A campaign to mark the last resting place of a famous Yorkshire and England cricketer whose name is top of the Lord’s honours board has been launched.
Ted Peate was considered the best spin bowler in the world and was feared by the Australians but he lies buried in an unmarked grave at the side of Leeds-Bradford airport.
Now, to mark the first ever biography of Peate which is published in May, supporters plan to install a headstone on the bare patch of grass which marks his grave. Yorkshire County Cricket Club have given their support to the campaign.
The name of Ted Peate is the very first on the world’s famous Lord’s honours board after he took six wickets for 85 runs against Australia at the home of English cricket in 1884.
He was the last man out in the famous Test which gave birth to the Ashes and for seven of his eight seasons with Yorkshire he was their leading wicket taker. He was also the first groundsman at Headingley and the club professional for Leeds.
Yet it came as a huge shock to the cricketing world when he was sacked by Yorkshire, supposedly because of drunken behaviour and insubordination. However in his book ‘Ten Drunks and a Parson – the Life and Times of Ted Peate’ author Ian Lockwood casts doubt on this version of events.
Peate learned his cricket at Yeadon and also played for Manningham. After his Yorkshire sacking he was club professional at Skipton for seven seasons before his death from pneumonia at age 45.
“Today most people have never heard of Ted Peate but in the 1880s he was the best spin bowler in the world. That’s not my judgement, it’s the view of the Australian captain Billy Murdoch,” said Mr Lockwood. “He died in 1900, the family couldn’t afford to put up a gravestone and he’s been forgotten. It’s time to put that right.”
Now he has launched an appeal to provide a headstone marking his last resting place highlighting his Yorkshire and England record (more than 1,000 first class wickets at an average of 13.19 with a best of eight wickets for 24 runs against Surrey).
Donations for a headstone on Ted Peate’s grave can be made here.
Ten Drunks and a Parson – The Life and Times of Ted Peate is out on May 27 published by Pitch Publishing.
