Our man here is Edgar Arthur (Ted) McDonald, and he was born on the 6th of January, 1891, at Launceston on the island of Tasmania. He played cricket for the national Tasmanian team at the very early age of eighteen, until 1911 when he moved to the mainland. Strangely he was a Tasmanian batter, but played for Australia as a bowler. His first Test series was in 1920-21, against England, and he excelled, helping them to win the series three-nil. He then played against South Africa. However after that he decided to move to England, presumably Lancashire as he was in the League team in 1922 and picked up by the County in 1924.
This ought to make dating easy, but it makes it harder. You might imagine that this card was issued because of his Lancashire County fame but look, it says "Victoria". Another thought is that it comes from when he was playing in the 1920-21 Test, but then surely it would say "Australia", not "Victoria".
He retired in 1931, but found inactivity did not suit him and he agreed to return to Australia to play a handful of matches. Then he came back to England and bought a public house. Sadly he was killed in a car crash, in Lancashire, in 1937.
This is actually just part of a grouping, and as a card of the day it gets the honour of being the home page for that group.
This is first described in our original Godfrey Phillips reference book, RB.13, published in 1949, as :
58. CRICKETERS. Fronts : Uncoloured glossy photographs. Numbered in left bottom corner, number followed by letter "C", Name of player at top, County or team at base.
1. PINNACE photos - No series title
Backs in black, with details of exchange of cards for cabinet size photographs of players or teams, no descriptive text.
A. Miniature cards, size 45 x 35 m/m. All numbers between 1-c and 225-c have been seen EXCEPT Nos 1-15 and 98. Two cards numbered 84-c are known (a) Gunn, J ; (b) H.K. Foster. (a) is the error card - Gunn, J should be numbered 64-c
B. Large cards, size 85 x 61 m/m. Insufficient cards have been examined to posit the number of cards issued.2. Brown backed cards - titled "SERIES OF CRICKETERS".
Backs in brown with descriptive text. Inscribed "Available for Cabinet Exchange".
A. Small cards, size 64 x 38 m/m. 192 cards between numbers 1-c and 224-c are known. Cards NOT seen : 1-15, 23, 26, 40, 45, 46, 76, 88, 89, 98, 112, 113, 120, 129, 159, 161, 177, 202, 212. Two cards numbered 176-c are known (a) J.C. Clay ; (b) Hendren, E.H. (Hendren appears in the Footballer series at No.176,
B. Large cards, size 84 x 60 m/m. 25 cards have been seen, and it is believed that these were the only numbers issued :-
1-15, 90, 142, 207, 218-224
Now curiously when it gets to our original World Tobacco Issues Index this is much truncated, though there is a link back to the original Godfrey Phillips reference book. If you look without paying attention you will only see that it reads ;
CRICKETERS. Skipped numbers, see RB.13/58.2. Black and white photos. ... P50-54
A. Small, 64 x 38. 192 known
B. Large, about 84 x 60 (25)
However this is not all the cards, it is just our section. The Pinnace ones have been moved off to join the rest of the Pinnace cards under section 5A, and our two sets come first, being Cricketers rater than Footballers. Their listings read :
CRICKETERS (A). Min. Back 4. Nd. 16-C to 225-C (210) ... P50-42
CRICKETERS (A). Lg. Few only seen ................................... P50-44
It is slightly different in the updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index, and that reads, respectively :
5A. The Pinnace Issues
CRICKETERS (A). Skipped numbers to 224-c, all followed by letter "c". See RB.113/56
A. Min (198 known) B. Lg. (138 known)
5B. General Issues
CRICKETERS (A) Skipped numbers to 224-c, all followed by letter "c". B & W photos. ...P521-314
A. Sm. 64 x 38 (192 known) B. Lg, about 84 x 60 (25)