Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

In 1899, the presence of the Australians, who had a lengthy fixture list, increased the demands on umpires. Richard did not stand in any of their matches but his own list increased to eleven contests. In mid-May, he officiated at Bristol when Wilfred Rhodes returned figures of six wickets for 16 for Yorkshire versus Gloucestershire (without W.G. who had made an acrimonious withdrawal). Rhodes died as recently as 1973 and must have been the last survivor of those who took the field with Richard. This period of Richard’s career ended on 26 August, 1899. Surrey were playing Lancashire at The Oval. It was an important match played for the benefit of Tom Richardson, the Surrey and England fast bowler, who in the four English seasons 1894 to 1897 gathered no fewer than 1,005 first-class wickets. Bobby Abel accumulated a score of 178, and Lockwood and Jephson also put together centuries towards Surrey’s total of 556, and they went on to defeat Lancashire by an innings. Then Richard returned home for the winter and as full a round of activity as his limited means would allow. The year 1899 brought distinction to Richard junior when a second book of reminiscences appeared under his editorship. Little is known of the later career of Richard junior. He played three matches for Berkshire in August 1896, with moderate success, but he has no other known connection with the county. The title page called him ‘Mid-On’ and the volume was Seventy-One Not Out , the autobiography of William Caffyn of Surrey, of whom Richard had such a high opinion. Caffyn had a special claim to fame as one who played a distinctive part in the development of the game in Australia when he stayed behind after his second tour there, and became a celebrated coach. This book, too, was a conspicuous success and is full of anecdotes but it lacks the rich texture of Kings of Cricket . Richard junior had grown up with his fond parent’s tales, and Richard was a more comfortable co-operator than was the silky Caffyn. On 29 June 1899, Mary and Richard’s daughter Ann was married at St. Mary’s Church, Radcliffe, to George Frederick Plumpton, a traveller in wines and spirits from Widnes, Lancashire, where the young couple set up home. This was not destined to be a permanent relationship. In December came the death of Richard’s eldest surviving brother, John, who was 74. John had attained middle-class respectability as a builder in Nottingham. Later that winter, Richard’s umpiring stint came to an end. He was one of the unlucky ones when the first-class list was drastically Winding Up 131