Teddy Davies was one of the most active playing members of the South Wales Cricket Club, as well as the Breconshire county eleven and Crickhowell CC from the 1860s until the 1890s, having made his debut for the Club aged fifteen alongside an equally youthful WG Grace against the MCC at Lord’s.
Born at Dan-y-garth in Llangattock during November 1848, his father Edward was the Land Agent to the Duke of Beaufort, whilst his mother Elizabeth was the daughter of a banker, Thomas Gratrex. Teddy was educated at Christ College in Brecon where he also showed good promise as a rugby player, besides being a good shot with the rifle.
However, it was cricket at which he excelled and after some outstanding performances for the College and the Crickhowell club, who he captained from 1875 until his death in 1899, Teddy became a mainstay of the South Wales Cricket Club from 1864 until the organisation’s final summer in 1886. He also played for Breconshire from 1865 until 1887, besides making occasional appearances for Monmouthshire between 1868 and 1884 – and all whilst being one of the leading solicitors in Crickhowell, having qualified in 1871.
Teddy was the supreme all-rounder and described by a contemporary as “a very fast bowler, a punishing bat and a magnificent wicket-keeper.” He scored a number of centuries for the Crickhowell club, whilst his best score in county cricket was 85 for Breconshire against Herefordshire at Widemarsh Common in 1871. He also posted 61 for the county against Radnorshire in 1865 whilst his top score for the South Wales Cricket Club was 54 against the Gentlemen of Sussex in 1878.
As far as his bowling was concerned, he claimed eight wickets for Breconshire against Monmouthshire at Usk in 1871, as well as seven wickets against Carmarthenshire at Brecon in 1865. He also completed six-wicket hauls for Breconshire against Herefordshire in 1870, 1871 and 1872, as well as Monmouthshire on his home patch at Crickhowell in 1885. Turning to his wicket-keeping record, his best days behind the stumps in county matches were at Brecon in 1870 when he claimed four catches against Glamorganshire, as well as Widemarsh Common in July 1871 when he completed four stumpings for Monmouthshire against Herefordshire.
Teddy regularly went on the South Wales Club’s annual tour to London and the Home Counties, whilst in July 1878 he was selected to play for the Club against the Australian tourists at Swansea. Besides being an active member of the MCC, Teddy also made a number of guest appearances for other teams, including Newport CC when he featured in their exhibition match in 1881 against the United England XI at Rodney Parade – a match which saw Teddy score 2 and 1.
The following year Teddy also accepted an invitation from William Morgan, a leading figure in industry, cricket and politics in South Wales, to play for his team, dubbed as “An England XI” against Monmouthshire at The Polo Ground in Pontypool. Teddy made 10 in the drawn game which also saw Gerry Wontner, his Crickhowell colleague, feature in the county’s line-up.
William was also a founding committee member of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, which had been created at a meeting in The Angel Hotel during July 1888. The following month, William organised a trial match against his club Llwynypia in the hope of unearthing suitable talent, and he invited Teddy to keep wicket in the contest. He duly scored 0 and 4, besides completing four stumpings as Llwynypia won by four wickets. It was not a great start for the fledgling county but at least Teddy could claim, thanks to his friendship with William, to be the first-ever person to play for England and Glamorgan!
Teddy’s final representative match came in June 1895 when he played for an eleven representing the South Wales Cricket Club against Glamorgan at Swansea and scored 6 and 11. By this time, he was also a father having married in 1884 Elizabeth Morgan, the sister of the wealthy banker and eight-times mayor of Brecon, John Morgan. Newspapers reported that over 2,000 people crowded into the town’s Priory Church, while “the day was kept nearly as an idle one in Crickhowell, the bells of St Edmund’s Church ringing and guns firing all day, and at night fire balls were let off.”
The couple lived at Herbert Hall in Crickhowell and duly had two boys and a girl as well as another child who sadly died in infancy. Elizabeth herself passed away in 1894 and nine months later, Teddy remarried as Amy Mason, the daughter of the former Consul-General of Siam (now Thailand) became his second wife. Teddy also owned Tymawr Farm at Llangattock and took a great interest in farming, serving as Vice-President of the Crickhowell Agricultural Association.
He also fulfilled many other leading roles in the life of the town, with Teddy acting as Crickhowell’s first representative on Breconshire County Council when the public body was created in 1889, besides being elected Chair of Crickhowell Parish Council in 1894. Teddy had also joined the Breconshire Rifle Volunteers at the age of seventeen and by the time he retired in 1894 had risen to the rank of Major.
1898 sadly proved to be Teddy’s final season as captain of Crickhowell CC as over the winter months he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Jaundice also set in and during the late Spring he went to a spa hotel in Weston-super-Mare hoping to recuperate. But his health continued to deteriorate and he passed away on 3 June at the age of fifty.
Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
It had been his hope that he might, one day, play for the town club alongside his son Valentine Llewelyn Gratrex Davies who had been born in Crickhowell in October 1886. Valentine attended Felsted School in Essex where he showed great prowess as an all-round athlete, representing the school at cricket, but the time Valentine played some match-winning innings for the town club against arch-rivals Abergavenny CC , Teddy had passed away.
With Valentine’s step-mother deciding to move away from the Breconshire town, Valentine also decided to leave and in 1912 he emigrated to Canada where he became a cattle rancher in British Columbia. In September 1914 he was one of many men who enlisted with the Canadian Infantry, and during October 1914, Private Davies was a member of the 7th Canadian Infantry which arrived in the UK ahead of service on the Western Front. Tragically, on 24 April 1915 in Flanders, Valentine, amongst many others, lost his life as the Battalion was shredded by flying shrapnel and choking from the poisonous gas deployed by the German troops.
DAVIES, Edward Gratrex (“Teddy”)
Born – Dan-y-Garth, Llangattock, 28 November 1848.
Died – Weston-super-Mare, 3 June 1899.