Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

held in trust for him until he was 21. Someone saw the possibility of conflict over the shares in the brewery, leading to one of the joint owners having to buy out the other, which would place Richard, appointed as executor and trustee, in an impossible position; in the event, he did not join in obtaining probate of the will. As a result of the terms of the will, Richard still acted only as manager of the brewery, and as the seventies wore on, he may have felt his young brother-in-law’s beady eye observing the activity there while half of the profits were invested elsewhere on his behalf. Richard must have felt the need for some diversions, and one of them was football. In the 1830s the game was rough and ready, but by the 1860s it was better organised; it was taken up by some public schools and carried into afterlife by their old boys. In 1862, a group of young lawyers, bankers and other professional men decided to meet regularly for practice in the hollow of The Park in Nottingham. Two years later, they held a meeting at the George Hotel, when sixteen enthusiasts resolved that ‘a football club be established for this county and that it shall be named the Notts Football Club.’ The principal pioneers were Mr F.C.Smith, Major Hack, Mr R.Daft and others. They dressed in amber and black jerseys and had rare matches among the members. This was further confirmation of Richard’s social standing among amateur sportsmen in his age group at the age of 28. His first match for the team, by now named Notts County, was on 2 January, 1865 against Sheffield, and he went on to appear pretty regularly for them up to the end of 1871. Most of their matches were played in The Meadows and the names of some of their opponents are familiar – Lincoln, Sheffield and Chesterfield. He referred in Kings of Cricket to very rough play. Hacking, tripping and elbowing were all acceptable. Players could charge the goal-keeper – even if he was nowhere near the ball! Richard remained an enthusiastic supporter of the side throughout his life, and all the more so after his son, Harry, joined the side. Another diversion which gave Richard great enjoyment was boxing. He had been a practitioner himself, learning the craft from a professional lightweight called Patsy Clay. Richard often met Ben Caunt, a champion of his generation and a Notts man. ‘He stood about 6ft 3in and must, when I was acquainted with him, have weighed 18 or 19 stone. A grim and battered warrior was Ben. He dressed very elaborately, having two or three rings on his fingers The Graces and the Counties 55