George Frederick 'Fred' Grace, the youngest of the cricketing Grace brothers, played his only Test at The Oval in September 1880, took the most famous deep catch of the 19th century, and was dead of pneumonia two weeks later, aged 29. His joint appearance with WG and EM is the only time three brothers have played together in a Test; the family lost their youngest within a fortnight of the historic match.
The Grace brothers were the most famous family in Victorian cricket. Their mother Martha had coached all five sons in the orchard at Downend. EM (born 1841), WG (1848) and Fred (1850) were the three first-class players; a fourth brother, Henry, played minor cricket. By 1880 the brothers were household names across the Empire.
Fred had been in good form during the 1880 season. His selection alongside WG and EM for the inaugural home Test was a family triumph. Through the three days at The Oval he made twin ducks but was central to England's win with the catch off Bonnor.
Fred Grace, born December 1850, was widely regarded as the most graceful batsman of the three brothers. He had captained the United South of England Eleven on its travelling missions and was a regular for Gloucestershire alongside WG and EM. When the inaugural home Test was scheduled for September 1880 at The Oval, all three brothers were named in England's XI.
In the match, Fred made 0 and a duck — his only Test scores. But he held what Barclay's Book of Cricket later called 'the most famous deep field catch in history': running back from long-on to take a steepling hit from the giant Australian batsman George Bonnor off Alfred Shaw, 115 yards from the bat. Bonnor and his partner had almost completed three runs by the time Fred Grace settled under it. 'My heart stopped beating as I went on waiting for the ball to come,' he later said.
During the second day's play Fred took a chill. He travelled the next week to Basingstoke for an exhibition match, slept in a damp bed at the Red Lion Hotel, and developed a fever. By 22 September he was dead, of what the death certificate called 'congestion of the lungs' — pneumonia in modern terms. He was 29.
WG Grace, who was playing in the same exhibition, was devastated. EM, the eldest, was stoic in public but reportedly never spoke of the loss. The cricketing world, which had only just celebrated three brothers playing for England together, was thrown into mourning.
6 Sep 1880: All three Grace brothers in England XI for first home Test.
Fred Grace runs 115 yards to catch Bonnor off Shaw.
Fred makes 0 in both innings — only Test runs of his career.
England win the match by 5 wickets.
Within a week Fred has caught a chill, possibly aggravated at Basingstoke.
Damp bed at the Red Lion Hotel, Basingstoke, blamed in some accounts.
22 Sep 1880: Dies of 'congestion of the lungs' — pneumonia.
Buried at Downend, Bristol, near the family home.
13 Dec 1850
Fred Grace born at Downend, near Bristol.
6-8 Sep 1880
Plays his only Test at The Oval.
Mid-Sep 1880
Catches a chill, then plays in Basingstoke.
22 Sep 1880
Dies of pneumonia, aged 29.
Sep 1880
Buried at Downend.
“My heart stopped beating as I went on waiting for the ball to come.”
“The most famous deep field catch in history.”
WG Grace was inconsolable for months. He had captained Gloucestershire alongside Fred for years and the loss left a permanent gap in his life and the side. EM, who outlived both his brothers, succeeded WG as the Gloucestershire patriarch.
The death prompted concern among Victorian sports doctors about the risks of damp pavilions and travelling fixtures. Fred became one of the first famous English sportsmen to die in his prime, and his story is a regular fixture in cricket histories of the 1880s.
One of the saddest stories in cricket: a 29-year-old in his prime, the youngest of the famous Grace brothers, dead of pneumonia two weeks after the only Test he ever played.
Fred Grace is the answer to one of cricket's most-asked trivia questions: who is the only Test cricketer to die within two weeks of his Test debut? His catch off Bonnor remains a touchstone in cricket history. The three-brother record set at The Oval has never been equalled. His grave at Downend is a regular stop on Grace family pilgrimages.
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.