Richard Gorton Barlow (28 May 1851 – 31 July 1919) was a
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er who played for
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
and
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Barlow is best remembered for his batting partnership with
A N Hornby
Albert Neilson Hornby, nicknamed Monkey Hornby (10 February 1847 – 17 December 1925) was one of the best-known sportsmen in England during the nineteenth century excelling in both rugby and cricket. He was the first of only two men to captain ...
, which was immortalised in nostalgic poetry by
Francis Thompson
Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...
. He was also an
umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
and a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
referee
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
, including at the record 26–0 score between
Preston North End
Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...
and
Hyde in the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
.
Overview
Cricket was engrained in Barlow from an early age, and he went on to play for Lancashire for 20 years and continued to play at lower levels into his sixties. He left school aged fourteen to work in a printing office as an apprentice
compositor. He was later an
iron moulder with Dobson & Barlow in Bolton, and then in 1865 he moved to Derbyshire when his father got work at the
Staveley Iron Works. It was for Staveley Iron Works Cricket Club that Barlow first played cricket, becoming a cricket professional with Farsley in Leeds in 1871, which was the year in which he first played for Lancashire. From 1873 to 1877 he was the professional for Saltaire in
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
. Barlow played one match for
Derbyshire in the 1875 season against a United North of England Eleven.
Barlow was 5 ft 8 inches tall and weighed approximately eleven stone. He was strong and sturdily built. Barlow was known for his defensive batting, which made it hard to dismiss him, and which earned him the nickname Stonewaller. On one occasion he scored no runs in a partnership of 45 with AN Hornby, who was dismissed for 44. He holds the world first-class record for the lowest score by a batsman
carrying his bat: against
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
in 1882 he batted through the innings and made 5 not out when Lancashire were dismissed for 69. Barlow was also a good bowler with much variation.
According to a (possibly apocryphal) story related by
Alan Gibson
Norman Alan Stewart Gibson (28 May 1923 – 10 April 1997) was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and rugby union. At various times ...
, Barlow was working as a railway porter when Hornby first encountered him. Hornby happened to see him batting against the bowling of the station-master, and asked if he might have a bowl himself. "Ay, do," was the reply. "He's been in for a fortnight."
[Gibson, Alan (1989) ''The Cricket Captains of England'', The Pavilion Library. p. 41.]
At Lord's
Barlow is immortalised in one of the best-known pieces of
cricket poetry
The game of cricket has inspired much poetry, most of which romanticises the sport and its culture.
Poems Cricket: An Heroic Poem
:Hail, cricket, Glorious, manly, British Game!
::First of all Sports! be first alike in Fame.
The poem by James L ...
, a poem called ''
At Lord's
The game of cricket has inspired much poetry, most of which romanticises the sport and its culture.
Poems Cricket: An Heroic Poem
:Hail, cricket, Glorious, manly, British Game!
::First of all Sports! be first alike in Fame.
The poem by James L ...
'' by
Francis Thompson
Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...
. In it Thompson remembers back watching Barlow and
A N Hornby
Albert Neilson Hornby, nicknamed Monkey Hornby (10 February 1847 – 17 December 1925) was one of the best-known sportsmen in England during the nineteenth century excelling in both rugby and cricket. He was the first of only two men to captain ...
play for Lancashire through
rose-tinted glasses. The first verse of the poem, which is repeated as the final verse is the best known:
It is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk,
Though my own red roses there may blow;
It is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk,
Though the red roses crest the caps, I know.
For the field is full of shades as I near a shadowy coast,
And a ghostly batsman plays to the bowling of a ghost,
And I look through my tears on a soundless-clapping host
As the run-stealers flicker to and fro,
To and fro:
Oh my Hornby and my Barlow long ago!
The Ashes urn
Barlow took part in the original Ashes match and is commemorated by the poem pasted on the side of
The Ashes urn
The Ashes urn is a small urn made of terracotta and standing high, believed to contain the ashes of a burnt bail (cricket), cricket bail. It was presented to Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley, Ivo Bligh, the captain of the England cricket team, as ...
