div>
They laid a proper headstone in memory of John Jackson who died in a Liverpool workhouse more than 100 years ago.
Jackson, who earned the nickname ?Foghorn? because he blew his nose after taking a wicket, is buried in Toxteth Cemetery, on Smithdown Road.
The cricketing hero, who died in November 1901, was said to be one of the most outstanding fast bowlers of the 1850s.
Yesterday his great-great grandson Raymond Summers, from Ellesmere Port, joined 15 other family descendants at the cemetery to remember him.
Mr Summers said: ?It?s amazing that we have such a legendary cricketer in the family.
?All the time I was growing up I never knew he existed.
?It was only when my daughter and I started tracing the family tree that we found out his story.?
Jackson was born in Suffolk in 1833 and became a Nottinghamshire and All-England Eleven right-arm fast bowler, powerful batsman and occasional wicket keeper.
In 1853 he took part in the first ever overseas cricket tour and was photographed leaving Liverpool as the team set sail for Canada and the United States.
His overall first-class career record covered 115 matches ? in 1857 he took 111 wickets and in 1858 132 wickets for 1,228 runs.
Jackson was the first ever cricketer to appear in a Punch cartoon on August 29, 1863.
But his career was cut short at the age of 33 after he suffered a blood vessel injury in his leg.
After retiring from international cricket he moved to Liverpool and played for Dingle Cricket Club and between 1878 and 1880 for Birkenhead Grammar School.
Very little is known about his later life other than he died in abject property at Brownlow Hill Liverpool workhouse.
Mr Summers said: ?He had a great career and it?s not clear why he eventually moved to Liverpool in 1871.
?Until then he had kept his occupation as a full-time cricketer.
?But in the city he worked in a warehouse of some sort surviving on just five shillings and sixpence a week.
?In July of 1874 the cricketing association held a match in his honour with Trent Bridge playing the MCC. It raised almost ?300.
?He died in a workhouse infirmary on November 4 1901 and was laid to rest in a paupers grave in
Smithdown Road Cemetery.
?It?s been fascinating finding out about him. I remember my great-grandmother Jackson but she never talked about him.
?She was a real character and liked a drink.
?But apparently she had fallen out with her husband Harry, who was John?s son, so that link to the Jackson family was lost and she never mentioned him.?
It was as Mr Summer researched Jackson?s career and contacted his former club in Nottinghamshire he discovered relatives living all over the country.
Yesterday one of those descendants Peter Collins arrived with a mini-bus full of long-lost relatives from Shropshire who met Mr Summers and his family for the first time.
They laid a new ?1,200 headstone at Jackson?s grave and held a small ceremony.
Mr Summers said: ?It?s nice to find new relatives and finally give my great-great grandfather the grave he deserves all these years later.
?I used to play cricket myself. It?s just a shame that none of his talent seemed to have passed down through the genes.?
Source:
Liverpool Daily Post
Bookmarks