William Harold Ponsford (1900 - 1991)

Born 19 Oct 1900 in Fitzroy North, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Vera Gladys (Neill) Ponsford — married about 1924 (to about 1977) in Victoria, Australia

Died 6 Apr 1991 at age 90 in Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

William Ponsford is Notable.

William Harold Ponsford (1900-1991) ... was born on 19 October 1900 at North Fitzroy, Melbourne, eldest of four children of Victorian-born parents William Ponsford, letter-carrier, and his wife Elizabeth, née Best. [1]

William Harold Ponsford MBE (19 October 1900 – 6 April 1991) was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain. Ponsford is the only player to twice break the world record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket; Ponsford and Brian Lara are the only cricketers to twice score 400 runs in an innings. Ponsford holds the Australian record for a partnership in Test cricket, set in 1934 in combination with Don Bradman (451 for 2nd wicket)—the man who broke many of Ponsford's other individual records. In fact, he along with Bradman set the record for the highest partnership ever for any wicket in Test cricket history when playing on away soil (451 runs for the second wicket). [2]

In 162 first class matches, he scored 13,819 runs at 65.18, and he hit 47 hundreds. In first-class matches his runs totaled 5413 at 83.27, and in 29 Tests he made 2122 runs for an average of 48.22. [3]

In 1981 the Western Stand at the MCG was renamed the WH Ponsford Stand in his honour. This stand was demolished in 2003 as part of the redevelopment of the ground for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but its replacement was also named the WH Ponsford Stand.[4] At the completion of the stadium redevelopment in 2005, a statue of Ponsford was installed outside the pavilion gates. In recognition of his contributions as a player, Ponsford was one of the ten initial inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. [4]

Apart from cricket, Bill Ponsford was one of Australia’s top baseballers. At 13, he was the youngest member of Victoria’s schoolboy team (under 18) and began his senior career as a catcher for Fitzroy. He represented Victoria and in the early days of Australian baseball he was renowned for his place hitting, a skill then acquired by few contemporaries. He followed a long line of cricketer-baseballers whose fielding and throwing gave Australia a distinct edge for many years. [5]

Ponsford met Vera Neill at his local Methodist church; the pair married in 1924 and settled in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield South. They had two sons, Bill Jr. and Geoff. Ponsford became a Freemason in 1922 and continued in the movement until 1985, retiring with the rank of Master Mason. During the Second World War, Ponsford attempted to volunteer with the Royal Australian Air Force, but was rejected on account of his colour blindness. [6]

Vera died in 1977, and Ponsford, pursuing his interest in Freemasonry, fishing, and lawn bowls, moved to Woodend, to live with his younger son Geoff. He was appointed on Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1981. Survived by his sons, he died on 6 April 1991 in a nursing home at Kyneton and was cremated. [7] His remains are interred in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery in Springvale, part of the Greater Dandenong City, Victoria, Australia.

Bill Ponsford was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.

Bill Ponsford was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 1996.

Sources

• Victoria Births, Deaths & Marriages: MARRIAGE: PONSFORD, Wm, Harold - event: Marriage - spouse: NEILL, Vera Gladys - registration year: 1924 - registration no. 2392/1924. first accessed online on the 17th of July, 2022 from the Victorian Family History Search searchable database at: https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history

• Carl Bridge, Ponsford, William Harold (Bill) (1900–1991), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ponsford-william-harold-bill-15504/text26719, published online 2014, accessed online 3 October 2020.

• Bill Ponsford from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. first accessed online on the 3rd of October, 2020 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ponsford

• Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 03 October 2020), memorial page for William Harold Ponsford (19 Oct 1900–6 Apr 1991), Find a Grave Memorial no. Find A Grave: Memorial #123461620, citing Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Springvale, Greater Dandenong City, Victoria, Australia ; Maintained by Tim Reynolds (contributor 48314828) .

• Sport Australia Hall of Fame

• ESPN CRICINFO

• Australian Cricket Hall of Fame

• Prominent Personalities W. H. PONSFORD: OUR GREAT RUN-GETTER as published in the Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939) of Thursday 20 January 1927. first accessed on TROVE on the 22nd of September, 2022 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146469339