"Finally a Face" - a biography on Reg WOOD (1860-1915)of Lancashire, Victoria and England."

Throughout the 20th century it was accepted by cricket's historians that Lancashire's Reg WOOD was the only English Test cricketer of whom there was no known photograph. Two have recently been located; one of him in cricket whites and the other in rugby attire.

Aged 25 he left for Australia and appears to have escape media attention within four years of his arrival, despite residing in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. He remained put of the media between the ages of 29-47 and 49-54, so a proper biography was impossible. However the book puts most of what is known about him between two covers for the first time.

After six matches for Lancashire, one for Liverpool and District, he played five times in Australia (including his sole Test. He died aged 54 but his death certificate shows a wrong age and his relatives are shown as "unknown". He was buried in an unmarked plot, paid for by the local authority.

His recently researched family tree is included along with school cricket match reports whilst at Charterhouse, copies of his birth and death certificates, reports on all twelve of his first-class appearances and photographs of his homes, places familiar to him in Australia and England, and his unmarked burial plot. These have been woven into what is known about him from cricket articles and my own research in Birkenhead, Liverpool, Melbourne and Sydney, plus the recently found photographs of him.

This 108-page, A5-size book contains 23 photographs and is limited to 500 signed copies. It should sell at £9.99 but to those who respond to this advert it is £9 which includes post and packing charges.

Cheques please to Philip Paine; 17 Norfolk Road, Tunbridge Wells, KENT. TN1 1TD.

I read David Kynaston's biography of Surrey and England player Bobby Abel in which he stated that the site of Abel’s grave in the huge Nunhead Cemetery, Southeast London was in danger of being lost due to some planned redevelopment. Although the book had been written a few years before I read it I decided to try to find the grave as it was local to where I was living at the time. I was given excellent directions by the "Friends of Nunhead Cemetery" plus the locations of more cricketers' graves in the cemetery and despite the grave being hidden in dense foliage I managed to find it. On the headstone was inscribed "The Guv'nor" - his nickname and although I missed it on my first visit, his cricket playing son, William, is interred with him.

I mentioned my find to a few Surrey CCC members who in turn led me to other players' graves, I knew where W.G.'s burial place was as it was also local and I wrote to the large cemeteries in London and the project quickly grew from there. At the time I thought that I could just managed 2 books but due to the help of other people, cemeteries and councils I found many more graves. I then discovered the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and this opened up a huge chapter of cricketers who had been killed in action who were buried both at home and abroad. I have also managed to locate graves whilst abroad with the same sort of help and have now located about 130 graves and memorials overseas.

As I type this introduction in the summer of 2004 I have written 7 books called Innings Complete and feel confident that I will be able to complete another 5 which will be published annually each autumn. Each book is A5 size and of about 56 pages and contains about 42 graves with one headstone photo per page and 5-6 lines of biographical notes under the photo. Each book is limited to 250 copies and are all signed by the author.

The books are £5 each (including postage and packing in the UK) and can be obtained from
Philip Paine
17 Norfolk Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN1 1TD

Copyright © Philip Paine and CricketArchive 2004-2008