Part 7 of an exquisitely detailed biography of Billy Midwinter by Pradip Dhole. The travelling cricketer played four Test matches for England, sandwiched between eight Tests Australia and holds a unique place in cricket history as the only cricketer to have played for both Australia and England in Test Matches against each other
Part 1
Part2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Kidnapped
The events leading up to the next major incident in the life of Billy Midwinter are depicted in exquisite detail by John Lazenby in his beautifully researched book The Strangers Who Came Home: The First Australian Cricket Tour of England.
Chapter 9 of the book begins with a weather bulletin: “London crackled with thunderstorms the day after the Australians’ defeat to the Gentlemen at Prince’s (the match had ended on 18 June/1878 with the Gentlemen victorious by an innings and 1 run). The air was heavy and oppressive, and for the first time that summer the mercury started to rise. Within days temperatures of 32º C or more in the shade would be recorded in the metropolis, with the newspapers running stories under headlines such as ‘The Tropical Heat’.”
The rising temperatures were soon to affect the tempers of some of the cricketers going about their daily rounds of matches. The 10th scheduled game of the Australian tourists, against Middlesex, their 6th first-class match of the tour, was to begin at Lord’s on 20 Jun 1878. At this stage of the current Australian tour of England, Billy Midwinter had been playing for the touring side in 9 games, 5 of which, including the just concluded match against the Gentlemen at Prince’s mentioned above, had been of first-class status. ‘Mid’ was scheduled to play his 6th first-class match for the 1878 Australians at Lord’s soon.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a farce as: “a comic dramatic piece that uses highly improbable situations, stereotyped characters, extravagant exaggeration, and violent horseplay. The term also refers to the class or form of drama made up of such compositions. Farce is generally regarded as intellectually and aesthetically inferior to comedy in its crude characterizations and implausible plots, but it has been sustained by its popularity in performance and has persisted throughout the Western world to the present.” It would seem that the Celestial Playwright had thought it fit to compose the plot of such a farcical drama in an impish moment of mischief during the middle of the 1878 English summer.
There are several versions of the so-called ‘kidnapping’ of Billy Midwinter by WG Grace from the Lord’s pavilion on 20 Jun 1878. By common consent, however, the bizarre sequence of events had initially begun to unfold about 5 miles away, across the Thames at The Oval, where Gloucestershire were to play a Championship match against Surrey beginning on the same day, 20 Jun 1878.
John Lazenby is of the opinion that it was around this time of the season, with the Australians in England, that Billy Midwinter had “just made clear his intention to remain with the Eleven for the duration of the tour. His decision would effectively sunder his ties with Gloucestershire, and almost certainly bring the wrath of WG Grace down upon him…” He had then made his decision known to the Australian Manager John Conway and to skipper Dave Gregory.
In his book The Complete Illustrated History of Australian Cricket, author Jack Pollard says: “On the morning of the match Conway went to The Oval to inform WG Grace (that) Midwinter would not be joining the Gloucestershire team for their match against Surrey, but instead would play for Australia at Lord’s.” Lazenby mentions that skipper Dave Gregory and Midwinter’s childhood friend Harry Boyle had accompanied Conway on this courtesy mission. As expected, WG, an excitable person at the best of times, did not receive the news with any degree of composure, on the other hand, he was apoplectic with rage on hearing the news, particularly when it was brought to his notice that the team was a man short for the game against Surrey that was about to begin in a short while.
The Gloucestershire players present at The Oval for the Surrey game were as follows: the three Grace brothers, skipper WG himself, EM and GF, their cousin, Walter Gilbert, their Kanpur-born cricket and rugby playing wicketkeeper, the heavily moustachioed James Arthur Bush, answering to the endearing nickname of ‘Frizzy’, batsmen James Cranston and Thomas Matthews. The addition of the inexperienced trio of William Woof, Carleton Haynes, and Edward Wright made the head-count 10 players. They were desperately in need of the experienced Midwinter to make up the numbers for the Surrey game.
A furious altercation sprang up between Grace and the Australian emissaries, passions ran high and forceful language was used as Grace and Conway, neither prepared to concede ground, almost came to blows. In his later column in The Australasian, Tom Horan described the whole confrontation as “a very unpleasant affair.” It may be remembered that the antagonism between the “shamateur” WG Grace, on the one hand, with his avaricious and mercenary attitude, and his unpardonably boorish behaviour during his “honeymoon” tour of Australia in 1873/74, and Conway and the other Australians on the other, had been an ongoing affair. Horan reported that Grace “openly told Conway that the Australians were a lot of sneaks to try to entice Midwinter away. High words, of course, followed on both sides.”
