Arthur Gilligan - Personal Life

Personal Life

Gilligan married his first wife, Cecilia Mary Matthews, in April 1921, but she successfully filed for divorce in October 1933 on the grounds of her husband's infidelity. He married again in 1934; he met his second wife, Katharine Margaret Fox, on a skiing trip.

Following his retirement from cricket, Gilligan began to work in journalism. He wrote several cricket books, including a history of Sussex cricket in 1932. He became one of the first radio cricket commentators, broadcasting in Australia on the 1932–33 Ashes series and covering subsequent visits of MCC teams to Australia for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. A popular and respected commentator, he established an on-air partnership with former Australian batman Vic Richardson. In Gilligan's obituary, Wisden observed "Gilligan was, as may be imagined, a master of the diplomatic comment if any tiresome incident occurred". He was also a member of the BBC radio commentary team for Tests between 1947 and 1954. In 1955, he wrote a book, The Urn Returns, about the 1954–55 Ashes series, won by England. In England, he wrote about cricket for the News Chronicle. During the Second World War, Gilligan served in the Royal Air Force as a welfare officer; he was commissioned a pilot officer and rose to the rank of squadron leader.

When his cricket career ended, Gilligan maintained his connection with Sussex, of which he was later made an Honorary Life Member. He served as chairman, patron and president of the county, and assisted many local clubs in the area. He gained a good reputation as a speaker and lecturer, and also developed an interest in golf in later years: he was president of the English golf union in 1959, captain of the County Cricketers' Golfing Society from 1952 until 1972, and president of the latter organisation until his death.

An Honorary Life Member of the MCC, Gilligan served as MCC president from 1967 to 1968. During his tenure, the MCC was involved in controversy over the non-selection of Basil D'Oliviera to tour South Africa. The South African government did not want D'Oliviera in the England team on the grounds of his colour. Gilligan, in his capacity as MCC president, was aware of this having seen a private letter which communicated the explicit threat from the South African Prime Minister B. J. Vorster that the forthcoming tour would be cancelled if D'Oliviera were selected. However, he and the others who saw the letter, G. O. B. Allen and Billy Griffith, respectively the MCC treasurer and secretary, kept this information to themselves. When the English selectors met to choose the team, Gilligan, Allen and Griffith were present to represent the MCC. A BBC programme in 2004 claimed that Gilligan pressured the selectors to leave out D'Oliviera, but D'Oliviera's biographer Peter Oborne suggests that Allen carried far more influence at the meeting. He writes of Gilligan's part in the affair: "It would be wrong to make too much of Gilligan's embarrassing past. Given that presidents are appointed for only a year, it was a very strong president indeed who could impose his personality on the permanent MCC secretariat of Griffith and Allen, and Gilligan was not a strong president." Initially D'Oliviera was left out of the team, but when a player withdrew with an injury, the selectors added him as a replacement; the South African government barred D'Oliviera from taking part and the MCC cancelled the tour.

In 1971, a stand named after Gilligan was opened at Hove Cricket Ground, but this was demolished in 2010 as part of a redevelopment. Gilligan died in Pulborough, Sussex, on 5 September 1976, aged 81.