Andrew Stoddart, one of the greatest of batsmen, died by his own hand on Saturday, the 3rd of April, shooting himself through the head. A brilliant career thus came to the saddest of ends. Mr Stoddart was born at South Shields on March 11th, 1863, and had thus completed his 52nd year. Curiously enough, considering the great fame he won, he did not take to cricket seriously until 22 years of age, when he became associated with the Hampstead Club, and showed such form, scoring no fewer than five separate hundreds for that team, that before the end of the season of 1885 he had been tried for Middlesex.
Andrew Stoddart led England to a stirring Ashes triumph in Australia in 1894/95. Sadly, he joined other illustrious names on Wisden’s obituary pages in 1916.
From 1886 to 1898, except for the summer of 1888, when he was engaged playing rugby football in Australia and New Zealand, Mr Stoddart proved a tower of strength to Middlesex in batting, keeping up his skill so well that in 1898 – his last full season in county cricket – he averaged 52. He soon became a popular idol at Lord’s his batting, in conjunction with that of TC O’Brien, making the Middlesex matches far more attractive than they had ever been before his day.
It was a memorable drop-kick against a gale of wind he made that, giving Middlesex victory over Yorkshire by a goal to four tries, led to the rules of the game being altered. At that time a goal counted more than any number of tries. Mr Stoddart captained England against Wales in 1890, when, on a muddy swamp at Dewsbury, Wales, scoring a try to nothing, gained their first victory over England. Another famous match in which he took part was that at Cardiff in 1893, when, after England had established a commanding lead, Wales finished in great form, and, under the method of scoring then in vogue, succeeded in snatching a win by one point. It may be questioned whether any two players ever enjoyed a better understanding than Alan Rotherham, at half, and Andrew Stoddart at three-quarter. Certainly the combination of these two men formed one of the brightest features of the Rugby game in the eighties.
Stoddart, Andrew Ernest, died on April 3, 1915, aged 52.
