Lives in Cricket No 9 - JH King

During the summers, however, beginning in 1926 he was on the first-class umpires’ list. His daughter asseverated that he once awarded nine runs on the ground that a fieldsman had deliberately knocked the ball over the boundary after the batsmen had already run five. This incident probably occurred in some friendly match, but it does indicate King’s preference for moral over legal justice. In his years on the official list King stood in a total of 170 first-class matches, of which 144 were in the Championship, with most of the other matches between counties and universities, or between counties and touring sides. He was never selected for ‘higher’ representative fixtures, though he did officiate in two matches at the Scarborough Festival of 1929, alongside David Denton. All his duties were, for him, ‘away’ matches, because at that time umpires were not permitted to stand in matches involving their previous ‘playing’ counties. 45 The authorities at Lord’s, at any rate, were satisfied with his adherence to the Laws of the game, for he remained on the list for seven years until the conclusion of the 1932 season when, now 61, he retired because of failing health. He was presumably reasonably fit earlier on that year, however, for the county archives reveal that on 30 April he was paid £32 for coaching. After a gap of one year he is to be found employed from 1934 to 1936 as one of Oxford University’s two umpires, standing in 25 first-class matches, all University home fixtures in May and early June. 46 He officiated also in the freshmen’s and seniors’ trial matches in each of those seasons. How he came to be appointed is readily understood when it is remembered that whereas most umpires were, in those class-conscious days, of the proletariate, King was clearly from a higher social stratum, was indeed a past master of a masonic lodge and, despite the contretemps with Lord Hawke, could always associate by means of a deference allied to a consciousness of his own worth with members of the upper Retirement 113 45 It seems highly likely that King would have conducted himself as an umpire with quiet dignity, a quality unlikely to attract comment: indeed as a freemason, he probably appreciated the ceremonial aspect of cricket. It is odd therefore to find that the only published comment on the style of his umpiring is that by A.E.R.Gilligan suggesting that he was perhaps a little frivolous. Gilligan says in his book Sussex Cricket that ‘Jack afterwards became a first class umpire, and whenever he gave a batsman out, he would invariably cry, “Chuck her up”, that grand cry which is so often heard on village greens. The reason for the cry “Chuck her up” originated years and years ago, when a delighted fieldsman made a wonderful catch and, to show his uncommon pleasure, hurled a ball a prodigious distance into the air.’ From all that we know of King, such behaviour seems quite out of character. 46 Although the universities played first-class matches against the counties, their umpires at that time were not drawn from the Championship list.