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English cricketer
the cricketer

Arthur Percy Frank Chapman (3 September 1900 – 16 September 1961) was an English cricketer who captained the England cricket team between 1926 and 1931. A left handed batsman, he played 26 Test matches for England, captaining the side in 17 of those games. Chapman was appointed captain for the final, decisive Test of the 1926 series against Australia; under his captaincy, England defeated Australia to win the Ashes for the first time since 1912. An amateur cricketer, Chapman played Minor Counties cricket for Berkshire and first class cricket for Cambridge University and Kent. Never a reliable batsman, Chapman nevertheless had a respectable batting record. He could score runs very quickly and was popular with spectators. As a fielder, contemporaries rated him extremely highly. Although opinions were divided on his tactical ability as a captain, most critics accepted he was an inspirational leader. Born in Reading, Berkshire and educated at Uppingham School, Chapman established a reputation as a talented school cricketer and was named one of Wisden's schoolboy Cricketers of the Year in 1919. He went to Pembroke College, Cambridge and represented the University cricket team with great success; his fame reached a peak when he scored centuries against Oxford University and in the Gentlemen v Players match within the space of a week. Chapman made his Test debut in 1924, although he had yet to play County Cricket. Having qualified for Kent, he was the surprise choice to take over from Arthur Carr as England captain in 1926. He achieved victory in his first nine matches in charge but lost two and drew six of his remaining games. Perceived tactical deficiencies and possibly growing concerns over his heavy drinking meant that Chapman was dropped from the team for the fifth Test against Australia in 1930. He captained England on one final tour in 1930–31, after which he never played another Test. After he assumed the Kent captaincy in 1931, his career and physique declined until he resigned from the position in 1936; he retired altogether in 1939, by which time he was drinking heavily. Chapman's fame as a cricketer made him a popular public figure; he and his wife, whom he married in 1925, were well known figures in fashionable society and their appearances were followed closely in the press. Outside of cricket, he worked for a brewery. In his later years, Chapman increasingly suffered from the effects of alcoholism and was often seen drunk in public. He and his wife divorced in 1942; he spent his final years, mainly alone, suffering from depression, arthritis and a continued dependence on alcohol. Following a fall at his home and a subsequent operation, Chapman died in 1961, aged 61.

Chapman was born on 3 September 1900 in Reading, Berkshire, the son of Frank Chapman, a schoolteacher, and his wife Bertha Finch. Chapman's father encouraged him to play cricket and coached him personally. Chapman was first educated at his father's preparatory school, Fritham House, In September 1910, he joined Oakham School and scored his first century, dominating the cricket and football teams. From 1914 to 1918, he attended Uppingham School. he soon established a cricketing reputation. By 1916, he was in the Uppingham first team; he achieved second place in the school's batting averages, bringing him to the attention of the wider public. Chapman improved his record in 1917, scoring 668 runs at an average of 111.33; he hit two fifties, two centuries and a double century in his last five innings. As a consequence of his achievements, he was chosen as one of the Cricketers of the Year for 1919 in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. although his weak defensive play drew comment, he was regarded as one of the most promising cricketers of his generation when he left Uppingham in 1919. He failed in two trial games, organised prior to the 1920 cricket season to inform the selection of the Cambridge team, and despite his reputation, was omitted from the University's opening first class match against Essex. But on the day of the match, a player withdrew from the Cambridge team and Chapman replaced him. Making his first class debut on 15 May 1920, he scored 118 in a rapid innings and kept his place in the team for the remainder of the season. Chapman scored 27 in this final game of the university season to aggregate 613 runs at an average of 40.86, second in the Cambridge batting averages. Unusually for someone in their first year of University cricket, he was subsequently selected for the prestigious Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's. Although not particularly successful with the bat, critics singled him out for his effective fielding. In all first class matches in 1920, Chapman scored 873 runs at 39.68. In 1921, Chapman averaged over 50 for the University and scored three centuries, although his growing reputation meant some critics felt he had underachieved. He once again played in the University match against Oxford and for the Gentlemen against the Players, and impressed commentators. Some critics suggested he, along with other promising University players, should play for England; the Test side was in the middle of a series against Australia which was lost 3–0, in the course of which an unusually large