In search of Albert Trott

I first started looking for Albert Trott’s grave in 2001. I’d read a story about Trott, the Test player from the late 1800s, by the Age’s Peter Hanlon and learned he was buried in Willesden, a suburb just up the road from where I lived during my three years in London.

Trott interested me for a few reasons: he played for both Australia and England, hit a six over the pavilion at Lord’s, and killed himself, aged 41, due to ill health. He seemed like a pretty interesting guy, so during spare hours I went searching for him. I didn’t find him, but kept finding out about him.

David Frith wrote about Trott in his book By His Own Hand and the name comes up regularly in historical accounts of the game. His player profile contains many of his deeds, ranging from the unmatched to the freaky. He would have been incredible to watch in any team or era.

Having gone to a few gravesites in Willesden previously, I tried another venue on this trip: Paddington Cemetery in Willesden Lane, just down from where Trott died in Denbigh Street. Hanlon’s story gave the only tips. “A simple, white headstone – ‘A.E.Trott 1873-1914, a great cricketer, Australia, Middlesex, England.’” For 80 years the grave was unmarked, but the county eventually put up a reminder for their former player.

Paddington Cemetery a beautiful place to rest, there’s a slight hill, an old chapel and gravestones both modern and crumbling. For this assignment I took my daughter and an English friend for help, but none of us could spot the headstone. There were memorials for doctors and chemists and parents of big families and new babies, but not one (that we could see) for a former Test cricketer.

All of us have looked for things before and not found them, and it may not even be the correct venue for Trott-spotting. Oh well. The search, which is increasingly enjoyable, failed again. It will re-start in 2013.