Hall of Fame
Lt. Col. David Matthew Caradoc Prichard
Born: 1912 :
Died: 1986
Inducted: 2009
He was born and brought up in Glamorgan at the Prichard family estate. Educated at Wellington College, where he played in the 1st XI cricket for 2 years as a spin bowler, and RMC Sandhurst. He was commissioned into The Royal Welch Fusiliers, in which he served for 25 years in various parts of the British Empire and throughout WW2. He was the second officer ever to pass both Staff College and Technical Staff College. He played cricket for the Army and enjoyed polo, hunting and riding in point-to-points.
When he was invalided out of the Army he moved to Monmouthshire. He soon discovered croquet and was immediately bitten. He joined Cheltenham and built his own lawn at home. His rise to A class was rapid, winning the D,C,B and A classes in consecutive years at the Annual Cheltenham Tournament. In 1960 he was the first winner of the Apps Bowl, then for the most improved player and also won his CA Silver Medal. In 1961 he was selected for the Surrey Cup, which he won on debut. He played in this selection event 9 times, winning a record 3 times, and also played in The Chairman's Salver 3 times. He was runner-up in 1962 Men's Championship to John Solomon. He was on the fringe of selection for the 1963 MacRobertson Shield. Often accompanied by his wife Betty he played widely on the tournament circuit at Cheltenham, Roehampton, Hurlingham, Budleigh Salterton, Devonshire Park, Nottingham, Hunstanton and Southwick and played in both The Open and The Men's Championships on about a dozen occasions. He won many A class events, handicap singles and doubles events and mixed and open doubles in his career and reached a handicap of -2.5. This was all achieved with a rigid neck caused by spondylitis.
He however probably put more back into croquet than he took out through his administrative and other work for the CA. His orderly mind and wide knowledge proved to be exceptionally useful. He served on the CA Council for over 20 years and as Chairman 1968-70; he was a member of the Laws Committee and Chairman for 8 years in 2 separate terms; a selector for many years and Chairman of Selectors; Chairmen of the CA special appeals committee, which had to meet for 3 different special appeals; he was appointed a Vice President of the CA in 1982.
He was responsible as Chairmen for the 1972 rewrite of the Laws, which took months of meetings, proof reading and amending. He introduced the idea of The Commentary on the Laws and wrote 4 editions of this work. He rewrote the CA Council rules for conducting meetings and wrote a summary of all important CA Council decisions back to its formation. He wrote many technical, legal and administrative articles for the CA gazette. His final work was the writing and publication of "The History of Croquet" in 1981, which took a couple of years to research and write. This book is widely accepted as the definitive history of the game in England. All proceeds for the sale the book went to the CA. He also introduced 4 A class players to the game in his wife Betty and his 3 sons!
Although he appeared to be a little intimidating partly due to his stooped posture from his spondylitis, he had a extremely good sense of humour. He stood up for the rights of the individual and hated any sort of undercover plots. As a 'backbench' member of council on more than one occasion he discovered and nipped in the bud certain underhand or unwise dealings. He always widely researched his arguments on most issues and was an unswerving campaigner to maintain Croquet as an Amateur sport. He abhorred the misuse and wastage of CA funds but he gave freely of his time and effort to the CA throughout his time in the croquet scene.