Robert Graham Williams MBE (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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Life and career

Before World War II

Graham Williams was born in the

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

suburb of St Peters, and attended

Prince Alfred College Prince Alfred College is a private, independent, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, South Australia, Kent Town, near the Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, South Australia. One of th ...

. When he left school he studied at the South Australian School of Mines and Industries, graduating in 1934 as a

wool-classer Wool classing is the production of uniform, predictable, low-risk lines of wool, carried out by examining the characteristics of the wool in its raw state and classing (grading) it accordingly. Wool classing is done by a wool classer. Basis for ...

. He worked in Adelaide with the firm Goldsbrough 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 Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

on Christmas Day 1937. He spent most of 1938 in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, 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 a semi-professional cricket competition centred in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It has been described as "arguably England's strong ...

War service and later

Williams enlisted in the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

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

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

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

braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

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 visual perception, sight to find the keys—specifically, a touch typist will know their location ...

in the prison camps. In 1946 he was awarded the MBE 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" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' 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 List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. 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 Coleamba ...

, ''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 ...

between Australian servicemen and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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

Albert Cheetham Albert George Cheetham (7 December 1915 – 23 May 1997) was an Australian cricketer. He played 24 first-class matches for New South Wales and the Australian Services XI between 1936 and 1946. Cheetham was an all-rounder, a middle-order bats ...

was his

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

. 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 People educated at Prince Alfred College 20th-century Australian sportsmen