W. G. Grace

Early years

He was baptised on 8 August and known within the family as Gilbert, though his mother called him Willie; publicly he was universally referred to by his initials. His schooling began with Miss Trotman in Downend, followed by Mr Curtis of Winterbourne, and later Ridgway House run by Mr Malpas, which he attended until age fourteen. After a serious bout of pneumonia in 1863, his father removed him from school, and Grace grew rapidly to his full height of 6 ft 2 in. He continued his education at home, tutored by the Reverend John Dann, who later married Grace's sister Blanche. Grace never attended university, as his father wished him to pursue medicine, despite approaches from both Oxford and Cambridge cricket clubs. He enrolled at Bristol Medical School in October 1868 at age 20.

First-class career

Grace made his first-class debut in June 1865 for Gentlemen of the South against Players of the South, aged 16. In that match he was out for a duck but took match figures of 13 for 84, earning selection for the prestigious Gentlemen v Players fixture. Before his debut, the Gentlemen had lost 19 consecutive games against the Players; in the next 39 matches they won 27 and lost only 4, a turnaround largely attributed to Grace's ability to master fast bowling.

He scored a record 15 centuries in the fixture over his career. In his first Gentlemen v Players match at The Oval in 1865, the Players won by 118 runs; Grace took seven wickets and scored 23 and 12 not out. In the second match that year at Lord's, the Gentlemen ended their losing streak with an 8-wicket victory, with Grace contributing 34 in the second innings. His first century in a serious match was 170 against Gentlemen of Sussex at Hove in 1865.

Later years

After moving to Mottingham, Grace developed a strong interest in lawn bowls, helping found an international competition with Scotland, Ireland, and Wales and captaining England from 1903 to 1908. He also supported the all-female Womanhood Bowling Club at Crystal Palace by obtaining use of a pavilion in 1902. He was keen on curling and played golf, though according to biographer Bernard Darwin, he never mastered iron shots. Grace continued playing minor cricket after retiring from first-class; his penultimate match was for Eltham Cricket Club on 25 July 1914, a week after his 66th birthday, where he scored an undefeated 69.

His last match of any kind was for Eltham against Northbrook on 8 August 1914. On 26 August 1914, following the Battle of Mons, he wrote to The Sportsman calling for the closure of the county cricket season and for cricketers to serve their country. Grace died of a heart attack at Mottingham on 23 October 1915, aged 67, and was buried at Beckenham Cemetery.

Style and technique

Grace wrote two books on cricket, Cricket (1891) and Reminiscences (1899), both ghost-written. He believed cricketers were not born but developed through coaching and practice, having himself trained under his uncle Alfred Pocock. He insisted cricket should be enjoyable and acknowledged that his family played in a noisy, boisterous manner with much chaff. Grace and his brother EM were noted for their competitiveness and gamesmanship, which often drew controversy.

An Australian newspaper in 1874 remarked that he was tenacious on small points and apt to wrangle over details of the game. Lord Harris agreed that his gamesmanship added to the fund of stories about him. In one incident, a ball lodged in his shirt while batting against Surrey at Clifton; he completed several runs before fielders stopped him, and after discussion three runs were awarded. Australian player Joe Darling, touring England in 1896, said they were told not to trust the Old Man as he was out to win every time and was a great bluffer.