Richard Daft (2 November 1835 – 18 July 1900) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He was one of the best batsmen of his day, the peak of his first-class career (which lasted from 1858 to 1891) being the 1860s and early 1870s.

Life and career

Born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, most of his important matches were played for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

and the All England Eleven, and he captained the former side from 1871 to 1880. Unusually for the period, after beginning his career as a professional he later became an amateur. Two of his most notable innings were 118 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 ...

for North against South in 1862 and 102 for the Players against the Gentlemen (see

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of cricket matches that began in July 1806 and was abolished in January 1963. It was a match between a team consisting of amateurs (the Gentlemen) and a team consisting of professionals (the Players ...

) at Lord's in 1872. He led a strong side to North America in late 1879, which beat a XV of Philadelphia. He appeared in only a handful of matches after 1880. A portrait of him painted in 1875 by

Frank Miles George Francis Miles (22 April 1852 – 15 July 1891) was a London-based British artist who specialised in pastel portraits of society ladies, also an architect and a keen plantsman. He was the artist in chief of the magazine ''Life (magazine), ...

is owned by

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called th ...

. Miles's family were keen cricketers with a number of his brothers playing for Nottinghamshire. It was written of him: "Not a big hitter, but played a thoroughly sound and at the same time graceful game." He was ridiculed on one occasion when he came out to bat with his head wrapped in a towel for protection in protest at what turned out to be a fatal injury received by the previous batsman ( George Summers), due to short-pitched bowling on the notoriously uneven Lord's pitch. He wrote ''Kings of Cricket: Reminiscences and Anecdotes with Hints on the Game'', which was published by J. W. Arrowsmith/Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. in 1893. Daft ran the nearby

Trent Bridge Inn The Trent Bridge Inn is a pub in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The Trent Bridge Cricket Ground began in a field behind this pub, and the land was also the first home of the Notts County Football Club. The pub is now operated by Weth ...

and at one time he was a partner in the Radcliffe Brewery, but he died

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

at Radcliffe on Trent in 1900. His brother,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

, his sons, Harry and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

, and his father-in-law, Butler Parr, all played first-class cricket. In August 1891, he played with Harry in the county eleven, at

Kennington Oval Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

against

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. Richard had returned to the Nottinghamshire side after an absence of ten years because

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 wou ...

was forced to stand down through injury. Neither father nor son made any particular impact in this game, with Harry scoring 5 and 0, and Richard 12 and 2 as Surrey won by an innings and 46 runs. His great-grandson Robin Butler served as the

Cabinet Secretary A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...

(1988–1998).

References

External links

*
''Kings of Cricket'' by Richard Daft
digitised version at

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daft, Richard 1835 births 1900 deaths People from Radcliffe-on-Trent Cricketers from Nottinghamshire English cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers All-England Eleven cricketers English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 English cricketers of 1864 to 1889 Nottinghamshire cricket captains United North of England Eleven cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen cricketers North v South cricketers Players cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Married v Single cricketers Gentlemen of the North cricketers R. Daft's XI cricketers