Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

reduced from 35 to 20. The explanation given by Lord’s was that officials with engagements at schools or colleges for part of the year were excluded – ‘it in no way reflected upon the manner in which they had discharged their duties.’ Richard had no such engagements. The possibility of his being physically unfit then is rather discounted by the listing of his name under the section headed ‘Other Umpires’. At a time when the authorities were looking for umpires to take a firm stance on throwing, maybe his conservative views on the subject counted against him. In Talks with Old English Cricketers , A.W.Pullin wrote that Richard ‘is a wonderfully preserved man. It is true his hair is silvered but his cheeks reflect the ruddy glow of perfect health, and his carriage is as erect as if he were re-emerging from the pavilion to make his hundred. Regularity of habit, constant exercise, and moderation in diet and drink are the means by which Daft carries his 65 years so easily. “Every morning,” says he, “I use the 7lb dumb-bells before dropping into my cold bath. After the tub, I have a two miles walk in all weathers . . . tennis, cycling; three meals a day. Today I have not an ache or a pain or a rheum about me.”’ Unfortunately, by the time these words appeared in print, they were no longer true. During the winter, Richard fell ill and soon took to his bed. For all his devotion to fitness, his heart was feeling the strain of his physical activities, and the disaster of his bankruptcy had added to the stress on his hitherto splendid constitution. By the middle of June his condition had become hopeless. On 25 June, the local paper reported that he was lying at home seriously ill from ‘an affection of the heart, complicated by lung trouble.’ From that time on, bulletins were issued almost daily from The Rosery. He lingered on until 18 July, 1900, when his body finally gave up the struggle. It was an appropriate coincidence that Richard’s death occurred on W.G’s birthday – his fifty-second. Richard was in his sixty-fifth year. 132 Winding Up