Trumper of Worcestershire

David Frith on a great "what-if"

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What a treat for followers of county cricket: Australia’s beloved genius Victor Trumper stepping out to bat for Worcestershire at the relaxed and friendly New Road ground, an enchanting cricketer enjoying himself in county cricket during that time known as the Golden Age before the outbreak of the First World War. Imagine Trumper in handsome tandem at the crease with the elegant Englishman RE Foster. 

It was not to be, but a letter, written to the club by the illustrious, modest Australian towards the end of the 1902 tour, reveals that he was seriously considering the possibility. 

I was alerted by Worcestershire CCC’s caring historian and archivist Andrew Thomas, who discovered the letter in the Hereford Public Record Office. It reveals that Trumper was seriously tempted. His letter, headed Inns of Court Hotel in London (the touring team’s headquarters), is addressed to that pillar of the county club, secretary Paul Foley. It is dated August 11, 1902, the opening day of the famous Oval Test, which was to be won in a closing frenzy by England by one wicket as Hirst and Rhodes scraped together the 15 runs required (while certainly never pledging to get ’em in singles: Wilfred Rhodes confirmed this to me in a taped interview in 1973). Australia nonetheless held on to the Ashes 2-1. 

Trumper, opening as usual, had made 42 and 2 in this Oval Test, and finished that notably golden summer, his second in England, with 2381 runs at 48.49 (11 centuries). In the previous Test, at Old Trafford, he had stroked a century before lunch on the first day in another classic Ashes contest, edged by Australia by three runs. He was hot property, and the prospect of a county contract must have been tempting, despite his commitments back home in Sydney. 

Trumper letters are very rare. The 6,000 letters in my collection include none by Trumper, although I do have one written to him (undated) by a female admirer, Jessie Toney, from Randwick, who had been struck in the face via her parasol by one of his big hits at the SCG: “In the excitement of the moment the pain was scarcely noticed,” she assures him. She goes on to request a more lasting souvenir than the black eye: a signed photograph perhaps? The modest super-star was a kindly chap and would almost certainly have obliged. 

There is also a 1915 letter—a curio—to Trumper’s widow Annie from George Beattie, an architect in Glasgow. He reminds her of a trip down the Clyde they’d all enjoyed during the 1905 tour, and of the Oval Test match that year. 

A letter to Trumper himself near the end of the 1902 tour, from Norfolk-based businessman and “fellow colonial” Mr Dangar, promises him a small travelling case. He waits only to see what Trumper’s final tour run tally amounts to before ordering the engraving. He closes his letter with some background: “I am a fairly ancient cricketer, having seen Mynn, Fuller Pilch and Felix playing at Lord’s in black silk hats!!”

Another letter in the Trumper file was written to me by his son, also Victor, born 1913, who played as a fast bowler in six wartime matches: for NSW and for Bradman’s XI in a charity game at the MCG. I’d visited him in 1972 in his Neridah Street, Chatswood, home, a block away from where his father had settled in Help Street. “Sorry to wreck your theory about my father,” he later wrote, “as it was the wrong side of the family, my mother’s mother married twice and this must have mixed up your informant.” He explained that he had been on recreation leave (he was employed by the Rural Bank in Sydney) with his son in Dubbo. 

There is a further example of a VT Trumper letter in Jack Fingleton’s somewhat erratic biography of him. Written to a youngster in 1913, it is richly revealing: the book by George Giffen contains valuable advice: “Giffen’s fore & upper right arm is bigger than Jack Lyons who is both taller & considerably heavier.” Then: “To advance in the game you must lead a good healthy life. Dr WG Grace is still a non-smoker. Avoid alcohol for it will tell on a player’s constitution sooner or later. When practising watch the ball very carefully, in fact never take your eyes off it. When playing in a match keep in your mind’s eye the exact position of every fieldsman. To learn fielding join a baseball club. Do not copy any player but when you see him score four off a ball try & score a four off that ball in the same direction but do it your own way for that will be the natural way for you. Be very particular not to let sport interfere with your work for sport only lasts for a while whereas your work must keep you in comfort or otherwise just as you treat it. I think I have given you the ABC. Don’t let sport worry you. If it does give it up. With all good wishes, I remain, Yrs fthly Victor Trumper”. 

Returning to Trumper’s letter to Paul Foley at Worcester: it was penned late at night after the opening day’s play of that famous 1902 Oval Test, by which time Australia’s lower order had lifted the innings to a respectable 324. “My dear Mr Foley,” Trumper’s letter begins, in a neat hand, as one might expect,

I am much obliged to you for your courteous letter. I have not decided yet whether I shall stay here or not. Certainly not as a professional with all respects to Home Gordon who had written us down on all occasions. Should I remain I would just as soon play for your county as any for not only do I like the team both amateurs and pro’s [sic] but also the town & the nucleus of a very good side. The papers are having a lot to say about myself & the strange part of it is that not one of the writers came to me for any information whatsoever & the general public know all about the different articles just as soon as I do. [Frank] Iredale simply jumped at conclusions. 

Jack Ferris, I believe & understand, received £350 from Gloucestershire & Iredale must have taken it for granted that I would not be offered less than him. Your previous letter has been treated confidentially & the last one will be also. I am pleased that if I should accept the position I will have something to do in the winter for on no account should I be contented loafing about. Our articles of agreeament [sic] state that all the team must go where the majority decide. So that should we go to SAfrica or play in Australia on our return I would have to go with them. Our articles are very stiff for instance if we turn up late at a match we are fined £5 for the first offence & stand a chance of being sent home for the second.. 

Could you make me a definite offer with a guarantee for a certain number of years & also let me know what qualifications it would be necessary for me to put in. Some say 2 and others say 3 years ... [missing from copy] … for me to have a guarantee or else I might be stranded through something at the present unforeseen. It is now after 11pm so must draw to a close or shall for [fall] asleep & will have to start a fresh letter. Woster have been shaking things up a good bit lately. Good luck keep going. 

Yrs truly 

[signed] V. Trumper

Edwardian England would have relished the opportunity to have Trumper on their doorsteps across the summer in Championship cricket. But it was not to be. On his recommendation, however, Worcestershire went on to sign Jack Cuffe from Sydney, and he served the club well as batsman and left-arm spinner in 215 matches between 1903 and 1914 before becoming an umpire. He drowned himself in the River Trent in May 1931. 

By then, of course, poor Trumper had been dead for 16 years. A century later books are still being written about him, and pilgrims continue to find his grave in Waverley Cemetery, overlooking the blue Pacific. 

Frith’s essay first appeared in Issue 190 of the Cricket Statistician, the ACS’s flagship journal, which you can purchase here. Better yet, become a member of the ACS—the journal is included free of charge—by clicking here.