George Frederick Grace (13 December 1850 – 22 September 1880) was an English first-class cricketer active from 1866 to 1880 who played for Gloucestershire and the United South of England Eleven (USEE). He played in one retrospectively recognised Test match for England. He was born in Downend, near Bristol and died in Basingstoke, Hampshire. A right-handed batsman who bowled right arm fast roundarm, he appeared in 195 matches that are generally rated first-class for statistical purposes. In these matches, Grace scored 6,906 runs with a highest score of 189*. An outstanding fielder and occasional wicket-keeper, he held 170 catches and completed three stumpings. He took 329 wickets with a best performance of eight for 43.
Fred Grace was the youngest member of the Grace family. He had four elder brothers who all played cricket: Henry, Alfred, "EM" and "WG". In some contemporary texts, he was called "G. F. Grace", using his initials in the same way as for both EM and WG but in fact he was widely known as Fred while they were always known by their initials only. His two oldest brothers were always known by their first names, Henry and Alfred.
Although the England v Australia match at The Oval in September 1880 was granted Test status retrospectively, it is the first instance of three brothers playing together in a Test match with EM, WG and Fred all members of the England team. Grace was always praised for his fielding and, in that Test match, he held what has been called "the most famous deep field catch in history". During the match, he developed a cold which, because he was exposed to wet weather over the next few days, escalated to pneumonia. He died, aged 29, only two weeks after playing for England.
Career
Learning the game
Like his brothers, Grace learned how to play cricket at home on a practice pitch that the family had created on the site of a former orchard. He was coached by his father, Dr Henry Grace, and his uncle, Alfred Pocock. His mother, Martha, was a keen participant too and she provided the driving force and the motivation which crystallised into the competitive edge that EM, WG and Fred always had as first-class players. EM, several years older than WG and Fred, learned to play using a full size bat and, because it was too big for him as a boy, he developed a tendency to hit across the line of delivery instead of playing straight. Alfred Pocock recognised this fault and decided that WG and Fred must learn to play straight by using small bats, suitable for their boyhood sizes. It meant that WG and Fred became technically correct batsmen with strong defensive techniques whereas EM remained primarily an attacking batsman.
In his Cricketing Reminiscences (1899), W. G. Grace emphasised that "cricketers are made by coaching and practice", but he and his brothers were born "in the atmosphere of cricket". Their parents and uncle were "full of enthusiasm for the game" and it was "a common theme of conversation at home". It was in the Downend orchard and as members of their local cricket clubs that Grace and his brothers developed their skills, mainly under the tutelage of Alfred Pocock, who was an exceptional coach. Apart from their cricket and schooling, the brothers lived in the country and roamed freely with other village boys. One of their regular activities, to help local farmers, was stone throwing at birds in the fields and WG later claimed that this was the source of their eventual skills as outfielders. Fred Grace, in particular, became an outstanding fielder.
Grace first attracted notice in club cricket, playing for his father's West Gloucestershire Cricket Club in 1864 when still only 13. Despite his coaching, it was said of him then that he did not play with so "straight a bat" as WG, but was "more resolute in his hitting". Mention was made of the great promise shown in his fielding, always an outstanding feature of his game; he was hailed as "a glorious field". Grace's height was about 5 ft 10in, so he was three inches taller than EM and four inches shorter than WG.
His earliest appearance in a match now rated first-class was Monday, 21 to Tuesday, 22 May 1866 at the Magdalen Ground, Oxford for a hastily organised Gentlemen of England XI against Oxford University (OUCC), the university winning by 10 wickets. Aged 15, Grace took a wicket and had scores of 0 and 10. WG, aged 17, was in the same team and it was at this match that WG received an invitation from Edmund Carter to join the OUCC, but he had to refuse because his father intended him for medical school. In due course, Fred would follow him into the study of medicine.