Albert Trott, the only batsman ever to hit a ball over the Lord's pavilion and a Test cricketer for both Australia and England, shot himself at his Willesden Green lodgings on 30 July 1914 — five days before Britain entered the war. He was 41, ill, in debt, and had left a hand-written will on the back of a laundry bill bequeathing his wardrobe to his landlady.
Trott had moved to England in the 1890s and played for Middlesex from 1898 to 1910. His career had ended in financial trouble and ill health.
By 1914 he had been retired four years. He was suffering from dropsy and was in serious debt.
Trott had been a wonderful all-round cricketer in the 1890s. He played three Tests for Australia in 1894-95, then qualified for Middlesex by residence and played twice for England against South Africa in 1898-99. In 1899 he hit a ball from the Australian off-spinner Monty Noble clean over the Lord's pavilion — the only batsman ever to do so. He took 200 first-class wickets in a season twice. By the 1910s his career was long over and his life had collapsed. He had been ill with dropsy. On 30 July 1914 his landlady found him dead in his bedroom at 56 Denbigh Road, Willesden Green. He had shot himself with a revolver. On the back of a laundry bill in his pocket was a will leaving his wardrobe to his landlady; the document was eventually accepted as legally valid. He was buried at Willesden Cemetery. The inquest returned the verdict of suicide while of unsound mind. Trott's death — five days before Britain went to war — closed a particular chapter of pre-war cricket suicide and despair, alongside Stoddart's the following spring.
1894-95: Three Tests for Australia
1898-99: Two Tests for England against South Africa
31 Jul 1899: Hits ball over Lord's pavilion off Monty Noble
1910: Retires from Middlesex
30 Jul 1914: Found dead by suicide at Willesden Green
1873
Albert Edwin Trott born in Melbourne
1894-95
Three Tests for Australia
1899
Hits ball over Lord's pavilion
1910
Retires from Middlesex
30 Jul 1914
Found dead by suicide at Willesden Green
“I leave my wardrobe to Mrs Crowhurst.”
Trott was buried at Willesden Cemetery in a Middlesex CCC-funded plot. His will, written on a laundry bill, became one of the famous probate curiosities of the period.
An Edwardian double-international all-rounder dead by his own hand five days before war broke out, with a will scrawled on a laundry bill.
Trott's death is among the most poignant of cricket suicides — a man who had hit the most famous six in cricket history dying alone in lodgings, a week before the war. His name is still attached to the over-the-pavilion six at Lord's, which no one has ever repeated.
England
1932-08-12
In August 1932 the MCC selectors confirmed Douglas Jardine as England's captain for the 1932-33 tour of Australia, a decision contested at the highest levels of English cricket and one that — combined with Plum Warner's appointment as tour manager — would set the conditions for the Bodyline series.
England
1934-03-21
On 21 March 1934 Douglas Jardine wrote to The Cricketer that he had 'neither the desire nor the intention' of playing in the upcoming home Ashes series. The announcement, taken as a quiet resignation, removed the architect of Bodyline from the field before Australia returned to England — a precondition Australia's Board had implicitly demanded.
England / Gloucestershire
1937-11-15
In November 1937 Wally Hammond — the leading professional batsman of his era — was accepted by MCC as an amateur, opening the door to the England captaincy he received six months later for the 1938 Ashes. The change crystallised inter-war debates about the amateur-professional divide and the unwritten rule that England's captain be amateur.