A former newspaper editor has penned what is believed to be the first ever biography of a now-forgotten Victorian cricketing giant.

Ted Peate became the first cricketer to make the Honours Board at Lord’s when his figures of 6-85 helped England beat Australia in 1884.

He was also described by WG Grace as the “finest bowler he ever faced” – yet is now forgotten and lies in an unmarked grave at the side of the runway of Leeds-Bradford airport.

Now Ian Lockwood, who edited the Craven Herald from 1993 until 2009, has written his story under the title “Ten Drunks and a Parson.”

The title comes from a comment attributed to Lord Hawke about the team he inherited when he became Yorkshire captain and sacked Peate – the first of the “drunks” to be dismissed.

Said Ian: “Lord Hawke sacked Peate to the astonishment of the cricketing world. The Australians were amazed. Their captain Billy Murdoch, writing 25 years after Peate’s dismissal, said he was the best bowler England ever had.”

Ian, pictured, became interested in Peate’s story when he came across a report in the Craven Herald about the local Skipton cricket club signing the ex-England star as their club professional.

He stayed for seven seasons establishing them as one of the leading clubs in Yorkshire before they dismissed him as a cost-cutting exercise. Three months later he was dead and his family could not afford a gravestone.

Ian, who also spent five years as sports editor of the Yorkshire Evening Press, said: “All his memorabilia, his medals, his trophies have disappeared.

“It’s a fascinating story and I think it’s high time his reputation was restored. For a decade he was Yorkshire and England’s number one bowler and he’ll forever be number one on the honours board at the home of English cricket’.

Ten Drunks and a Parson is published by Pitch Publishing.

The book has the backing of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, who have also lent their support to a campaign to provide a headstone for the forgotten sports hero.