Cricket's great amateur W. G. Grace out-earned the professionals
W. G. Grace was officially an amateur, yet he reportedly made more money from cricket than any paid player of his day. Victorian England's most famous sportsman, he played first-class cricket for 44 seasons, from 1865 to 1908, and his gamesmanship made him as controversial as he was admired.
Born in 1848 at Downend, then a village about four miles outside Bristol, he was the eighth of nine children of the local doctor, Henry Grace. The family lived and breathed the game. When W. G. was two they moved to a house with an orchard, which his father cleared for a practice pitch, and all nine children played, although the four daughters, like the dogs, were only allowed to field. Grace later insisted cricketers are made by coaching and practice rather than born, though he admitted growing up in its atmosphere.
He was a poor scholar. After pneumonia in 1863 his father took him out of school, and he then shot up to 6 feet 2 inches. Oxford and Cambridge both courted him, but his father wanted him in medicine, so he entered Bristol Medical School at 20. Cricket kept interrupting, and he did not qualify as a doctor until 1879, aged 31. He was also a champion hurdler over 440 yards and played football for the Wanderers, later taking up golf, bowls and curling.
Right-handed with bat and ball, he was a complete all-rounder, but his batting made his name. Usually opening, he commanded every stroke, and he is widely credited with inventing modern batsmanship. His tactical sense meant he captained most sides he played for, chiefly Gloucestershire, the Gentlemen and the MCC.
Test cricket began during his career, and he played 22 Tests for England between 1880 and 1899. In the first of them, in 1880, he lined up alongside his brothers E. M. and Fred, the first time three brothers appeared together in a Test. He died in 1915.
Source: W. G. Grace
