Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

67 Yorkshire Captain 1878-1883 In January 1881, Emmett was again listed as one of a number of professionals who would appear for the United North of England Eleven during the summer. In April, he was appointed Yorkshire captain for the fourth season. It was also announced that an additional ‘county’ match would be played, arranged by the players themselves, to be designated Shaw’s XI v Emmett’s XI (apparently to ‘satisfy the whims of certain cricketing magnates’ and as part of the Nottinghamshire players’ dispute of the time). Such continuing stability and a wide programme of matches was valuable for a man with considerable family responsibilities. The 1881 census shows that the Emmett family were now living at 21 Albert Street, Keighley. His family was now complete. His wife, Grace, now 36, did not appear to be working, and neither was Clara, the eldest daughter, who was now 17. However, 12-year-old Arthur was recorded as an ‘Assistant Librarian’, whilst three of the four remaining children were at school. Emmett had significant family responsibilities. In early May 1881, the Sheffield Daily Telegraph described Emmett as in ‘rare formwith the ball’, and he took 11 wickets in the match for an England side against Cambridge University, bowling 108 overs in total. Against Middlesex, he was by far the top-scorer, with 89 not out in an innings of 198. He ‘hit in brilliant style, in all directions....He was at the wickets two and three quarters, but he gave a chance early on, which was not taken advantage of.’ Yorkshire won by an innings. Against Surrey, Emmett then scored 41 as Yorkshire hit 388, with Ulyett and Lockwood both making hundreds. Peate and Hill bowled Surrey out twice to win by an innings and 217 runs. Despite his county obligations, Emmett and a number of colleagues from Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire (plus W.R.Gilbert) still had time to appear at Skipton in a United North of England match. In June 1881, accusations of poor off-field behaviour against the Yorkshire side that had been a feature of the 1870s, resurfaced. The Sheffield Independent commented that the person who was making the malicious statements about the Yorkshire team, ‘a cricketer writing from Bradford, has returned to the charge. Notwithstanding that Emmett, as captain of the team, has emphatically stated that the Yorkshiremen are the steadiest set of men in the cricket field, the Bradford scribe professes to know far more on the subject than Emmett and repeats his statement.’ The rumours continued and grew in the 1880s. Whatever the strength of the evidence, these were serious charges which the county side struggled to shake off despite Emmett’s protestations. Despite these accusations, there was nevertheless a slightly more light- hearted side to Emmett’s life. Around the same time, photographs of Emmett and Ulyett in academic dress were on sale to subscribers. One paper commented that: Many Yorkshiremen would like to become possessors of copies, as they are not only exceptionally good photographs; but present the two Yorkshire professionals in an altogether new light. Each is arrayed in the orthodox academic gown, with mortar-board to match, and is for the time transformed into a diligent student. Ulyett is pointing out