CalendarZ

    • English English
    • español español
    • français français
    • português português
    • русский русский
    • العربية العربية
    • 简体中文 简体中文
  • Home
  • Religious Holidays
  • National Holidays
  • Other Days
  • On This Day
  • Tools
    • Date converter
    • Age Calculator
  1. Home
  2. On This Day
  3. October
  4. 22
  5. George Coulthard

Deaths on October 22

George Coulthard
1883Oct, 22

George Coulthard

George Coulthard, Australian cricketer and footballer (b. 1856)
George Coulthard (1 August 1856 – 22 October 1883) was an Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer.

Born and raised on a farm outside Melbourne, Victoria, Coulthard helped lead the Carlton Football Club to premiership success in the fledgling Victorian Football Association (VFA), and was a key member of the Victorian side that dominated the first intercolonial matches. A fast, versatile and highly skilled footballer, Coulthard was, in the opinion of many of his contemporaries, the greatest player yet seen in the Australian game. However, his football career ended in controversy in 1882 when he received a season-long suspension—then the most severe punishment ever handed down by the VFA—for brawling and using "bad language" during play. Regarded today as the game's "first bona fide superstar", he was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.As a professional cricketer, he played at club level for Melbourne, represented Victoria in five first-class intercolonial matches, and made one Test appearance for Australia, against England in 1882. Coulthard also umpired one of the earliest Tests at age 22, and although he remains the youngest ever Test umpire, he is perhaps best known in cricket for instigating the sport's first international riot when, in 1879 in Sydney, he controversially gave New South Wales batsman Billy Murdoch out against Lord Harris' English XI. Coulthard was co-officiating the match with Edmund Barton, later the first Prime Minister of Australia.

Coulthard's sporting exploits made him a household name throughout Australia. Off the field, he ran a tobacco and sporting goods store in Lygon Street, Carlton, and won additional fame for surviving a shark attack off Shark Island, fighting bare-knuckle boxing champion Jem "The Gypsy" Mace, and being the alleged source of a dream premonition that convinced many Melbourne Cup punters to back a horse with long odds (the horse finished close to last). Coulthard is also known as Australian football's first "man in white" for umpiring an 1880 match in the now-traditional all-white uniform. In 1882, while serving as the England cricket team's umpire on its first quest to regain The Ashes, Coulthard became ill with tuberculosis, from which he died the following year, aged 27.

References

  • George Coulthard

Choose Another Date

Events on 1883

  • 16Jan

    United States Civil Service Commission

    The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed.
  • 20May

    1883 eruption of Krakatoa

    Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
  • 17Aug

    National Anthem of the Dominican Republic

    The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
  • 20Oct

    Treaty of Ancón

    Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province is ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru's involvement in the War of the Pacific.
  • 3Nov

    Black Bart (outlaw)

    American Old West: Self-described "Black Bart the poet" gets away with his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves a clue that eventually leads to his capture.

About CalendarZ

CalendarZ

In addition of showing the dates of significant holidays and events; CalendarZ enables you easily check out the time remaining to a certain date and all other details.

Our Partners

WoWDeals : All Deals in One Place

Quick Navigation

  • Home
  • Upcoming Holidays
  • Religious Holidays
  • National Holidays
  • Other Days
  • Blog
  • Age Calculator
  • On This Day

© 2025 CalendarZ. All Rights Reserved. Contact Us / Privacy Policy

English   |   español   |   français   |   português   |   русский   |   العربية   |   简体中文