Edmund David

Photo Credit (opposite) – Glamorgan Cricket Archives

Edmund David holds a special place in the history of Glamorgan CCC, having led the county in their first-ever match against Warwickshire in June 1889. He struck the first blow in the game by winning the toss and electing to bat, but this was the high point of the match for the Welsh county as David, like his colleagues, struggled against the talented Warwickshire attack. He made just 0 and 2, as the Welsh county were comfortably defeated, but the former pupil of Cheltenham College subsequently secured a regular place in the county’s middle order over the course of the next ten years as they sought higher recognition.

His finest game was against Monmouthshire at Newport in 1896 when he produced career-best performances with both bat and ball, making 85 and returning figures of 4/48 with his nagging off-cutters. Although past his best, David also figured in Glamorgan`s side in the Minor County Championship during 1897 and 1898, with his final appearance for the Welsh county coming in 1900 when he appeared, at number nine, in the one-day encounter against WM Brownlee’s XI.

After leaving Cheltenham College, he became a leading figure with the South Wales CC for whom he played his first major match against the 1878 Australians at Swansea making 8 and 1. He subsequently became a leading figure with both the St. Fagans and Fairwater clubs, besides serving on the Glamorgan committee between 1888 and 1907.

Edmund was the third of six children born to William David, the influential Rector of St. Fagan’s, whose wife Margaret was the daughter of Tannatt Houston Thompson, the Commssioner General of Canada and whom he had met whilst spending time in the Quebec area.

After leaving Cheltenham College, Edmund became a leading figure with the South Wales CC for whom he played his first major match against the 1878 Australians at Swansea making 8 and 1. He subsequently became a leading figure with both the St. Fagans and Fairwater clubs, besides serving on the Glamorgan committee between 1888 and 1907.

He trained initially as a surveyor and worked for the Earl of Plymouth, who lived at St. Fagans Castle. In 1892 he persuaded the Earl, who had already given land in Penarth for a golf course, to create a course in St. Fagans. For several years, Edmund played golf for the St. Fagans club, alongside his many cricketing friends from Fairwater CC, as well as playing for the Porthcawl club.

Indeed, it was through golf that he met his wife Laura Webber, the daughter of the Principal Clerk in the House of Commons, who was Ladies captain at Porthcawl in 1898 and 1899. The couple got married in 1899 and set up home at Yscallog, a spacious property on Ely Road in Llandaff. The couple lived there until 1926 following EDmund’s appointment as Land Agent for the Margam Estate, on whose property he helped to oversee the creation of the Margam cricket pitch. He also served on the Port Talbot town council whilst his son Rodney, played for Glamorgan between 1925 and 1929. Edmund was also President of the Land Agents Society in 1931.

His eldest brother Tannant read Classics at New College, Oxford before becoming a noted geologist and explorer, based in Australia. In 1891 Tannant became Professor of Geology at the University of Sydney before, in 1901, joining Ernest Shackleton’s initial Antarctic Expedition. In March 1908 Tannant led the first successful ascent of Mount Erebus, the only active volcano in Antarctica, before later that year joining Shackleton on his successful expedition to the Magnetic South Pole.

DAVID, Edmund Ussher.

Born – St. Fagans, 24 April 1860.
Died – Nottage, 26 July 1942.

Batting and Fielding Record