Richard Wardill

This article is about the Australian cricketer. For the Australian rules footballer, see Dick Wardill.

Richard Wardill

Personal information
Full name	Richard Wilson Wardill
Born	(1840-11-03)3 November 1840 Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Died	17 August 1873(1873-08-17) (aged 32) Melbourne, Australia
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm medium pace (roundarm)
Role	Batsman
Relations	Benjamin Wardill (brother) Dick Wardill (son)
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1861–73	Victoria
1864	G. Anderson's XI
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 10 Runs scored 381 Batting average 25.40 100s/50s 1/1 Top score 110 Balls bowled 202 Wickets 8 Bowling average 10.50 5 wickets in innings 0 10 wickets in match 0 Best bowling 3/23 Catches/stumpings
Source: CricketArchive

Richard Wilson Wardill (3 November 1840 – 17 August 1873) was an Australian cricketer who played in ten first-class cricket matches, eight of which were for Victoria.

Family

The son of the stockbroker Joseph Wilson Wardill (1796–1866), and Mary Wardill (1815–1878), née Briddon, Richard Wilson Wardill was born at Everton, Liverpool, England on 3 November 1840. He was the brother of Benjamin Johnston Wardill (1842–1917).

He married Eliza Helena Lovett Cameron (1848–1943), later Mrs. Edward Thomas Tatham, on 18 May 1871. Their son, Richard Cameron Wardill (1872–1929) was born in Melbourne on 5 July 1872.

Cricket

He was the first cricketer to score a century in Australian first-class cricket, when he made 110 and 45 not out in Victoria's victory over New South Wales in 1867–68. Wardill was also an influential player and administrator in the early years of Australian rules football. On Boxing Day 1866 he captained the Melbourne Cricket Club against the Western District Aboriginal cricket team, led by Tom Wills.

Cricket writer Gideon Haigh published an article on Wardill in 1992 titled "The Drowned Bradman".

Football

In between 1859 and 1861 he played a number of games of Australian Rules Football with (pre-VFL) Melbourne, Richmond, and St Kilda.

Death

Wardill committed suicide by drowning himself in the Yarra River on 17 August 1873.

"In 1872-73 Wardill had serious personal problems probably because of speculation in mining shares; he embezzled £7000 from his employers, the Victoria Sugar Co. On 17 August 1873, aged 38, he committed suicide by jumping into the Yarra River…" – Australian Dictionary of Biography.

See also

• List of Victoria first-class cricketers

References

• Haigh, Gideon, "The drowned Bradman", Independent Monthly, (December 1991-January 1992), pp. 23–24.

External links

• Richard Wardill, at Demonwiki.