Not one to let what he considered to be a blatant breach of contract to pass unchallenged, WG, himself 6’ 2” tall and burly of build, requisitioned the services of his elder brother EM, 5’ 8” tall, and his formidable colossus of a wicketkeeper, ‘Frizzy’ Bush, his 6’ 2 ½” frame of bone and muscle honed to perfection by his exploits on the rugby field, to accompany him to Lord’s to persuade the errant Midwinter to turn out for Gloucestershire in this important match and to remind him of his contractual obligations to the County. The trio set off in a hansom cab across the Thames, heading towards St. John’s Wood, and Lord’s.
Meanwhile, the Australians were at Lord’s where they had lost the toss against Middlesex and were asked to take first strike. Midwinter and Alec Bannerman had reportedly already donned their pads and gloves preparatory to walking out to open the innings. Barging into the dressing-room at Lord’s like the proverbial bull in a china shop, WG confronted a bewildered Midwinter and engaged him in earnest conversation, possibly wagging a finger or two in his face. An impassioned homily followed for the benefit of the ‘Bendigo Giant’, bringing home to Midwinter in no uncertain terms the fact that he was under contract with Gloucestershire, and that this fact had been made known publicly even before the 1878 Australians had embarked on their voyage to England for the current tour. Swayed by the sheer presence and personality of WG, and being unsure in his own mind about how he should react to the unexpected contretemps confronting him, Midwinter was seen leaving Lord’s in the company of Grace and his men, virtually ‘abducted’ or ‘kidnapped’ by the Father of English Cricket in broad daylight from Lord’s, the spiritual home of cricket.
Commenting on the whole unfortunate affair in The Australasian later, cricketer-cum journalist Tom Horan, writing about the 1878 tour under the pen name of One of Them later said: “That Grace lost his temper and sadly forgot himself there can be no doubt, while the indecision of Midwinter, who did not seem to know his own mind for two minutes together, cannot be too strongly deprecated. Nothing can justify Grace’s passion and language, nor his conduct in coming to Lord’s and almost forcibly leading away the captive Midwinter.”
Money Matters
At this point of the narrative, it may be pertinent to reveal another festering issue in the minds of the Australians, the issue of money. During their last match against the Gentlemen at Prince’s from 17 Jun 1878, the Australians had been aghast when WG and his cousin Gilbert, both ostensibly “amateur cricketers” had each been paid £60 for playing the game against them. The issue had been further confounded when the Australians had been told that WG and his brothers were always paid “expenses” when they played anywhere in England. On the other hand, the Australians had received what they considered to be a pittance for their part in the match. The injustice of it all rankled with the Australians. The Argus made the solemn declaration: “as if bent on creating mischief, Grace said on leaving (Lord’s), ‘You haven’t the ghost of a show with Middlesex’”
The spirited Australians were not about to take this blatant daylight ‘kidnapping’ of Midwinter virtually from their grasp go unchallenged, however. As the cab carrying the Gloucestershire contingent departed in the direction of Kennington, a posse of Australians comprising Conway, Gregory, and Boyle set off in hot pursuit in another cab. They caught up with WG’s party near the gates of The Oval. An ugly scene ensued in front of a group of onlookers attracted by the presence of Grace and the Australian players. The Australians accused Grace of offering to pay Midwinter £8 per game (Gloucestershire, had, in fact, paid Midwinter the sum mentioned for his matches with them during the season).
WG’s counter claim was that it was the Australians who had dangled a financial carrot in front of Midwinter with a share in their joint-stock tour enterprise, and a promise of a benefit match once he was back home, arguably a far more lucrative offer than anything that Gloucestershire could offer, according to EM Grace, as quoted by Malcolm Knox. Some of the language and bodily gestures employed by an incensed Grace was not acceptable to the Australians, who had, perforce, to leave The Oval under a cloud, and empty-handed. There were to be protracted repercussions of these incidents.
Meanwhile, the sagacious Heavenly Puppeteer had been plotting an agenda of His own.
The start of the match at The Oval between Surrey and Gloucestershire had been delayed by the incidents described above. Having won the toss, Grace opted to field first, and the match began with some substitutes on the field filling in for the missing players. Gloucestershire had 3 debutants in their team in Haynes, Wright, and Woof, and were able to make up the numbers by the return of the truant Billy Midwinter to the fold.
Surrey scored 150 all out in the 114th over. The Oxford graduate William Game (52) was the stabilising factor of the innings, while opener ‘Bunny’ Lucas (32) and skipper George Strachan (25), a stockbroker by profession, provided their support. Walter Gilbert, cousin of the Graces, and later to emigrate to Canada in a hurry following accusations of theft from the baggage of his team-mates, captured 5/35. WG himself had figures of 4/43, and Midwinter took 1/36.