number of players were selected. Chapman once more appeared for Berkshire in August, scoring 468 runs and taking 19 wickets. At the end of the season, he was selected by Archie MacLaren in a match at Eastbourne, playing for an all amateur non representative England team against the undefeated Australian touring team. In a match that became famous in later years, MacLaren's team became the first to defeat the tourists, although Chapman was not successful personally. Chapman finished the season with 954 runs at 39.75. However, at the beginning of the 1922 season, his form was so poor that critics suggested leaving him out of the University Match. He had scored 300 runs from 14 innings, but retained his place partially on the strength of his fielding. After Cambridge batted very slowly on the first day, Chapman attacked the bowling on the second morning to score 102 not out. The Times described it as "one of the great innings in the history of the game". Shortly after this, Sydney Pardon wrote in The Times: "In the cricket field the most interesting figure at the moment is, beyond all comparison, Mr. A. P. F. Chapman. A fortnight ago we were all lamenting his ill success this season and wondering whether he would ever do justice to his great gifts and fulfill the hopes entertained of him in 1920. Most effectually he has put his critics to shame  he is in such a position that if an England eleven had to meet Australia next week he would be picked at once with acclamation." Prior to this, only R. E. Foster had scored centuries in both the University Match and the Gentlemen v Players match in the same year. He aggregated 607 runs at 33.72 in first class matches for the season. These included fives, tennis, rugby union, golf and football. He captained Pembroke College at rugby and was close to playing for the full university side. Chapman continued to play rugby for Berkshire Wanderers until he was nearly 30 years old. Also for Pembroke, he played as goalkeeper in the football team and might have played for the university at hockey had he taken the sport seriously.|group=notes This side, captained by Archie MacLaren and composed mainly of amateurs, was not particularly strong and contained several players chosen for their social standing rather than cricketing ability. The team played four first class games in Australia against state teams; the first was drawn and the others were lost. After scores of 75 and 58 against Western Australia, Chapman played consecutive innings of 53, 73 and 69 against South Australia and Victoria, The press and public praised his attacking batting and his fielding, although Frank Iredale, a former Test cricketer, noticed some flaws in his technique. When the team moved on to New Zealand, after an uncertain start Chapman scored 533 runs at an average of 48.45, including two centuries. The tourists returned to Australia for the last leg of the tour; Chapman scored 91 against New South Wales and 134 in 142 minutes against South Australia. In all the Australian games, he totaled 782 runs at 65.16; in all the matches on tour, he had 1,315 runs at an average of 57.15. In total, he scored 615 first class runs at 29.28. Continuing to play as an amateur, he made his first appearance for Kent in a non Championship match, as he was still qualifying, and was very successful in early season club matches. He retained his place for the second Test but did not bat: only four English batsmen were needed in the game which the home side won by an innings. By this stage, he had already been selected to tour Australia. In the final match of the season, he was selected for "The Rest" to play the County Champions, Yorkshire. He scored 74 in 50 minutes and hit three sixes, two of them from consecutive deliveries from Wilfred Rhodes. His first big innings came against Victoria; he made 72 runs out of 111 scored while he was batting and played a large part in a win for the MCC. Against Queensland in the following match, he scored 80 in 70 minutes and then hit 93 against a representative Australian XI. He was selected for the first four Tests of the five match series. Batting aggressively, he made several substantial scores but only once passed fifty— in the third Test, he scored 58, his first Test half century. During the same Test, Gilligan strained a muscle while bowling and had to leave the field; Chapman took over as captain. England lost the first three matches, giving Australia an insurmountable lead in the series, but won the fourth. Chapman was left out of the side for the final Test. In the series, he scored 185 runs at an average of 30.83, and critics were divided as to his ability and effectiveness. The former Australian captain Monty Noble believed Chapman could be a good batsman if he curbed his aggression but The Cricketer considered his technique to be faulty. In all first class games, Chapman scored 625 runs at 34.72. Now qualified to play county cricket for Kent, Chapman played only four times in the County Championship in 1925, preferring to establish himself in his new career in the brewery trade. Not sufficiently wealthy to play cricket full time as an amateur, Chapman's business commitments frequently restricted his appearances on the cricket field. During his limited first class appearances in 1925, he scored 207 runs at 25.87 and Wisden said that he "did nothing out of the common".

