Edward Mills Grace 1841 - 1911

A Biography

The following biography was printed in the Society of Thornbury Folk Bulletin in September 1958.  It was written by Dr Edgar Mervyn Grace.

'Tonight I want to tell you something about my father Edward Mills 'E..M." "Coroner", The Little Doctor", as he was often called.  He was born at Downend House on November 28th, 1841.  His father, Dr.H.M.Grace came from Long Ashton, and his mother was the youngest daughter of George Pocock who had a school at St Michael's Hill, Bristol and was famous for his invention of the Kite Carriage.  Such faith had he in his Box Kites that he strapped his daughter Martha (my grandmother) in a chair and ferried her over the Avon Gorge with his kite.

They married in 1831 and settled in Downend and were both terribly keen on cricket.  Any time that could be spared from the Practice was spent in playing and organising the game and with his young sons he made a pitch behind the house and another in the orchard at the Chestnuts to which he moved in 1850 and where his youngest son, G.F. was born.

It is recorded that E.M. was born with a tooth in his head and at the age of 9 months was seen to crawl across the road clutching a bat to where the present Downend cricket ground is now.  In 1850 he was sent to school in Ealing and in his first match for (Goodenough House took 4 wickets, and in the next year made 256 runs took 22 wickets.  He went to Kempe's Academy at Long Ashton in 1853,  and in the next year was sent for to play against the All England XI.  The match was played in a field at the back of the Full Moon in Stokes Croft.  So well did he longstop that he was presented with a bat by the Captain of the England team Clarke, and with great generosity he allowed his younger brother W.G. then aged five, to carry it home.  Unfortunately he was given out when the ball hit him on the waistcoat and he had made 3.  At least three of the England Players wore tall hats.

The following years at school and making the pitch at the Chestnuts and continual practice with the elder members of the family kept him busy.  His father was a good left-hand bowler and useful righthand bat, and his elder brothers Henry and Alfred very good cricketers, while his brother-in-law Alfred Pocock made it his especial care to coach W.G. and G.F., and three dogs Don, Tonto and Noble soon became wonderful fielders.  His mother used to watch and encourage and soon developed a great knowledge of the Game.  In 1858 he played for many Clubs, West Gloucester, Clifton, Bedminster, Bristol Medicals, and used to walk 11 miles to Lansdown with his bag, make heaps of runs and walk home again.  Curiously he made 10 centuries for Lansdown, and eleven centuries against them when playing for Thornbury.  In 1860 he played for South Wales, and in 1861 started bowling lobs as well as round-arm and after going in first for Berkeley carried his bat through the innings for 100 not out, out of a total of 119 and took every wicket.

In 1862 he startled the world when playing for the M.C.C. v. Kent during the Canterbury Week (which his Father and Mother always attended) by scoring 192 not out and taking all the wickets in the second innings, while the critics wrote that he was overflowing with cricket at every pore, full of lusty life, cheerily gay with energy inexhaustible.  And between 1860 and 1867 he was acknowledged to be the best cricketer in the world, when he was surpassed by W.G. who was seven years younger.  1863 was a great season as he scored 3071 runs, and took 349 wickets, being chosen to go to Australia with George Parr's team, the only side that never lost a match, all against odds.  They sailed from Liverpool on Oct. 15th, the voyage taking 5 months during which he was very seasick.  The following Verse on the Australian twelve was coined:

"First Mr. Grace, the only amateur that’s gone on this Antipodean tour.  What better man than he, or one more fit could have been chosen for the Australian trip.  With wondrous art the willow he doth wield and sends the batter flying oer the field.  The ball he handles too in no mean way, and often puts the stumps to grief they say.  Nor must we now forget to add a line, that in the field he's always seen to shine.

Unfortunately he developed a whitlow on his finger and even batted with a linseed poultice on it, so was not seen at his best and also found the long journeys by coach very trying over very rough country tracks, but one day the match being over early he challenged 6 Australians to a single wicket match on condition that he batted first, and when he had made 106 not out they gave up the one-sided struggle.

On his return he found W.G. doing very well and felt an extra effort was needed, so in 1865 scored 3 Centuries in 3 successive games (one of them against the famous All England XI) and took 24 wickets, and received his fiftieth Presentation Bat.  Between 1862 and 1870 he played for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lords and the Oval.

