Robert Graham Williams

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(4 April 1911 – 31 August 1978) was an Australian cricketer who 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 officiall ...

for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

from 1933 to 1938 and the Australian Services team in 1945. He was awarded the MBE for his services to his fellow prisoners of war during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Life and career

Before World War II

Graham Williams was born in the

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

suburb of St Peters, and attended

Prince Alfred College , motto_translation = Do Brave Deeds and Endure , established = 1869 , type = Independent, single-sex, day & boarding , headmaster = David Roberts , chaplain = Reverend ...

. When he left school he studied at the

South Australian School of Mines and Industries The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

, graduating in 1934 as a wool-classer. He worked in Adelaide with the firm

Goldsbrough Mort & Co Goldsbrough Mort & Co was an Australian agricultural business. History In 1843 Thomas Sutcliffe Mort established a business which operated as auctioneers and brokers in the wool trade. The business took on partners and become known as Mort & Co. ...

. A tall fast-medium bowler and useful lower-order batsman, Williams had his best season for South Australia in 1937–38, when he took 24 wickets at an average of 24.20 and made 233 runs at 21.18. He also recorded his best bowling figures in that season, when he took 6 for 21 against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

on Christmas Day 1937. He spent most of 1938 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 ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, broadening his knowledge of the wool trade. While there he played with some success for Bradford in the

Bradford Cricket League The Bradford Premier League (currently known as the Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is an amateur cricket competition centred in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It has been described as "arguably England's strongest amate ...

War service and later

Williams enlisted in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

in April 1940. Warrant-Officer Navigator Williams was taken prisoner in July 1941 after his plane was shot down over

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

, and was released in April 1945. While imprisoned he learned

braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

so he could teach it to blind prisoners. He also taught agriculture, economics and

touch typing Touch typing (also called blind typing, or touch keyboarding) is a style of typing. Although the phrase refers to typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys—specifically, a touch typist will know their location on the keyboard thro ...

in the prison camps. In 1946 he was awarded the

for his services to his fellow prisoners.''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 1980, p. 1161. Despite having lost 31 kilograms during his imprisonment, less than a month after his release Williams was playing cricket for an RAAF team against an Empire XI 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 15,000-strong crowd, knowing his war record, gave him a standing ovation when he went in to bat. His RAAF teammate

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

described the moment as "the most touching moment I have ever seen or heard, almost orchestral in its sound and feeling".

Greg Growden Greg Growden (1959/1960 – 14 November 2020) was an Australian sports journalist, author and biographer. Life Growden was born in Adelaide, the son of Port Adelaide Football Club player Kevin Growden. The family moved to a rice farm at Coleamb ...

, ''Cricketers at War'', ABC Books, Sydney, 2019, pp. 240–55. He played for services teams throughout the 1945 season, including all five of the

Victory Tests The Victory Tests were a series of cricket matches played in England from 19 May to 22 August 1945, between a combined Australian Services XI and an English national side. The first match began less than two weeks after the end of World War II i ...

between Australian servicemen 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 ...

. He married Josephine Simpson in Adelaide in January 1946. His Services XI teammate

Albert Cheetham Albert Cheetham (7 December 1915 – 23 May 1997) was an Australian cricketer. He played twenty-four first-class matches for New South Wales between 1936 and 1946. See also * List of New South Wales representative cricketers This is a ...

was his

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...

. He resumed his work with Goldsbrough Mort after the war.

References

External links

*
Graham Williams
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Graham 1911 births 1978 deaths Australian cricketers Australian Services cricketers South Australia cricketers Cricketers from Adelaide Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Australian prisoners of war Royal Australian Air Force airmen Shot-down aviators World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Dominions cricketers