Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

get quite a good mark.” It is not surprising that Rockley Wilson was a very popular teacher, if not a particularly effective one. One of his ex-pupils, Peter Newbolt, was to write: “I remember very little of what Rockley was supposed to be teaching, but have more happy memories of him than of any other don at Winchester – which is saying quite a lot.” Szeming Sze, son of the Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom and a pupil at Winchester from 1921 to 1925, remembered Rockley Wilson as “one of my favourite teachers. Besides coaching me at cricket, he used to teach me French. I used to go to his home once a week at one time for coaching in French and I remember the kindness of his sister who used to bring me tea with a large slice of fruit cake.” 51 No doubt Rockley had a better rapport with his pupils in one-to-one coaching sessions than he did in the class-room, or “divs” in Winchester College parlance. Whatever may have been his scholastic contribution, Rockley Wilson made a substantial contribution to cricket at Winchester. 52 He was in charge of cricket at the school from his arrival in 1903 until 1929, assisted by a professional, among whom at various times were the Yorkshire players Walker Wainwright, younger brother of the better known Ted, and Schofield Haigh. He was helped, from shortly before the war in 1914, by fellow-teacher H.S.Altham, whose enthusiastic approach to coaching well complemented Rockley’s more restrained methods. It has to be said that he inherited from E.H.Buckland excellent facilities including five practice nets, a most efficient system of coaching, and a highly organised programme of intra-school matches within which talented boys could improve their game. 53 Rockley Wilson built on this foundation, bringing to bear not only his great knowledge of the lore and techniques of the game, but an ability to impart his knowledge and experience to the boys without fuss or bluster. Rockley “gentles” his colts, said one of his colleagues. According to R.C.Robertson-Glasgow, “As a coach he can have had few equals. He not only knew the game, science and soul, and, to Winchester 51 51 The writer has drawn on the Wilson papers and material provided by Miss Suzanne Foster, Winchester College archivist, for these recollections of Rockley Wilson. Mr Sze’s cricket knowledge was somewhat lacking however as he says that Rockley’s googlies “caused havoc among the Australian batsmen” on the 1920/21 tour. 52 E.B.Noel, in his book Winchester College Cricket , Williams and Norgate, 1926, observed that from his appointment in 1903 until the time of writing, Rockley Wilson “has devoted his skill and knowledge of the game to Winchester.” 53 See the description in W.J.Ford’s essay on Public School Cricket in K.S.Ranjitsinhji, The Jubilee Book of Cricket , William Blackwood and Sons, 1897, pp.310-312.