# Bob Thoms

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bob_Thoms
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bob_Thoms.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Thoms
> Source revision: 1350099564
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Robert Arthur Thoms** (19 May 1826 – 10 June 1903) was a [cricket umpire](/source/Umpire_(cricket)) who stood in two [Test matches](/source/Test_cricket), the first two played in England, in 1880 and 1882.

## Life and career

Thoms was born in [Marylebone](/source/Marylebone) in London in 1826. His father was part-proprietor of a cricket ground in [Middlesex](/source/Middlesex). Thoms attended a "good school", where he learnt [Latin](/source/Latin) and [Greek](/source/Greek_language).[1]

Thoms appeared as a player in three [first-class cricket](/source/First-class_cricket) matches in 1850 and 1851: one for an Under 36 XI, one for [Marylebone Cricket Club](/source/Marylebone_Cricket_Club) and Metropolitan Clubs and one for the [All England Eleven](/source/All_England_Eleven).[2] He was a fine fieldsman and an excellent sprinter over 100 yards.[3]

Thoms' long umpiring career lasted from 1863 to 1900 and encompassed 244 first-class matches, including the first two Test matches played in England, between [England](/source/England_cricket_team) and [Australia](/source/Australia_cricket_team) at [The Oval](/source/The_Oval) in 1880 and 1882.[4] When he died, *[The Times](/source/The_Times)* said that he was "the most famous umpire the game has known".[5] The Australian Test captain [Joe Darling](/source/Joe_Darling) said, "Thoms was about the only umpire in England who was not afraid of [Grace](/source/W._G._Grace) or anyone else."[6] The weekly magazine *Cricket* said:

He was universally regarded as *the* umpire of the period, imperturbable, accurate and prompt in his decisions, and a great authority on the laws of the game. Unlike most umpires who, when they have given a decision, decline to argue or discuss the matter, he had a habit of explaining just what had happened, and as he very seldom made a mistake, his comments were always heard with respect and often admiration.[1]

Thoms frequently wrote articles on cricket for the sporting press, "always having something interesting to say in quaint language, which was charming and entirely his own".[1]

He and his wife, the former Elizabeth Constance Farley, had four children, two of whom died in infancy. She died in 1898; he died after a long illness in 1903 at [Regent's Park](/source/Regent's_Park), London.[2][7] They are buried in a family grave on the eastern side of [Highgate Cemetery](/source/Highgate_Cemetery).

## References

1. [W. A. Bettesworth](/source/Walter_Bettesworth), "Robert Thoms: Some Reminiscences", *Cricket*, 18 June 1903, pp. 209–10.

1. ["Robert Thoms"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/37/37798/37798.html). *CricketArchive*. Retrieved 27 September 2020.

1. [*Seventy-One Not Out*](https://archive.org/details/SeventyOneNotOut/page/n41/mode/2up?q=thoms), by [William Caffyn](/source/William_Caffyn), William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1899, p. 24.

1. ["Robert Thoms as Umpire in First-Class Matches"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/37/37798/Umpire_in_First-Class_Matches.html). *CricketArchive*. Retrieved 27 September 2020.

1. *Wisden Cricketers' Almanack*, 1904 edition, obituary notice.

1. Quoted in [Derek Birley](/source/Derek_Birley), *The Willow Wand*, Simon & Schuster, London, 1989, p. 34.

1. ["Robert Arthur Thoms"](https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/person/tree/5733641/person/24092987950/facts). *Ancestry*. Retrieved 27 September 2020.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bob Thoms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Thoms) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Thoms?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.