WILFRED JAMES WHITE 1881-1938
When Wilfred White walked out to bat for Sydney University against Waverley at the SCG on 27 February 1904, he was about to play his only innings in 1st Grade for the Club (1st Grade cap no80).
He scored a single and remained undefeated when the last wicket fell with the scoreboard showing ‘University 343’. The captain EF Waddy (118) and future NSW player AD Fisher (114) had scored freely. The next Saturday, Waverley made 261. White took two catches and University had recorded its only victory of the season. 1903-04 was the Club’s second season back in the 1st Grade competition after four seasons of isolation when the 1st team played in the 2nd Grade competition and where the University 1sts twice won the 2nd Grade competition. When the NSW Cricket Association readmitted the Club to 1st Grade in 1902-03, the terms of readmittance were humbling. Matriculated students only were permitted to represent the Club. It took some years before the Club found its feet. In the first five seasons from 1902-03, University’s 1st Grade won only 12 times from 48 games.
WJ White’s promotion to 1st Grade for this game at the SCG seems an unlikely one, an instance of availability counting for more than ability. He was a Med III student who turned 23 half-way through that game; a resident at St Paul’s College, a graduate of The King’s School. At King’s from 1894 until 1900, he had been Captain of the School, a Colour Sergeant in the School Cadets, a member of the 1st XV for three seasons and, from 1897 until 1900, he played in the 1st XI. His cricket career was one where his scores were moderate and he did a little bowling. He was dependable rather than in any way spectacular. In three seasons with the Sydney University Cricket Club, he did little of any significance with the bat. In 2nd Grade games for which records survive, his 18 innings produced 188 runs. He was more at home on the Rugby field and he represented the University’s 2nd XV in the 1901 Premiership side before being awarded Blues for Rugby in three seasons. He was, however, fully involved with the Cricket Club: Treasurer in 1902-03, a member of the Committee, 2nd XI selector and a Delegate to the Sports Union.
One of his older brothers, Norman Frederick White 1871-1957 had played successfully in 1st Grade in the 1890s when he was an Engineering student. In fact, he played in the Club’s first game of the new ‘Electoral Club’ competition in October 1893 (1st Grade cap no6) and continued to prosper until he finished in 1897: 543 runs, including 101 against South Sydney in November 1896, and 34 wickets. Norman was awarded Blues for Cricket, Rugby and Rowing and he rowed for NSW.
Another older brother, Cecil Alban White 1869-1940, became a District Court Judge in NSW after studying at Oxford University where he participated in Cricket, Rugby, Rowing and Athletics.
Their parents, William Edward White 1834-1913 who was a Church of England Archdeacon, and Amelia Una (nee Cox) 1842-1924 who was descended from one of the oldest pioneer families in NSW, married in 1869 and produced six sons and two daughters.
Mrs White’s grandfather was William Cox who had arrived in Sydney with the NSW Corps in 1800. Cox’s Road over the Blue Mountains was named in his honour.
A more extraordinary connection is that of the Australian actor and singer, Jason Donovan, who is a descendant of the Cox family through his mother.
Wilfred White graduated in 1907 and was admitted as a medical practitioner in July of that year. He worked at various hospitals and then at Merriwa after he married Roberta Olive (nee Baxter) in 1910 and when they lived with their two daughters at 3 Belgrave St Kogarah. Dr WJ White played golf enthusiastically but seemed to have left cricket and rugby behind him.
When he died in 1938, there was no mention by the cricket club of his death; a club that he had once represented in a solitary 1st Grade game 34 years before on two sun-blessed afternoons at the SCG.
Acknowledgements:
Max Bonnell.
Jenny Pearce, Archivist, The King’s School.
James Rodgers