By the beginning of the 1926 season, Chapman was no longer the star of English cricket. Although still respected for his earlier achievements, he had a modest record in Test and first class cricket. During the season, the Australians toured England for another Ashes series. Chapman did not play any early season games and his first match for Kent was against the touring side. He scored 51, his first first class fifty since January 1925. A week later, he scored 159 in the County Championship, bringing him back into contention for an England place, then scored 89 in a Test trial match played against the Australians. Chapman's appearances for Kent were sporadic for the rest of the season, but he scored 629 runs in his nine County Championship games at an average of 57.18 to lead the Kent averages. He also scored a century for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's. Chapman played in two of the three trial matches and was chosen for the first Test but did not bat in a match ruined by rain. Australia dominated most of the third Test but England saved the game; Chapman scored 15 and 42 not out in the match. However, Carr's tactical approach during the match was heavily criticised and he dropped a crucial catch on the first morning. Chapman was omitted from the side for the fourth Test, but fielded as substitute when Carr became ill during the game. As the first four matches of the series were drawn, the final Test, played at The Oval, was decisive. Aware that England had beaten Australia only once in 19 matches, the selectors made several changes to the team; Chapman, at the time fourth in the national batting averages, replaced Carr as captain. This decision was controversial; the press favoured Carr, particularly as Chapman was young, unproven as captain and not fully established in the team. When the match began on 14 August, During his innings, Wisden noted, Chapman "hit out in vigorous fashion", but once he was dismissed for 49, and among those who sent congratulatory messages were George V and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. In all first class matches in the season, he scored 1,381 runs at an average of 51.14, the first time he had passed four figures in a season. The Lancashire bowling attack included former Australian Test bowler Ted McDonald, regarded as the fastest bowler in the world at the time and feared by most county batsmen. Many critics praised Chapman's innings as one of the best ever played. and led representative sides in two of the three Test trials held that season; the press judged his captaincy to be good. He totalled 1,387 runs in first class games at an average of 66.04, the highest aggregate and average of his career. Chapman was unavailable for the Test series in South Africa in the winter of 1927–28, but was a certainty to lead the MCC team to Australia in 1928–29. The selectors wished him to play more regularly, so he played more often in 1928 than any other season. He began in good form, but was never as effective as in 1927. Although his captaincy continued to be highly regarded, there were concerns in the press over his increasing weight, although these were offset by his impressive fielding in that season's Tests. He captained England to a 3–0 series win over West Indies, who were playing their first Test matches, and scored one fifty.

