many others, both in the cricket world and outside, as a kind, generous warm-hearted man, a loyal friend and an endlessly entertaining and stimulating companion.” 97 Rockley’s funeral on 25 July in the College Chapel was attended by a large congregation of friends and representatives of the school, the town, and the world of cricket. The family mourners were two of Rockley’s nephews, Ralph Macro Wilson and Commodore Edward Raynold, R.N. (retd). Rockley was buried in the Magdalen Hill Cemetery, just outside Winchester. Later, Rockley’s life was commemorated with memorial services, first on 1 August, 1957 most appropriately at St John’s Wood Church, the cricketers’ Later Years 105 97 R.L.Arrowsmith, E.R.Wilson Part II, op.cit., p.76.