Thomas William Garrett (26 July 1858 in Wollongong,
New South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
- 6 August 1943 in
SydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, New South Wales) was an early Australian Test cricketer and, later, a distinguished public servant.
Early life
Tom Garrett was the second son of a newspaper proprietor and politician who bore the same name. His mother, Mary, was his father's first wife. Garrett was educated at
Newington CollegeNewington College is an independent, Uniting Church, day and boarding school for boys, located in Stanmore, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
(1867-1872) , while the school was still at Newington House, in the
SydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
suburb of
SilverwaterSilverwater is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. Silverwater is located 20 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....
. His ability as a cricketer and sprinter was encouraged by the assistant master
Joseph CoatesJoseph Coates was an English-born Australian schoolmaster and cricketer.-Early life:Coates was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, the son of Joseph, a cordwainer, and his wife Ellen...
.
Public service career
In 1873 he matriculated to the
University of SydneyThe University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
and attended lectures for several terms. In January of the next year, his father secured for him a clerkship in the New South Wales Department of Lands. He transferred to the New South Wales Supreme Court in 1876 and was admitted to practice law as a solicitor on 25 February 1882. He became registrar of probates in 1890, curator of intestate estates as well in 1896, and the public trustee in 1914. When he retired in 1924, his staff had increased from fourteen to 67, and some 25,000 estates, involving over £10 million, had passed through his office. That year, Garrett returned to private practise as a solicitor and, at 81, still attended his office daily.
Cricket career
A tall all-rounder, he played for
New South WalesThe New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
, batting and bowling right-handed. Bowling, however, was his strength. He bowled at fast-medium pace and took part in 19
TestsTest cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
, scoring 339 runs at 12.55, and taking 36 wickets at an average of 26.94, with best figures of 6-78. In 160
first-class cricketFirst-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches he scored 3,673 runs at 16.18, and took 446 wickets at 18.27 runs per wicket, including 29 hauls of five wickets in an innings.
Garrett played in the first Test match, against
LillywhiteJames Lillywhite was a first-class and Test cricketer and umpire. He was the first ever captain of the English cricket team in a Test match, captaining 2 Tests against Australia in 1876-77, losing the first, but winning the second.Lillywhite was born in Westhampnett in Sussex, the son of a...
’s team in Melbourne in March 1877. At 18 years and 232 days is still the youngest representative to play for Australia against England. In that match he scored 18 not out in the first innings, and helped sustain a crucial 43-run partnership with
Charles BannermanCharles Bannerman was an Australian Test cricketer, a right-hand batsman, who played domestic cricket for New South Wales....
until the latter split his finger and retired hurt on 165. Promoted to number four in the second innings, Garrett made a duck (zero runs). Opening the bowling with
John HodgesJohn Robart Hodges, an Australian cricketer, was born in Knightsbridge, London on 11 August 1855 and is believed to have died on 17 January 1933 in Melbourne, Victoria in his adopted country. The exact details of his death remain unconfirmed but this date is generally accepted by the sport's...
he took two wickets in the first innings (including that of top scorer,
Henry JuppHenry Jupp was an English professional cricketer, who was the opening batsman for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1862 to 1881. Renowned for his defensive technique, Jupp was known as "Young Stonewaller"....
). In 1878, he toured England and North America with the first representative Australian team to go overseas. He toured England again in 1882, participating in an historic
AshesThe Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
match at
The OvalThe Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
. His last match was at Sydney in 1888.
As a bowler it was said by the all-rounder
George GiffenGeorge Giffen was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. An all-rounder who batted in the middle order and often opened the bowling with medium-paced off-spin, Giffen captained Australia during the 1894–95 Ashes series and was the first Australian to score 10,000 runs and...
that: “... he would keep a fine line outside the off-stump, and never minded being hit. Sometimes the ball would work a little from the pitch which victimised most of the batsmen.” He would release the ball from as high a point as he could reach, taking advantage of his 6 feet (1.8 m) (183 centimetre) frame. Later in his career, as his bowling fell away, he became a powerful batsman, particularly square of the wicket. He was also noted for his speed in the field: in a Sydney match in 1887 it was reported in the press that he caught a skied ball “in a display of breathtaking agility”.
Garret became captain of New South Wales. He was rated highly as a skipper, especially for his skill in handling aspiring young bowlers.
At the time of his death in 1943 he was Australia’s oldest living Test player and the last survivor of the first Test Match.
Descendants
His son,
Hubert GarrettHubert Frederic Garrett played first-class cricket for Somerset and for amateur sides in England in 1913 and 1914. He was born in Melbourne, Australia and died near Achi Baba, Turkey in the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War.Garrett was the son of the Australian Test cricket player Tom...
, who died in the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War, played a few matches for
SomersetSomerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
and for amateur sides in England in 1913 and 1914. Tom Garrett's great-grandson is the former
Midnight OilMidnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...
lead singer and now Australian federal politician and government minister,
Peter GarrettPeter Robert Garrett, AM, MP , is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and politician.Garrett was lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil from 1973 until its disbanding in 2002...
.
External links