According to Douglas Jardine's biographer, Christopher Douglas, "[Chapman] hardly put a foot wrong during the tour and, even though he gave Australia their biggest hiding to date, he was and probably remains  one of the most popular English captains to tour Australia." From the opening games, England followed a strategy of accumulating large totals. For the first Test, to strengthen the team's batting, Chapman and the tour selection committee chose only three specialist bowlers; as the Tests were "timeless"—played to a finish with no time limit—he believed batting to be the key to victory. England batted first and scored 521; Chapman scored 50, but critics believed he should have batted more cautiously. When Australia began their innings, he held a catch from Bill Woodfull in the gully which several observers rated as among the best they had seen. Sydney Southerton, writing of the English fielding, said: "The high note was struck by Chapman himself at Brisbane when, with a catch that will be historic, he dismissed Woodfull  It is my opinion that catch had a pronounced effect on the course of events in the three subsequent Tests   [Chapman's fielding] exercised a most restraining influence on the Australian batsmen." Australia were bowled out for 122; Chapman did not ask Australia to follow on but batted again, and his batsmen relentlessly built up the England lead. When Chapman became the first captain to declare an innings closed in a timeless Test match, Australia needed 742 to win. On a rain affected pitch, Australia were bowled out for 66; England's win by 675 runs remains in 2016 the largest margin of victory by runs in Tests. Chapman's team won the second Test comfortably after scoring 636 in their first innings, the highest team total in Tests at that time. In the third Test, England began the fourth innings requiring 332 to win on a rain damaged pitch, a task critics believed impossible. A large opening partnership from Hobbs and Sutcliffe gave England a chance, and Hobbs sent a message to the England dressing room suggesting a tactical change in the batting order. But the team could not find Chapman, who according to Percy Fender, in attendance as a journalist, spent most of his time socialising with guests in the Ladies' Stand. Consequently, the team followed Hobbs' plan without the approval of the captain. England's batsmen took the total to within 14 of victory when the fourth wicket fell. Chapman came in and batted in an unusual way; after attempting some big shots, he played ultra defensively, possibly in an attempt to allow Patsy Hendren to reach fifty runs before England won. Hendren was out soon after, then Chapman tried to hit a six and was caught. The batsmen continued to play recklessly and a further wicket fell to a run out. Douglas describes the end of the match: "Meanwhile, [England batsman George Geary] was quite unruffled by the sudden upsets. He wound up for the next delivery and thumped it through mid on for 4, bellowing, 'Dammit, we've done 'em!' It was an appropriate way for a side under Chapman to win the Ashes." England's victory in the third Test ensured the Ashes were retained, and the team also won the fourth Test to take a 4–0 lead in the series. Up to this time, Chapman had enjoyed a harmonious relationship with the Australian crowds. However, in the match against Victoria which followed the fourth Test, the crowd barracked the MCC team when Chapman brought on Harold Larwood, a fast bowler, to bowl against Bert Ironmonger, the number eleven, As the team returned to the pavilion, Chapman was insulted by members of the crowd in the midst of a minor scuffle. In his absence, Australia won the fifth Test. After the fifth day of play and having played both his innings, Jardine left to catch a boat to India, for reasons which are unclear, and Chapman acted as his substitute in the field. Douglas notes that it looked like England "were trying to pull a fast one by picking their strongest batting side (which meant dropping Chapman) without weakening the fielding (since Chapman was Jardine's substitute)." The Australians agreed to the substitution on the condition that Chapman did not field near the batsmen.

Following the end of the 1928–29 tour, Chapman did not return to England until July, midway through the cricket season; Jack White and Arthur Carr captained England in his absence. Chapman resumed playing for Kent shortly after his return home but appeared in only seven matches, with a top score of 28. His season was curtailed when he fell awkwardly while fielding in a match against Sussex at the beginning of August. He also missed the two MCC tours that winter to New Zealand and West Indies, neither of which involved a full strength team. In 1930, Australia toured England once more. Before the Test series, Chapman was not a unanimous choice among press correspondents; several critics believed he should not be in the team on account of his rapidly increasing weight—former England captain Pelham Warner suggested he needed to lose at least two stone—and concern over his poor batting form. However, Chapman began the season well, impressing commentators with his batting, fielding and captaincy, In the first innings, he scored 52 in 65 minutes, and England won the match by 93 runs on the fourth day. The Wisden correspondent wrote: "Chapman, with his resources limited, managed his bowling well and himself fielded in dazzling fashion." England lost the second Test by seven wickets, and Gibson describes the match as the "turning point in Chapman's fortunes". England scored 425 in their first innings, but Donald Bradman hit 254 runs