Bernard Bosanquet (cricketer) - Personal Life and Legacy

Personal Life and Legacy

In the First World War, Bosanquet was a lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps. On 5 April 1924, he married Mary Janet Kennedy-Jones, the daughter of a Member of Parliament. They had one child, Reginald, who later achieved fame as a television newsreader. When his father died, Bosanquet sold the family home in Middlesex and moved to Wykehurst Farm, Surrey, where he died on 12 October 1936. He left an estate valued at £2,276 0s. 4d.

As the googly caused a sensation following its invention, many other cricketers tried to emulate Bosanquet. Reggie Schwarz, the South African cricketer, learned how to bowl the googly from Bosanquet through observation and he in turn passed it on to the South African bowlers Aubrey Faulkner, Bert Vogler and Gordon White. These four bowlers raised the bowling of the googly to a high standard and raised fears of the detrimental effect it would have on batting. Following the development of googly bowling by South Africans, it was further refined by English and Australian cricketers until it became firmly established. In later years, the googly was blamed for a deterioration in the quality and attractiveness of batting. Bosanquet refused to accept any blame and published a defence in The Morning Post during 1924, later reprinted in Wisden, defending himself and humorously downplayed the impact of the googly. He wrote: "It is not for me to defend it. Other and more capable hands have taken it up and exploited it, and, if blame is to be allotted, let it be on their shoulders. For me is the task of the historian, and if I appear too much in the role of the proud parent, I ask forgiveness."

Until the invention of the googly, bowling was expected to be predictable, and the googly may initially have been considered an underhand tactic. On one occasion, Nottinghamshire batsman William Gunn was stumped after running down the pitch in an attempt to stop a ball bowled by Bosanquet. Gunn's team-mate Arthur Shrewsbury then protested that Bosanquet's bowling was unfair. On another occasion, when asked if the googly was illegal, Bosanquet is said to have replied, "Oh no, only immoral." For many years, the googly was known in Australia as a "Bosie". His Times obituary stated, "No man probably has in his time had so important and lasting an influence on the game of cricket".