Surprisingly, WG chose not to open the batting himself in the 1st innings, delegating the responsibility to his younger brother GF. The 5th Gloucestershire wicket fell at 37, and only a steady 40 from skipper WG, batting at # 5, aided by Edward Fortesque Wright (32), a man born in Devon, but having played most of his cricket in the Caribbean, and having scored the very first first-class century in domestic West Indian cricket, allowed the total to cross 100. The final tally of 111 all out was scored in 62 overs. Fred Johnson, the Surrey left-arm fast-medium bowler, claimed 6/42.
When Surrey batted again, they began with a 39-run advantage, and scored 136 all out, with opener Lucas (33), and middle order men, ‘keeper Ted Pooley (29) and William Lindsay (23) being the main contributors. Skipper WG (6/70) and Midwinter (3/29) took most of the wickets. The winning target for Gloucestershire was therefore 176 runs in the last innings. They managed only 159 all out to lose the match by 16 runs, their first loss of the season. Johnson (5/56) and Barratt (4/46) were principally responsible for the damage to the pride of Gloucestershire after all the brouhaha prior to the commencement of the match. Midwinter, the cause of all the commotion, scored 4 & 0, and took 4 wickets in the match.
Across the Thames, Frank Allan was included in the Australian team in place of Midwinter as a last minute replacement, and the visitors batted first after being sent in. Their 1st innings total of 165 all out was anchored by skipper Dave Gregory (42), who had been having a relatively lean time with the bat till then. The other contributors were Tom Garrett (19), Tasmanian George Bailey (39), ‘keeper Blackham (20*), and Allan (15). Tom Garrett (7/38) and Allan (3/27) ran through the Middlesex 1st innings, despite a fine 50 by opener Alexander Webbe and useful contributions from skipper Isaac Walker (24) and Alfred Lyttelton (25). The innings folded at 122 all out, leaving a 1st innings deficit of 43 runs.
Skipper Gregory (42 for the second time in the match), Fred Spofforth (56), Tom Garrett (34), Bailey (32), opener Charles Bannerman (23), and ‘keeper Blackham (21*) boosted the Australian 2nd innings total to 240 all out, creating a total deficit of 283 runs. The home team required 284 runs to win the match. Despite a maiden first-class century by Edward Lyttelton (113), seventh son of the Rt. Hon. George Lyttelton, the 4th Lord Lyttelton of Hagley Hall, the home team succumbed to be all out for 185. Allan (6/76) and Garrett (3/44) made sure that the Australians won the match by a decisive 98 runs, thumbing a figurative nose at WG Grace, as it were.
The fracas at Lord’s on 20 June 1878 ended Midwinter’s association with the 1878 Australian tourists in England, and he spent the rest of the season under the aegis of WG Grace, playing for his various teams in England. His performances on behalf of the tourists in his 5 first-class matches were as follows: he scored a total of 124 runs at 15.50, with a highest of 32. He captured 8 wickets at 7.25, with best figures of 4/14 against Surrey, whom the tourists had defeated by 5 wickets in the first week of June, with Midwinter also making significant contributions with the bat, including his highest score of 32 in the 1st innings. Midwinter also held 4 catches for the Australians.
Infuriated by Grace’s high-handed and extremely objectionable behaviour, the Australian camp demanded a written apology from WG Grace in a letter to the Gloucestershire Committee, stating in very clear terms that in the absence of a written apology from Grace for his atrocious behaviour and his public use of abusive language, the Australians would cancel the match against Gloucestershire at Clifton College Ground, scheduled for the 1st week of September. Not accustomed to having his behaviour being called to account by anybody, Grace had initially refused to bow down, being convinced that the Australians had been trying to bribe Midwinter away from the Surrey game of 20 Jun/1878. The Australians, however, were inflexible in their decision of cancelling the Clifton match in the absence of a written apology.
Fortunately, the saner elements on the Gloucestershire Committee, including elder brother EM Grace, were able to make WG Grace realise the enormity of the financial loss that the cancellation of the Clifton game would entail for the County team. Malcolm Knox mentions an estimated loss “of hundreds of pounds” in gate money for a County suffering from an almost perpetual state of penury, given that they had no ground of their own, and had to pay for the use of the grounds at Clifton and Cheltenham during the school summer closure. It took a considerable amount of persuasion to induce WG Grace to write the letter to the Australian skipper, Dave Gregory.
Grahame Parker quotes the text of the apology letter addressed to Dave Gregory:
“The Cottage,
Kingswood Hill, Bristol,
July 21st
Dear Sir,
I am sorry that my former expression of regret to the Australians has not been considered satisfactory. Under the circumstances, and without going further into the matter, I wish to let bygones be bygones, and I apologise again and express my extreme regret to Conway, Boyle, and yourself, and through you to all the Australian cricketers, that in the excitement of the moment, I should have made use of unparliamentary language to Mr. Conway. I can do no more, but assure you that you will meet a hearty welcome and a good ground at Clifton.
