Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

subscription lists of the neighbourhood. He has great weight with the County Committee [and] possesses what is as valuable to the cricketer as the angler – pith and brains, pluck and judgement. In Radcliffe-on-Trent, Richard was a prestigious inhabitant, his upright figure conspicuous as he drove towards Nottingham or walked to the station on his way to a day at the races, or set off for one of his other favourite spectator sports, a prize fight in a sequestered spot away from the eyes of the authorities. The arrival of the railway in 1850 began the transformation of the village from an isolated rural community to a comfortable commuter suburb. Richard and his father-in-law were prominent in business in the village through the activities of the brewery. Gradually, amalgamations and closures would make these small breweries a thing of the past. In 1872, a sad and unexpected event brought about changes in the Parr and Daft families. On 16 March, Butler Parr died. He left his widow, Ann, and their two children, Mary Daft, who was 30 years of age, and Butler Parr junior, who was only 13. After making provision for his wife, he left the bulk of his estate between his two children equally. He was careful to circumvent the law which provided that a married woman’s assets should belong to her husband: young Butler Parr’s share would be The Graces and the Counties 54 Brewery House, Walker’s Yard, Radcliffe-on-Trent, now converted from its earlier use.