Walter Hadow

Walter Henry Hadow passed away at Dupplin Castle on Thursday, September 15th, after a long illness. The eldest and most distinguished of several brothers who earned fame on the cricket field, Mr. Hadow was born in London on September 25th, 1849, and thus had not quite completed his forty-ninth year. Educated at Harrow, he soon displayed the possession of remarkable ability as a cricketer, and it is told of him in Scores and Biographies that when only 13 years of age he played an innings of a hundred. He made his first appearance at Lord's in the Schools" match of 1866-the same year that CI Thornton, the wonderful hitter, came out from Eton-and scored 31. Earlier in the same season he had attained great celebrity among his school fellows by making against the Household Brigade 181 not out - at that time the highest innings ever played at Harrow. In the following year he was not successful against Eton at Lord's, and going up to Oxford, he, curiously enough, never came off against Cambridge, although he obtained his Blue in 1870 and in the two subsequent years. Despite these failures for his University, he gave plenty of evidence of his skill as a batsman, and in 1871 he was included in the Gentlemen's team against the Players at Lord's, where, only a few weeks previously, he had scored 217 for Middlesex. This was an especially notable achievement, as no innings of over 200 had been hit in a good match at Lord's since the memorable 278 by Mr. Ward so far back as 1820. Mr. Hadow did little against the professionals at Lord's, wet weather spoiling the game, but at The Oval, a few days later, he made 97 against J. C. Shaw, and Southerton, and thereby had a large share in the Gentlemen"s victory by five wickets. In the autumn of 1872 he was invited to form one of the splendid team of amateurs Mr. R. A. Fitz-Gerald took out to Canada, the side including W. G. Grace, the late C. J. Ottaway, A. N. Hornby, the Hon. George Harris ( Lord Harris), Alfred Lubbock, Edgar Lubbock and Arthur Appleby. Unfortunately, Mr. Hadow had a finger put out, and, handicapped in this manner, he did nothing to add to his reputation. He played for Middlesex during the seventies, and after dropping out in 1877, he reappeared with considerable success a year later. Although only taking part in half a dozen matches, he made more than 300 runs. His chief success was against Notts on the occasion of Bob Thoms' benefit, when, against Alfred Shaw, Morley, Barnes and Flowers, he put together 140 and 44. A free and most polished batsman, Mr. Hadow had the habit, like another famous Harrovian, A. J. Webbe, of standing with his legs very wide apart, and thus did not make quite the most of his height, which was over 6 feet, but he was a very attractive player to watch, possessing remarkable power of wrist, his cut being an exceptionally fine stroke. Although known chiefly as a cricketer, Mr. Hadow distinguished himself in other branches of athletics. He was a skilful player at racquets and tennis, representing his University in the former game both in 1871 and 1872; while in the two previous years he pulled in his college (Brasenose) boat. Of the four brothers, all of whom played for Harrow, A. A. Hadow died four years ago, at the age of 41; E. M. Hadow passed away at Cannes, in 1895, at the still earlier age of 31; the one survivor being P. F. Hadow-a contemporary at Harrow of A. J. Webbe. Mr. Walter Hadow left a widow-Lady Constance Hadow-and three children. At the time of his death he was one of Her Majesty"s Prison Commissioners for Scotland.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack