This card was sent in by a reader, because it shows that the use of eyeglasses in cricket was allowed much earlier than in football, and also much earlier in cricket than I spoke of in the week.
For here we have Ernest Harry "Tim" Killick, who was born in Horsham on the 17th of January, 1875 and who played for Sussex from 1893 to 1913. And he wore eyeglasses, continuously, including on the field of play, from 1897 onwards.
Now you may be thinking that for most of his time he was a reserve, or left on the bench, but no, because he took part in three hundred and ninety consecutive matches, scored 18,768 runs, and took 729 wickets.
To put that in perspective, the current record for the most consecutive first-class appearances is held by Ken Suttle, and it stands at four hundred and twenty-three matches, between 1954 and 1969. More intriguingly, Mr. Suttle broke the record of Joe Vine, with four hundred and twenty-one matches, between 1900 to 1922, thus breaking our man`s record.
Stranger still, all these men played for Sussex.
The first listing of these cards comes in our original Taddy reference book, RB.12, published in 1948, and that reads as follows :
- 11. ? 238. COUNTY CRICKETERS (titled). Size 2 5/8" x 1 7/16" or 67 x 37 m/m/. Unnumbered. Fronts printed by letterpress in black. Backs in black, as follows : -
(a) "Grapnel Mixture" advertisement
(b) "Imperial Tobacco" advertisement. The letterpress of the advertising matter at the base of the card is found in two slightly different types (a) upright (b) slanting.
No subjects are known with more than one advertisement.
W. G. Grace`s last full season was 1902, but he played occasionally in first-class cricket up to 1908; his card, issued without a stated County, may have been the introductory card to the series.
From the names of the players represented in this series, some conclusions can be drawn as regards the probable date of issue. All the players were well-known in first-class cricket in 1907 (with a few explainable exceptions); J.T. Tunnicliffe, a prominent Yorkshire player , retired at the end of that season and is not included in the series. Glover of Warwckshire and Daniell of Somersetshire (incorrectly recorded on the card as Daniel) took over the Captaincy of their Counties in 1908, but that year`s Captain of Northamptonshire, T.E. Manning, and a prominent Middlesex player in 1908, L.J. Moon are not included in the series. It appears likely, therefore, that the cards were prepared after the conclusion of the 1907 but before the end of the 1908 season, which points to issue during the summer of 1908.
To date, 15 players have been recorded for 13 of the Counties, but only 14 players for the other three, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire. All the prominent players of the latter three Counties in 1907 have already been recorded and it may well be that in these three caes only 14 cards were issued, making a total of 238 cards in all.
COUNTY CRICKETERS SUMMARY
1. Derbyshire ...................... 15
2. Essex ............................... 15
3. Gloucestershire ............ 15
4 Hampshire ...................... 15
5. Kent .................................. 15
6. Lancashire ...................... 15
7. Leicestershire ................ 14
8. Middlesex ........................ 15
9. Northamptonshire.......... 15
10. Nottinghamshire............. 14
11. Somersetshire................. 15
12. Surrey................................ 15
13. Sussex .............................. 15
14. Warwickshire .................. 15
15. Worcestershire ............... 14
16. Yorkshire........................... 15
17. Without County ............... 1
_______
238__
Now, if we just break that entry off for a moment, I am not sure why nobody else has noticed what I am about to throw into the ring and that is if we consider, as they did above, that W.G. Grace was a promo card, advertising the series, without him there are 237 cards - and with the three cards that are "missing" (from Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire), it would actually make a set of 240 cards, a much rounder total. But as to why these three still remain unaccounted for, I have no explanation.
Anyway, to return to the entry, it continues, with
There are numerous cards with minor typesetting errors, i.e. omission of stop after initials or comma at end of team.
Individual cards by teams : -
(to be tapped in later as the scanning and pasting failed, dismally....)
There is a much shorter entry in our original World Tobacco Issues Index. That reads as follows :
- COUNTY CRICKETERS. Sm. Black and white. Unnd. (238). See RB.12/11
Vari-backed, two wordings.
1. Derbyshire (15)
2. Essex (15)
3. Gloucestershire (15)
4. Hampshire (15)
5. Kent (15)
6. Lancashire (15)
7. Leicestershire (14)
8. Middlesex (15)
9. Northamptonshire (15)
10. Nottinghamshire (14)
11. Somersetshire (15)
12. Surrey (15)
13. Sussex (15)
14. Warwickshire (15)
15. Worcestershire (14)
16. Yorkshire (15)
17. Without County - Dr W. G. Grace (1)