John Thewlis Senior

John Thewlis (senior) was a first class cricketer who played 44 matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and 56 first-class matches in all between 1862 and 1875. Born on June 30, 1838, in Kirkheaton, Yorkshire, Thewlis was a right-hand batsman with every stroke in the enchiridion.

Lucky break

Although he came late into the game, Thewlis was only the second man to emerge from Lascelles Hall (that famous breeding ground for Yorkshire cricketers) and ply his trade for the White Rose. And it is well to relate that the first, Luke Greenwood, played a significant role in his doing so. "Greenwood," said George Parr, successor to William Clarke in the management of the All-England Eleven, "we are going to Southampton to play 22 there. Do you know a good batter?" [Quoted in Pullin 1900, p. 80.] Confirming that he did, Greenwood cited Thewlis, so Parr duly included him and, on nothing more than that brief paean, sent him in to open the batting. He was bowled first ball.

Had he been older, Thewlis's colleagues might have pointed to callowness as the cause, " [b] ut," Greenwood confirmed, "that was not so": Thewlis was "about thirty-two, I think". [Quoted in Pullin 1900, p. 80.] As he left the wicket, the debutante turned to the bowler and vowed that he would not have him first ball again; nor did he, for Thewlis worked his way in the second innings to 41 not out. Given the poor state of the wicket that day, it was, by Greenwood's reckoning, an innings worth well over a hundred on any other day.

Career overview

Having capitalised on his stroke of fortuity, Thewlis went on to enjoy a successful first-class career with his county, scoring 1,548 runs at an average of 15.48. His solitary century came against Surrey, whom he met seventeen times. He appeared also for the All-England Eleven (1862), North of England (1864-1865), England (1864-1868, albeit not at Test level), United England Eleven (1865), the Players (1868) and the United North of England Eleven (1875). He umpired at least sixteen first-class County and University matches from 1869 to 1887.

Late-life hardship

Like so many professional cricketers of his era (particularly the Yorkshire ones), Thewlis fell on hard times once his playing days were over. When A.W. Pullin, cricket and rugby correspondent for the "Yorkshire Evening Post", sought to track him down for one of eighteen interviews with veteran cricketers in the winter of 1897-98, he was unable to find his home. On inquiring of Yorkshire CCC as to his whereabouts, he was callously informed, "think dead; if not, Manchester."

When he did find Thewlis, "he was trudging on foot with a heavy basket of laundry clothes on his shoulder". At the end of his four-mile trek, "he was anxious to walk back again, as soon as possible, to earn a few coppers by getting in a load of coals". Thewlis was seventy years old at the time and died the following year, on December 29, 1899, at Lascelles Hall in Yorkshire.

Contemporary judgment

Pullin's account of their sad meeting was published in his book "Talks With Old Yorkshire Cricketers", which he wrote under the pseudonym "Old Ebor". In a subsequent volume, "Talks with Old English Cricketers", Greenwood pronounced Thewlis "one of the best all-round men that ever Lascelles Hall turned out: he had strokes all round the wicket, and he was perfect in them all." [Quoted in Pullin 1900, p. 80. Greenwood thought him inferior to Ephraim Lockwood in the cut, though, of which the latter was widely-acknowledged master.]

Kinsmen

Thewlis's nephews, John Thewlis junior, Henry Lockwood and, most notably, Ephraim Lockwood, all played first-class cricket for Yorkshire.

References

*Pullin, Alfred William. "Talks with Old English Cricketers". Edinburgh: W. Blackwood, 1900.
*—. "Talks with Old Yorkshire Cricketers". Leeds: Yorkshire Post, 1898.
* [http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/21774.html Cricinfo Profile]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/33/33255/33255.html Cricket Archive Statistics]

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