So keen was his eye and great his powers of observation that once while batting at Lords he saw H. P. Thurston (who had come up from Thornbury) come into the Pavilion at Lords, and immediately called out "Hullo Harry - saw your old grey horse this morning".  At the Oval they could not get Jupp, a great stone waller and darling of the Surrey crowd out so he bowled a very high lob which pitched on the bails as Jupp ignored it.  The crowd were furious and charged on the pitch threatening my Father, but he pulled up a stump and swinging it like a Club forced his way to the pavilion and safety.  Being very short - he is said not to have grown much till he was 19 when he reached 5 ft. 9 ½ in. - he batted with a bat much too long for him, and so appeared to use a cross, but making his celebrated pull stroke which with his keen eye was very effective.  His critics and Grundy the great bowler, said it was not cricket, but he said "Well, it may not be cricket but its four.  The object of batting is to make runs.  A man cannot make runs by hitting the ball to where the fieldsman is waiting for it, therefore the good cricketer is the man who puts the ball where no one expects it.  When a man pitches me a ball to hit to Long off, I am a fool.  If I do it, but if I pull it round to square leg I fool him".  He could also hit a ball very low and fast either through or over mid offs head which was very difficult to catch.  With this hit he made a very large number of high scores.  With his upright stance, quickness of eye and hand (a very good defence) a bowler never knew which ball he was going to hit or where.

As a bowler, he first bowled fast round arm, then mixed with lobs and finally lobs, with a low delivery flight, length and some spin.  These very often tempted a batsman to have a hit and get him caught. When hitting well he would often say "they were beginning to nibble".  As a fieldsman he was acknowledged to be the best point ever close in square with the wicket.  Many famous cricketers, Hornby, Murdock tried to kill him when he refused to stand further back but he caught them out.  Key, the Surrey Captain, hit one with great force, which he caught off the rebound, and afterwards when the ladies asked if he was hurt, he replied "it was lucky he had lunched or it would have gone through him".  On one occasion W.G. was bowling leg breaks on the leg side, he crept in so close that he made a famous catch to dismiss Stoddart on a sticky wicket, catching it with his right hand he passed it to his left and then to the wicket-keeper without moving his feet.

For years E.M. was a great athlete, any distance 100 yards to a mile, his favourite 120 yds.  High and long jump, pole jump, hop, skip and jump, and could jump a five barred gate in full hunting costume.  He and W.G. won most of the prizes at the Zoo Sports in those days.  Once W.G. beat him at his favourite distance by starting off before the pistol, but he had his revenge by defeating W.G. in the 220 (his special race) depriving him of ludico ludorum.

During these years he worked hard at Medicine, first as apprentice to his father at Downend, attending lectures at B.R.I. and in London and in 1866 qualified as a doctor. Although a good and clear writer, one of his examiners in Edinburgh wrote across his certificate, 'Mr. Grace is requested not to write with a stump".  He started to practice in Marshfield, but soon transferred to Olveston, and in 1868 married Miss Annie Stutchbury in Almondsbury Church and moved to Thornbury living in a house in Castle St.  While his cricket was at its peak in 1865 he and W.G. went down to Marlborough to play the College and there was some bragging and boasting in the train.  Unfortunately he was bowled for a duck and in Chapel  that evening the hymn 'The Scanty Triumphs Grace hath won, the broken vow" etc. was sung, but both scored well in the second innings.  Up to now he had been acknowledged as the greatest cricketer in the world and would have done even better if he had not had to work.

In 1870 his father, who had striven hard for ten years was instrumental in forming the Gloucestershire 'County Cricket Club and E.M. after one year as Captain became Secretary, and held that position for 39 years, W.G. being Captain.  It was thought very rash of them to challenge such famous, well-established Clubs as Surrey, Kent, Notts, M.C.C. and Yorkshire, but they did and were only defeated three times in the first five years, and were unbeaten at home for 8 seasons till the Australians beat them at Clifton in 1878.  In 1873 they were bracketed top with Notts, and in 1876 and 1877 were top, winning the Championship outright and played the rest of England at the Oval, thanks to the marvellous performances of the three brothers, E.M., W.G., and G.F.

It was in 1870 in September that E.M. brought an eleven to play against Thornbury who had run some sort of Club as early as 1852.  The game was played against 22 of Thornbury on the field at the back of what is now Browning's Antique shop to the north of Park House.  It is recorded that 23 of the Grace family watched the game.  E.M. made 211 not out and G.F. hit a ball right through a lady's parasol like a bullet.  Frank Gayner, Sidney's father, played in this game, and though very short in stature bowled a very fast round arm.  The Thornbury 22 included T.C. Smith the tailor who bowled lobs and later Captained the Thornbury Castle eleven.  For many years, when playing on the Ship ground he was such a good fielder, standing under the tree near the gate when E.M. was bowling that whenever the ball was hit in the air near him E.M. would sing out "Run, Tommie, run" as if encouraging hounds and turning to the batsman would say "You need not run, you are out".  The next year E.M. reformed the Thornbury Cricket Club with Mr. H. Jenner Fust as President and himself as Hon. Sec. and Treasurer, and Captain Jenner Fust was the first Captain of Cambridge in 1827 and a past President of M.C.C. and in 1874 Mr. W. O. Maclean became President for very many years.

