Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

and wearing a jewelled scarf pin of large dimensions.’ Richard himself was rather smaller than Caunt; in 1865 he reported himself as 5ft 9in tall and 10st 6lb in weight. He often saw Tom Sayers and Jem Mace, but the one who made the most impression on him was William ‘Bendigo’ Thompson, one of the most famous sportsmen to come from Nottingham. ‘He possessed a head of adamantine hardness and would allow any man to give him a hit on the back of the head with his fist as hard as he liked. The striker who took him at his word was always a good deal more hurt.’ The Australian city of Bendigo is said to have been named after him. Their bare-knuckle prize fights were illegal and held in out of the way spots, and sometimes fights went on for as long as 93 rounds. We have already touched on Richard’s hunting, shooting and fishing in his free and easy youth, but lacrosse became a passion of his following its introduction into Britain around 1880, and he took very enthusiastically to lawn tennis. One cannot imagine anyone taking less than the keenest interest in any activity they were sharing with him. There were, in addition, according to Scores and Biographies , boating, billiards and cycling, while he enjoyed a day at the races in congenial company. Later on he offered games of skittles and bowling to visitors to The Rosery, his house, which lies just across Walker’s Yard from the brewery. 56 The Graces and the Counties The Daft family home, The Rosery, at Radcliffe-on-Trent in 2007: it is now used by a local Scout group.