 An 1895 sketch of Toller | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Montagu Henry Toller | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1871-01-01)1 January 1871 Barnstaple, Devon, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 5 August 1948(1948-08-05) (aged 77) Meon Beach,Titchfield, Hampshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1889–1895 | Devon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1897 | Somerset | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FC debut | 17 May 1897 Somerset v Yorkshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LastFC | 26 July 1897 Somerset v Yorkshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source:CricketArchive,22 December 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Montagu Henry Toller (1 January 1871 – 5 August 1948) was an Englishcricketer who played for bothDevon andSomerset in the late 19th century. He made sixfirst-class appearances for Somerset, all in 1897, but was predominantly a goodclub cricketer. In 1900, he was part of the Devon Wanderers team that represented Great Britain in the1900 Summer Olympics, the only time cricket has featured in the Olympics.
Montagu Henry Toller was born inBarnstaple, Devon, on 1 January 1871,[1] the son of William Henry Toller.[2] He attendedBlundell's School inTiverton, where he played for both the cricket XI and the rugby XV. Like his father before him, he became a solicitor, but after marrying Harriet Jones in 1901, he assumed joint-management of the Royal & Fortescue Hotel in Barnstaple with his new wife.[1] He took an active role in local politics, and was elected as an independent candidate to both the County and Town Councils.[3][4] He later split from his wife, who maintained management of the hotel, while Toller moved toBrighton where he once again practiced as a solicitor. He died after a short illness in Meon Beach,Titchfield,Hampshire, on 5 August 1948, aged 77.[1][5]
Toller was described in an article about him in theWestern Evening Herald as being "an adept" at both rugby and cricket, and was an all-round sportsman who also played tennis, golf and billiards to a respectable level.[6] At cricket, Toller was a right-handed batsman and right-armfast bowler,[7] with a strong and sturdy physique.[8] He was described by the Somerset cricket historian Stephen Hill as a prominent club cricketer who was a "leading light" for the Devon and Somerset Wanderers.[1] He played second-class cricket forDevon between 1889 and 1895,[9] during which time he was presented with many awards for his bowling and batting performances. During 1895 he was invited to play forW. G. Grace's team towards the end of the season, in which he scored 41 runs in the first innings.[6] He had a successful trial withSomerset in 1897,[10] in which he scored 33 runs for "Sammy Woods' XI",[a][7] and he subsequently made sixfirst-class appearances for the county that season as an amateur.[8] Hill describes his usage for Somerset as strange; in club cricket Toller was best regarded for hisfast bowling, and yet he only bowled once for Somerset, taking one wicket for 15 runs againstPhiladelphia.[1] By the end of the 1897 season,Cricket magazine said that he had "proved an entire failure" for Somerset.[10]
His obituary in theNorth Devon Journal praised his rugby prowess forBarnstaple RFC, one of the prominent clubs in the south-west at the time. He played as athree-quarter back, and was also capped at county level forDevon,[12][13] for whom he first appeared in 1889. In the 1894–95 season, he achieved the rare feat of scoring threedrop goals in one match for Barnstaple. He was offered the captaincy of Barnstaple more than once, but declined it on each occasion.[6]
Toller was a member of the gold medal-winning Great Britain cricket team at the1900 Summer Olympics,[14] the only time cricket has featured in the Olympics. In the only game, againstFrance, he scored two runs in the Great Britain first innings and did not bat in the second. He took seven wickets, all of thembowled, while conceding only nine runs in the French second innings, helping Great Britain to victory with just five minutes to spare in the match.[15][16]