Yours truly, W. G. Grace.”
God disposes
As mentioned earlier, The Almighty had been at work to bring these turbulent events to a conclusion of His own liking. During the match at The Oval against Surrey, Billy Midwinter, the cynosure of the ugly storm surrounding the game, had reportedly injured his hand, rendering him hors de combat for a while, and was unable to turn out for Gloucestershire in their match against the Australians at Clifton from 5 Sep 1878.
Dave Gregory won the toss for the tourists on Thursday, 5 Sep/1878 and sent the Gloucestershire side in to bat first, the uncertain ambient weather definitely influencing his decision. Fred Spofforth then ran riot, returning figures of 7/49. The supporting cast of fielders did their bit to the extent that EM Grace, ‘The Coroner’ turned out to be highest scorer of the innings with 23*. There were two scores of 22, by skipper WG, and William Moberly, the Oxford University cricket and rugby player. The home team were dismissed for 112. The Australians replied with 183 all out, with Charles Bannerman (33, at the top of the order), Tom Garrett (43), and Spofforth (44, from the middle order), being the major contributors, aided by a robust 14 from last man Frank Allan. Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Bob Miles, another Oxford graduate, captured 5/49, and there were 2 run outs in the innings.
With a 71-run deficit on the 1st innings totals, Gloucestershire were dismissed for a sorry 85 in the 2nd innings, with Spofforth adding a bag of 5/41 to his 7/49 in the 1st innings. Garrett (3/14) and Allan (2/19) completed the Gloucestershire misery. It was left to the hero of the game for Australia, Spofforth (4*) and the Tasmanian Bailey (9*), aided by 4 extras to complete a 10-wicket demolition of WG’s Gloucestershire team, a denouement that the disgruntled Australians would surely have relished
Midwinter’s terms with Gloucestershire netted him £56 for his 7 games in 1878, and his 10 games for the county in 1879 netted him £80 at the same rate. Gloucestershire offered him a benefit game in 1879 with a choice of opponents between Middlesex and Lancashire, with both games scheduled to be played at Clifton. Mulling over the issue, Midwinter opted for the match against Lancashire from 25 Aug/1879. The match began promisingly enough, with Lancashire being bowled out for 53. WG (7/37) and Midwinter (3/12 from his 37 overs) bowled unchanged and caused the rout of the Red Rose county. At stumps on the 1st day, the home team were 123/6, with opener WG undefeated on 75*. Unfortunately for Midwinter, the heavens opened up after that and the rest of the game was washed away.
Wishing to compensate Midwinter for the loss of gate money from two days of the match being lost to the elements, the Gloucestershire committee then made him a generous offer of £100. Midwinter accepted the offer gratefully, writing a letter of thanks to the Committee for their generous gesture. In a bid to augment his income, Billy Midwinter joined the Marylebone Cricket Club as one of their net bowlers at Lord’s in 1880, his brief being to bowl to the MCC members as and when they felt the need of any batting practice at the nets. He also played 11 matches for Gloucestershire between June and the 3rd week of August 1880.
It was in the same 1880 season that Midwinter put in a stellar performance for Gloucestershire in their match against Surrey at Cheltenham from 19 Aug 1880. After John Shuter won the toss for Surrey and opted to bat first, Midwinter was immediately in the thick of things, dismissing the first 4 batsmen in the order: openers Len Shuter, elder brother of the skipper, for 2, and Henry Jupp (8). He then disposed of the skipper for 56, and Walter Read for 93, the top score of the innings. Later, he also removed ‘keeper Ted Pooley (15) to achieve figures of 5/81.
Gloucestershire replied with a solid 351 all out, their main contributors being Midwinter (103, his maiden first-class century and top score of the innings), opener WG Grace (67), and Frank Townsend (83). The Surrey 2nd innings was a brief affair, and amounted to a total of 117 all out with only 2 men in double figures: skipper John Shuter (37), and George Elliott (27). WG (7/65) and their professional cricketer, Midwinter (2/46) did the damage. Gloucestershire then knocked off the 52 runs required for victory without losing any wickets, thus winning the match easily by 10 wickets.
Billy Midwinter’s cricket career was in a state of perpetual motion for six years, from 1877 to 1882, both years included, as he chased the summer in the two hemispheres. This entailed undertaking long and often choppy sea voyages lasting upwards of 2 months twice each year, a tedious business in itself, without the expense all this entailed, and the necessity for rapid acclimatisation to the different climatic conditions and playing surfaces in the two countries. In England, he not only played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire, but also turned out for the MCC (1880-1882), Gloucestershire and Yorkshire (1877), Players (1878-1882), Under 30 (1880-1882), A Shaw's XI (1881/82-1882), United Eleven (1882), and others.