Arthur Coningham

Who was Arthur Coningham?

Arthur Coningham was an Australian cricketer who played in one Ashes Test in Melbourne in 1894 in which he took a wicket with his very first ball. He took 2 for 17 in England's first innings but failed to add to that tally in the second.

He was renowned as something of a joker. In an effort to stay warm while fielding in a tour match in 1893 at a frigid Blackpool he gathered straw and twigs and started a fire on the outfield.

He found life difficult after he retired from the game, serving time in gaol for fraud, and he died in an asylum. Coningham was involved in a famous scandal in 1899 when he sued his wife for divorce on the basis of her adultery with a Roman Catholic priest, Fr Denis O'Haran, personal secretary to Cardinal Moran.

His son was the famous World War I air ace and World War II commander Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham.