He was born in Birmingham, educated at Solihull School and died in St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton.

[2] His career was cut short after a motor-cycle accident during World War I.

He was a left-arm fast medium bowler and took 717 first-class wickets with a best return of 9/118.

[1] Of unstable personality, he was employed in his family menswear firm of Foster Brothers until it dismissed him by 1928.

He was later implicated in the murder of a London prostitute in 1931, became bankrupt through heavy gambling, was prosecuted for thefts and fraud, and died in a psychiatric hospital where he had been committed in 1950.