Albert Craig (The Surrey Poet)

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Albert Craig (1850 - July 8, 1909), was known as The Surrey Poet.

Craig was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire and worked as a Post Office clerk there before venturing to the south of England in the hope of making a living through his sporting verse. He attended cricket and football matches to write verses and short essays describing the players and events, then had them printed on broadsheets and sold them to the crowd. His poetry was not renowned for its literary merit but he was a popular and well known figure, thanks to his good nature and his ready wit.

As his nickname attests, he was particularly associated with The Oval, and came to be known as the 'Captain of Spectators', though he visited many other grounds. At the first match of one season he ran to announce that Surrey had lost the toss with the rhyme 'For though of football for five months I've sung, I'm mighty glad now that spring has sprung'. Bobby Abel and Tom Richardson were amongst those who attended his funeral.^[1]

Ronald Mason wrote of him: "He had no authority but popularity, no recommendation but gaiety, no talent but wit."^[1]

In Chapter X of his novel Mr Justice Raffles (1909), E.W. Hornung wrote about a University Match at Lord's: And in the expectant hush before the appearance of the fielding side, I still recall the Yorkshire accent of the Surrey Poet, hawking his latest lyric on some "Great Stand by Mr. Webbe and Mr. Stoddart," and incidentally assuring the crowd that Cambridge was going to win because everyone said Oxford would.^[2]

He died in Clapham, South London. After his death, a book of his work was published: