Gerald Howat (12 June 1928 – 10 October 2007), born Gerald Malcolm David Howat, was a British writer on
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 str ...
, a historian and a
schoolmaster
The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...
.
Early life
Howat was born in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland. As a boy he was awarded a bursary to
Glenalmond College
Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. ...
. He continued his education at
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...
. He then did his
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
as a
Flying Officer based at RAF Titchfield.
Academic career
He spent three years teaching for the oil firm Trinidad Leaseholds Ltd at
Pointe-à-Pierre
Pointe-à-Pierre ( ) is a town in Trinidad and Tobago. It lies north of San Fernando and south of Claxton Bay. It is most famous as the site of the country's largest (and now, only) oil refinery which used to be run by Petrotrin, the state-ow ...
.
Sonny Ramadhin was the firm's storekeeper.
Returning to England, he was head of the history department at
Kelly College
Kelly College was a coeducational independent school in the English public school tradition situated in the outskirts of Tavistock, Devon, with around 350 students ranging from ages 3 to 18. There was an associated preparatory school for pri ...
in
Tavistock
Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...
for five years, followed by fourteen years at
Culham College of Education as principal lecturer and head of the history department. He was able to combine his love of cricket with his college duties by instituting the biannual cricket matches between the History Department and his village cricket team of North Moreton for whom he was wicketkeeper and captain. One regularly told story was that he conducted an interview out on the cricket square when one potential teaching student applied who was already on the books of Yorkshire Cricket Club! Unfortunately for Howat, the student did not take up the place which was presumably offered to him, but did go on to have a reasonably successful cricket career. He had an abrupt tutoring technique and once (at least) locked the door when the time of his tutor group was due to start which left only one student in the room (at the magnificent mansion of Nuneham) to enjoy his didactic and engaging teaching style. Meanwhile, he undertook a research degree on "the place of history in education" for
Exeter College, Oxford
(Let Exeter Flourish)
, old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall''
, named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter
, established =
, sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge
, rector = Sir Richard Trainor
...
. He also turned his hand to the world of publishing, for a time being general editor of the Historical Division of
Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, that published scientific and medical books and journals. Originally called Butterworth-Springer, it is now an imprint of Elsevier.
History
The ...
.
He wrote several school textbooks, and was general editor of a ''Dictionary of World History'' (1973), a massive project which involved working closely with an advisory board that included
A.J.P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televi ...
,
Max Beloff
Max Beloff, Baron Beloff, (2 July 1913 – 22 March 1999) was a British historian and Conservative peer. From 1974 to 1979 he was principal of the University College of Buckingham, now the University of Buckingham.
Early life
Beloff was born ...
and
Asa Briggs
Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs (7 May 1921 – 15 March 2016) was an English historian. He was a leading specialist on the Victorian era, and the foremost historian of broadcasting in Britain. Briggs achieved international recognition during his lon ...
. He also spent a year with
Mitchell Beazley
Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited is a British book publisher which is particularly specialised in atlases, reference books, natural history books, cook books, garden books and wine books.
History
The London-based company Mitchell Beazley was ...
editing an illustrated biographical dictionary entitled ''Who Did What'' (1974).
He was Head of History at
Radley College
Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...
, but writing and editing were taking much of his attention, and neither he nor the school was very happy with his time there. He said: "I was not ambitious to be a headmaster and I came to resent the fact that I never had time to put pen to paper (or, more specifically, to write a book) during my years there." In 1977, he moved to a senior pastoral post at
Lord Williams's School, Thame, which gave him more time to pursue his other interests. For a short period he was also a visiting professor at
Western Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...
. He also acted as an
Oxbridge Board examiner. He retired from teaching in 1985.
He was an associate editor of the 2004 edition of the ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''. He supplied seventy entries himself, many on former cricketers.
Cricket literature
He covered schools cricket for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' for many years, as well as for ''
The Cricketer
''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket.
The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...
''. His retirement from academia gave him more time for his cricket writing, and he produced several well received biographies of famous players. That on
Learie Constantine
Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine, (21 September 19011 July 1971) was a West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black pee ...
, whom he had first met when at Glenalmond College, won
the Cricket Society The Cricket Society is a charitable organisation founded in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has mor ...
's golden jubilee award. His last book was his autobiography, ''Cricket All My Life''. This was published only a few months before his death and refers to his poor health although it ended on a positive note with a reference to his return to
Lord's for a committee meeting and how he "was coming home".
He was an
MCC member for over 40 years. He chaired the club's publishing working party. He seemed well-qualified to serve on the arts and library sub-committee, but he did not get on with the sub-committee's chairman,
E.W. Swanton. Howat played club cricket as a wicket-keeper for Moreton CC in Oxfordshire until he was 77. He was associated with the club for almost fifty years.
Family
He had three children: David, Gillian and
Michael. Michael played
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...
for
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
as a medium-fast bowler, appearing in the
University Match
The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club.
From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...
in 1977 and 1980. Gerald was the Chairman of TASS (The
Abingdon School Society), where his sons were educated.
Death
Howat died at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
on 10 October 2007 at age 79. His ''
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
'' obituarist wrote,
You had to be quick to keep up with Gerald Howat. The short, staccato sentences were delivered at machine-gun pace... It reflected a fecund and restless mind.
Bibliography
*''The Story of Health'' (with Anne Howat), Pergamon Press, 1967.
*''Who Did What: The Mitchell Beazley Illustrated Biographical Dictionary'' (editor), Mitchell Beazley, 1974, .
*''Stuart and Cromwellian Foreign Policy'', A C Black, 1974, .
*''Learie Constantine'', Allen & Unwin, 1975, .
*''Village Cricket'', David Charles, 1980, .
*''Cricketer Militant: The Life of Jack Parsons'', North Moreton Press, 1980, .
*''Culham College History'' (with Leonard Naylor), Culham Educational Foundation, 1982, .
*''Walter Hammond'', Allen & Unwin, 1984, .
*''Plum Warner'', Unwin Hyman, 1987, .
*''Len Hutton: The Biography'', Heinemann, 1988, .
*''Cricket's Second Golden Age: The Hammond-Bradman Years'', Hodder & Stoughton, 1989, .
*''Cricket Medley'', Sports History Publishing, 1993, .
*''Cricket All My Life'' (autobiography), Methuen, 2006, ,
References
External links
Obituary, ''The Scotsman''Obituary, ''The Times''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howat, Gerald
1928 births
2007 deaths
Cricket historians and writers
English cricket administrators
British male journalists
Schoolteachers from Glasgow
The Daily Telegraph people
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford
People educated at Glenalmond College
Western Kentucky University faculty
20th-century British historians
20th-century English businesspeople