In 1872 the Club moved up to their new ground at the Ship, Alveston which E.M. had rolled put and prepared, and what a start he made - 99 not out in first match against the Sociable Grosbecks when rain stopped play.  Ten centuries, 2 of them over 200, 1987 runs, average 141, and 146 wickets, average 5.  In 1874 he carried his bat through 6 innings scored 2052 runs and took 312 wickets.

In 1875 he scored 2426 runs and took 369 wickets.  In 1876 E.M. made his highest score 327 not out in a total of 502 for 4 wickets.  There being no declaration in those days The Chewton Keynsham XI said they had had enough for one day and refused to play any more.  1880 saw the first Test Match against the Australians at the Oval, and although it was 18 years since he startled the world by his all round play at Canterbury, he was selected on his merits and opening the innings with W.G. put on 91 for the first wicket.  In this Test G.F. caught the most marvellous catch over, a tremendous skier 115 yards from the wicket, but a fortnight afterwards died of pneumonia contracted by sleeping in a damp bed in a hotel in Gloucester in his 30th year.
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During this year the Thornbury Second XI played on a ground prepared for them below the Castle by Sir Stafford Howard and became the Thornbury Castle Cricket Club which flourished till the First War when they amalgamated with the old Club in 1919.

1881. Against J. Thomas XI Thornbury scored 674 for 3 wickets, E.M. 228, W.G. 196 not out, J.Cranston 174 not out, after dismissing their opponents for 42, - 716 runs in 5 hours.

1883. E.M. scored 3166 runs and took 250 wickets.

1884. While he was playing for the County at Manchester, his mother died and he and W.G. hastened home to pay their last respects to one they loved so well and who had such a great knowledge of the game.  Her name still appears in Wisden's "The Cricketers Bible" in the list of Births and Deaths.  The only woman I believe.  It was also during this year that his first wife died.

1885. He did not play at all owing to a damaged knee but in June married Miss Annie L. Robinson who had been previously engaged to his youngest brother G.F, before his sudden death, and belonged to a cricketing family.

1888 was an interesting year.  Thornbury scored 1041 runs for 10 wickets on two successive days going in second each day, 645 for six, V. Wotton, and 396 for five, v. Medicals, E.M. making 145 and 102 followed seven days later by 130 out of 160 runs scored against Old Sneyd Park.  In the first game 357 were scored for the first wicket.  He was now 47 and curiously W.G. was the same age when he had a revival of form scoring 1000 runs in May and his century of centuries is first class Cricket, and I also had a revival and scored 1000 runs.

1889. Thornbury played two matches in one day winning both.  The Lansdown match being over early, and the Oldown XI whose opponents had not turned up came along to watch challenged Thornbury and were accommodated at "The Ship".  E.M. took 19 wickets on the day.

1892. A family match was played on the County Ground against the Robinsons XI who had been running a side for some years playing Flax Bourton on Bank Holidays.  The Graces won, chiefly by a great innings of 81 by my Father.  I was terribly disappointed at not being able to play as I was only 64.  W.G. kept wicket as he had a damaged knee.

1896 E.M. played his last games for the County against Warwickshire and the Australians at Cheltenham.  The Australian match being over early on the 2nd day he challenged H. Donnan to a single wicket match to entertain the crowd.  They had 3 famous fielders on each side, and the game ended in a tie 46 runs each.  During the game a man would stand behind the bowlers arm when Father was batting and started barracking.  This he could never put up with, and with Donnan's permission chased him off the ground and out of the gate.  Donnan is still alive and I had a most interesting letter from him 2 years ago.  On another occasion when Thornbury were playing at Lydney two men came on to the ground and started barracking Father when he was batting.  One was tall and big and the other short and stockily built.  When he approached them the tall one turned and ran, so he continued his innings in peace.  At lunch when someone asked him why he went for the tall chap he said he always went for the biggest fellow.  They then told him how lucky he had been, as the other was the Champion Prize fighter of Wales.

1902. The game with Bath Association was over early so it was decided to have some fun and fireworks when Bath went in to bat again. W. Hyman scoring 352 not out in 100 minutes in a total of 461 for 6.  E.M. bowling one end throughout.  H. P. Thurston called on him to change the bowling, so laughingly he replied all right then I will go on at the other end.  Later H.P. called for a gun to shoot him and everybody enjoyed the fun.

1905. E.M. was still going strong with 473 runs and taking 303 wickets, but he surpassed this with 352 wickets in 1906 when he arranged 65 matches at the Ship, one for each year of his life, a remarkable feat considering he had taken 369 wickets 30 years before in 1875.  In 1909 when he was 68 he took 119 wickets and even played in 1910 after he had suffered a slight stroke.  During the whole of his career he might say with the Poet.

'I am the Batsman and the Bat. The Bowler and the Ball.
The Umpire, the Pavilion Cat.
The Roller, Pitch, the Stumps and all.

In all kinds of cricket he scored 76,760 runs and took 12,078 wickets, making 136 centuries, many over 200; 66 of them for Thornbury carrying his bat through the innings and taking all the wickets on many occasions.  He was a great match winner believing in attack.  In a match against Notts, Gloucestershire was set 75 to win and Morley was bowling at his best.  W.G. took in his cousin W.R. Gilbert to bat first for some unaccountable reason instead of E.M. who remarked "There go two of the slowest scorers in England."  When W.G. was out five wickets had fallen for 35 runs and he said as he passed E.M. on the pavilion steps "Keep your eye on Morley, Ted and play steady."  To which Father replied "Fat lot of good its done you chaps.  Keep your eye on Morley, indeed!  Look at the score!"  The first ball he received from Morley he hit for 6 with the result that Morley never bowled as well again and Gloucestershire won the match.

In 1875 E.M. was elected Coroner for South Gloucestershire receiving great support from the Duke of Beaufort and moved to Park House.  He was coroner for 36 years till his death. On one occasion a small boy who was always in fear of his elder brother, a great bully, saw him advancing on him in a threatening manner, turned suddenly and crashed into a lamppost fracturing his skull.  E.M. instructed the jury to bring in a verdict of manslaughter and at the Assizes the Judge complimented him on his knowledge of the Law and his courage in sending him to Court, against the weight of public opinion!  In another case he held an inquest on a man who had shot himself and instructed the jury to bring in a verdict of Felo-de-se, and was much amused when the foreman said "We are all of the opinion that the poor fellow shot himself, but we must bring in a verdict as how he did fall in the sea as the Coroner said  "Little Doctor knows best."

Besides working hard as a General Practitioner he held the positions of Public Vaccinator, Registrar of Births and Deaths, Superintendent Registrar, Poor Law Medical Officer.  Last but one Mayor of Thornbury before the Borough was disenfranchised 1885-6.  For many years elected Mayor at the Annual Court Leet, Chairman of the Parish Council and Thornbury Town Trust and Unionist Association. His punctuality was very remarkable. In fact one might almost say nothing could happen without his having a finger in the Pie.  Present at your birth, he registered it, vaccinated you, superintended registration of your marriage, signed your death certificate and registered it, or if you were unfortunately killed in an accident, sat on you holding an Inquest.

He had a very affectionate nature and though quick-tempered, never let the sun go down on his wrath.  Never smoked, was a T.T. for 29 years. Did not swear and used the following as a guide to his conduct:

"Think only of the Past, as its remembrance gives you pleasure"
"Always try to do unto others as you would they should do unto you"
"Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead."

He was married 4 times. 1868, 1885, 1902 and 1907.  When he married his last wife, Miss Brain, the sporting rag (The Pink 'Un) came out with this quip "What she lost in Brain she gained in Grace” .

In his young day he was very fond of dancing and rough shooting and all his life he was devoted to hunting in the winter.  Though never expensively mounted he always managed to keep with hounds riding any kind of steed straight or through any country however rough.  His eye for a good hunter was so great that he would buy a horse from the milk or butcher's cart.  He hunted with both the Berkeley and the Beaufort wearing the button with the former.  Even at the age of 65 he hunted with the Duke at the Monument at 6 a.m., held an inquest on an old man of 92 with ruptured heart, joined the Meet of the Berkeley at Wotton under edge, arriving home in the late afternoon in time to have some cricket practice, he took the Chair at a Conservative meeting in the evening.  Such was his energy and stamina.

Towards the end of his life he was much troubled by Rheumatic Arthritis of the knees, never out of pain and never sleeping more than an hour at a time at night.  In the Spring of 1911 he had a very severe stroke rendering him speechless and paralysed down the right side, and though he fought gamely died on May 20th and was buried at Downend where the cricket ground adjoins the churchyard and where in the centenary match in 1941 a Thornbury player hit a six at the crucial moment to defeat Downend, the ball pitching close to the grave.  A lovely rose window was presented to Downend Church by the family where the Old Family had always worshipped and a tablet similar to the one in Downend Church to his Mother, Father and G.F. was placed on the North Wall in Thornbury Church where he was a most regular attendant every Sunday evening.

On it is inscribed two lines of his favourite hymn.
"Tell me the old, old story." "Christ Jesus makes thee whole."
 

This page was last updated: 21/03/2012