and Australia reached 729 for six declared. When Chapman came in to bat in the second innings, England still trailed by 163 runs and had lost four wickets—a fifth fell soon after. He attacked the bowling immediately, Chapman's unwillingness to play for a draw was in later years held up as "the last sporting gesture by an England captain". In the third Test, Bradman made the highest individual score in a Test match by scoring 334 out of Australia's 566. Assisted by rain that shortened the available playing time, England drew the match. Chapman scored 45 in his only innings. Chapman now faced further criticism of his captaincy. His field placings were again queried; According to cricket writer Leo McKinstry, the selectors lost faith in Chapman on account of his inconsistent, risky batting and his increased tactical shortcomings. However, McKinstry also writes that the selectors and other influential members of the cricketing establishment were privately concerned by Chapman's heavy drinking which they felt was affecting his leadership. There were also rumours that he was drunk during some sessions of the fourth Test. Following an extended meeting of the selectors, Chapman was left out of the side and replaced as captain by Bob Wyatt. The press were united in attacking the decision, praising Chapman's batting and captaincy while denigrating Wyatt's lack of experience. Gibson observes: "In 1930, despite the occasional criticisms, Chapman's position did not seem in any danger. He was still the popular, boyish, debonair hero. He had been having his most successful series with the bat, and as a close fieldsman England still did not contain his equal. He could not seriously be blamed because the English bowlers could not get Bradman out (though this was perhaps more apparent in retrospect than at the time). Wyatt, though nothing was known against him  was a figure markedly lacking in glamour." The two men remained friends during and after the controversy. In comparing circumstances of Chapman's appointment with those of his replacement by Wyatt, Gibson writes: "In 1926, England won: in 1930, England lost. That is why the echoes took so long to die down and why the selectors remained villains." He concludes that, even though Wyatt did relatively well, "It does seem, after all these years, an odd decision to have taken." Chapman led an MCC team to a 1–0 series defeat in South Africa the following winter. Several first choice players were not selected and the team suffered from injuries and illness. Chapman was popular with the crowds but made a poor start to the tour with the bat until he scored more substantially in the lead up to the Test series. England lost the opening match of the series by 28 runs and the other four were drawn. Needing to win the final match to level the series, England were frustrated when the start of the match was delayed. Chapman won the toss and chose to bowl on a damp pitch which would have favoured his bowlers. However, the umpires discovered the bails were the wrong size and would not start the game until new ones could be made; in the 20 minutes which were lost, the pitch dried out and England lost much of the advantage of bowling first. Chapman made an official protest before leading his team onto the field. In the series, he scored 75 runs at 10.71, He captained England in 17 matches, winning nine and losing two with the others drawn. His nine victories came in his first nine games as captain. On the other hand, several of Chapman's contemporaries believed him to be one of the best captains. and Bert Oldfield, who played against Chapman as Australia's wicket keeper, thought that Chapman possessed an "aptitude" for leadership. Chapman's teams were usually harmonious and his sympathetic handling of his players often brought out the best in them. and The Times observed that "at his best he had been one of the finest fielders ever to play for England". In his earlier years, he fielded in the deep but when he played for Kent and England, he was positioned closer to the batsmen—usually at gully or silly point.

During May 1921, Chapman met Gertrude ("Beet" or "Beety") Lowry, the sister of Tom Lowry, a cricketer from New Zealand who played for Cambridge and Somerset and went on to captain his country. The couple met again when Chapman toured New Zealand in 1922–23, and became engaged. Cricket writer Ivo Tennant believes that Chapman's "taste for conviviality was his undoing".

E. W. Swanton observes that "from the war onwards [Chapman's] life went into a sad eclipse." By the end of his life, he was unable to attend any cricket matches. By the 1950s, he had developed arthritis, probably as a result of his sporting activities. On one occasion in 1955, Chapman was invited to a dinner organised by Kent; he was later discovered in the car park on the bumper of a car in a distressed state and had to be assisted back inside. In September 1961, Chapman fractured his knee when he fell at his home. He was taken to hospital for an operation but died on 16 September 1961. The newspapers reported that he had been ill for a long time; his former wife later commented that "he must have died a very sad man". Tributes focused on his successes as a cricketer and appealing personality. Summing up Chapman's life, Gibson writes: "But just as a good end can redeem a sad life, so a good life can redeem a sad end, and he had known his hours, his years of glory." Swanton concluded his obituary of Chapman in 1961: "The elderly and the middle aged will recall him rather in his handsome sunlit youth, the epitome of all that was gay and fine in the game of cricket."