:
When Ivo
Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...
goes back with the urn, the urn;''
Studds, Steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
, Read and Tylecote return, return;''
The welkin will ring loud,''
The great crowd will feel proud,''
Seeing Barlow and Bates
Bates may refer to:
Places
* Bates, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Bates, Illinois. an unincorporated community in Sangamon County
* Bates, Michigan, a community in Grand Traverse County
* Bates, New York, a hamlet in the town of Ell ...
with the urn, the urn;''
And the rest coming home with the urn.''
Test career
Barlow played seven times for England against Australia in England: in the match which gave rise to
the Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...
at
the Oval
The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
in 1882; and at
Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
, the Oval, and
Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
in 1884 and 1886. He made no big score in these matches, but his partnership with
Allan Steel
Allan Gibson Steel (24 September 1858 – 15 June 1914) was an English amateur cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1877 to 1893, and in Test cricket for England from 1880 to 1888. He was born in West Derby, Liverpool, ...
was the turning point of the game at Lord's in 1884, and at Manchester, in 1886, his steadiness pulled England through when the Australian bowlers were in deadly form on a slightly crumbled wicket. Moreover, he took seven wickets for 44 runs in Australia's second innings. In 1884 at Trent Bridge, for the North of England against the Australians, Barlow played the game of his life. He scored not out 10 and 101 and took ten wickets—four for six runs and six for 42. It is on record that when the North started their second innings on a slow and nasty wicket,
Fred Spofforth
Frederick Robert Spofforth (9 September 1853 – 4 June 1926), also known as "The Demon Bowler", was arguably the Australian cricket team's finest pace bowler of the nineteenth century. He was the first bowler to take 50 Test wickets, and the fi ...
, Australia's Demon bowler said, "Give me the ball: they won't get more than 60". As events turned out they got 255, Barlow and Flowers putting on 158 runs together after five wickets had fallen for 53. At the end of that afternoon Barlow was a very happy man. Barlow paid three visits to Australia, going out with
Alfred Shaw
Alfred Shaw (29 August 1842 – 16 January 1907) was an eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings (5/35). He made two trips to North Ameri ...
and
Arthur Shrewsbury
Arthur Shrewsbury (11 April 1856 – 19 May 1903) was an English cricketer and rugby football administrator. He was widely rated as competing with W. G. Grace for the accolade of best batsman of the 1880s; Grace himself, when asked whom he wo ...
in
1881–82, with the Hon.
Ivo Bligh
Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...
in
1882–83, and again with Shaw and Shrewsbury in
1886–87. He played in every match of all three tours.
On the first of those tours, after scoring 75 at Sydney against New South Wales, a local wag presented Barlow with a commemorative belt. "I thought we had the champion sticker in
Alec Bannerman
Alexander (usually "Alick"; also "Alec") Chalmers Bannerman (21 March 1854 – 19 September 1924) was an Australian cricketer who played in 28 Test matches between 1879 and 1893.
Bannerman made his Test debut at Melbourne in 1879, joining bro ...
," said the wag, "but you've fairly won the belt."
Late life
Near the end of his life Barlow was quoted in the ''Manchester Guardian'': "I don't think any cricketer has enjoyed his cricketing career better than I have done, and if I had my time to come over again I should certainly be what I have been all my life – a professional cricketer".
Barlow had a wife, Harriet, and a daughter, Eliza. He died 31 July 1919 in
Stanley Park, Blackpool
Stanley Park is a public park in the town of Blackpool on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, England. It is the town's primary park and covers an area of approximately . The park was designed to include significant sporting provisions, along with f ...
, and is buried in
Layton Cemetery. On his tombstone is inscribed 'bowled at last'.
References
External links
*
"At Lord's"by
Francis Thompson
Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Dick
1851 births
1919 deaths
Cricketers from Bolton
English cricketers
England Test cricketers
Lancashire cricketers
Derbyshire cricketers
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English Test cricket umpires
English football referees
Players cricketers
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All-England Eleven cricketers
Orleans Club cricketers
Over 30s v Under 30s cricketers
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