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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Andrew Ernest Stoddart | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1863-03-11)11 March 1863 Westoe,South Shields,Co. Durham, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 4 April 1915(1915-04-04) (aged 52) St John's Wood, London, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Stoddy, Drewy, Stod[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right armmedium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 56) | 10 February 1888 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 2 February 1898 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1885–1900 | Middlesex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:Cricinfo,11 November 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Andrew Ernest Stoddart (11 March 1863 – 4 April 1915) was an English sportsman who played internationalcricket forEngland, andrugby union forEngland and theBritish Isles. He was aWisden Cricketer of the Year in 1893.
He has the unique distinction in captaining England in three distinct sports; cricket, rugby union andAustralian rules football.[2]
Born inWestoe,South Shields,County Durham, England,[1] he was the youngest son of a wine merchant, who moved the whole family toMarylebone,London, in 1877. Stoddart made his reputation in club cricket and was playing forMiddlesex by 1885. He was a flamboyant right-handed batsman and a right arm medium pace bowler. He played 16Test matches captaining England in eight games of which he won three, lost four and drew one. His 173 atMelbourne in 1894–95 was, for 80 years, the highest score by an England captain inTest cricket in Australia.[2] Stoddart was also the first England captain to ask Australia to bat first, and the first to declare a Test innings closed.[1]
When he was 23, just a year after hisfirst-class debut, he was toying with the idea of giving up his amateur career in England to join his brother inColorado. His plans changed when he took the record for the highest ever score in cricket at the time with an innings of 485 forHampstead against Stoics on 4 August 1886.[3] No declarations were allowed in the game and the Stoics, living up to their name, fielded all day without a chance to bat. Stoddart was seventh out, having batted six hours and ten minutes and clubbed one eight, three fives, and 64 fours. The runs were scored at a rapid pace – the score was 370 for 3 at lunch after 150 minutes of play. He made 207 for Hampstead in the next match three days later and on 9 August was playing for Middlesex and made 98, a grand total of 790 runs in a week. Stoddart was a man with a great zest for life in his younger days. He had danced then played cards until dawn before the Stoics game, batted almost through Hampstead's innings of 813, then played tennis, went to the theatre and turned in at 3 a.m. His next innings was against Kent when he posted his maiden first-class century in scoring 116.
Then wrote the queen of England
Whose hand is blessed by God
I must do something handsome
For my dear victorious Stod.
Seventy years later,David Frith usedMy Dear Victorious Stod as the title of his acclaimed biography of Stoddart.[5]
Stoddart also played tenrugby union internationals for England, and captained England four times.[6] During his footballing career, Stoddart was at the forefront of many rugby firsts. In 1888, with fellow cricketersAlfred Shaw andArthur Shrewsbury he helped organise what became recognised as the firstBritish Lions rugby union tour ofAustralia and New Zealand in 1888. The team played 55 matches, winning 27 of 35 rugby matches.[a] He took over the captaincy early in the tour whenRobert L. Seddon drowned in asculling accident.[6]
In 1890, Stoddart became a founding member of theBarbarian F.C., the invitational rugby club.[6] On 27 December that year, Stoddart was given the captaincy of the very first Barbarian team, in a game againstHartlepool Rovers.[7]
While on tour in Australia, Stoddart met Emily Luckham, also known as Ethel Elizabeth, a popular singer and reciter, who subsequently marriedBulletin journalist andManly, New South Wales sporting identity, Robert Adams Luckham. In 1901, Emily left for Europe, reportedly for the good of her voice. She did not return, and her husband divorced her on grounds of desertion in 1903. She married Stoddart in 1906.
Stoddart and his wife lived inSt John's Wood, London. He worked on theLondon Stock Exchange, then became secretary ofQueen's Club.[2] But like many wholehearted sportsmen, including fellow England captain,Arthur Shrewsbury, with whom he had opened the batting in Australia in 1893, he found life difficult after leaving the arena. In 1915, in failing health and burdened by debt he committed suicide, by firearm, in his bedroom in London.[2][8] His remains lie in an unmarked grave inRadford, Coventry.[2] A street inSouth Shields is named after him.[9]
A portrait painted by Henry Weigall Jr, of Stoddart batting andGregor MacGregorkeeping wicket, was given to theMCC in 1927 by W.H. Patterson, a MCC committee member. The identity of the artist of the oil painting was only reaffirmed in 2018. The picture regularly hangs in thePavilion atLord's.[2]
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | English national cricket captain 1894 1897/8 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Middlesex County Cricket Captain 1898 (jointly withAlexander Webbe) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | English National Rugby Union Captain Feb 1890 Mar 1890 Jan 1893 Mar 1893 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | British and Irish Lions Captain Aug-Oct 1888 | Succeeded by |