Picture by Brian Sanderson/Yorkshire Archives Committee. The headstone of Ted Peate was unveiled at Yeadon Cemetery in October.
When you look down the list of Yorkshire’s best bowling figures in first-class cricket, there are plenty of highlights to choose from. Three players have taken 10 wickets in an innings, for example, the great Hedley Verity doing it twice. Plenty of nine-fers too. But another one catches the eye. Ted Peate’s 8-5 against Surrey at Holbeck in 1883.
Of course, they don’t match up to Verity’s 10-10 against Nottinghamshire at Headingley in 1932. Incidentally, if you’re scrambling around for a late Christmas present, the Yorkshire Post’s cricket correspondent Chris Waters wrote a good book on that subject a few years ago.
But Peate, also a slow left-armer like Verity, can proudly take his place on that list.
Earlier this winter, Peate, who died aged 45 in 1900, was honoured by the addition of a headstone to his previously unmarked grave at Yeadon Cemetery.
One of the men behind that was Peate’s biographer, Ian Lockwood, who back in May had the book Ten Drunks and a Parson, The Life and Times of Ted Peate published. Another Christmas present idea!
That took place in late October, and we have caught up with Lockwood to reminisce about Peate’s career with Yorkshire and England, one which brought him 1,076 wickets in 209 first-class matches.
Thirty one of those came in nine Tests for England in the 1880s.
He also has the distinction of being the first name on the famous Lord’s honours board when his first-innings figures of 6-85 helped England win the first ever Ashes Test against Australia at that venue in 1884.
Lockwood said: “I think a really interesting thing is that Ted came from Clown Cricket, which was a quite bizarre phenomenon where a troupe of clowns would go from town to town and city to city and play at local clubs for fundraising.
“They would have one or two decent cricketers in there, and Ted was part of that.
“It was a big thing back then, although it was frowned upon by the authorities.
“But Ted was a working class lad, a mill lad.
“He played for Yeadon, his local club, without making too much of an impact. That’s probably because he was young and Yeadon were one of the best teams around at that time.
“So he was set up with Manningham in Bradford, near to where Bradford City play. That’s where he emerged. Manningham actually played at the Scarborough Festival, and he was spotted and offered a trial by Yorkshire.
“Don’t forget, those were the days of uncovered pitches, and Ted was deadly on a wet pitch. But he was highly effective when the sun was shining too.
“He actually started out as a seamer, and I think someone at Yeadon suggested he turn to spin.”
Peate obviously has history with the Australians given his Lord’s exploits, but Lockwood said: “In one calendar year, he played against them 14 times, including five times for Yorkshire. That’s quite incredible when you think about it. He did well in them all.”
In terms of the headstone, Lockwood came up with the initial idea to get one installed and pays tribute to the support of Brian Sanderson, who is on the Yorkshire Archives Committee.
“It cost about £2,000 in the end, and that was a combination of raising money from a Just Giving Page, I got a generous donation from the Former Yorkshire Players Group, and the rest was raised via book sales.
“Initially, I’d heard about Ted and his unmarked grave, and obviously with the book I felt he had an interesting story to tell.
“As it went on, it became a sort of mission.
“I was put in touch with Brian, who was supportive right from the word go. Brian said to me that there were 11 Yorkshire cricketers buried in Yeadon Cemetery and that none of them played for England and none of them had anything like Ted’s record.
“They all had a headstone and he didn’t.
“To have some of his relatives there on the day it was unveiled, and the sun shone and the birds were singing, it all felt very poignant. It was lovely. And, yes, I felt immensely proud.”
While there is no doubt that Peate was a larger than life character, Lockwood does believe he had been somewhat misconceived back in the late 19th century.
He added: “Lord Hawke sacked him, and very well-respected cricket writers have just followed on from that because he was drunk or because he was insubordinate.
“But I think it was a strategic cricket decision.
“He was a big bloke, his eyesight was poor, and he was prone to injuries. There were youngsters coming through.
“Two years after not renewing his contract, Lord Hawke appointed him as the first groundsman/manager at Headingley.
“Now, you don’t sack someone for being drunk or insubordinate and then re-employ them to a very significant position. I think there was more to it than that.”
Picture courtesy of Brian Sanderson/Yorkshire Archives Committee. Former Yorkshire and England spinner Ted Peate.
