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Albert (Tibby) Cotter

Test cricketer and soldier (1883 – 1917)

The 1905 Australian Cricket Team. Tibby is seated on the right.
Image Credit: Rotary Photo, E.C. National Library of Australia.
 

Location

'Monteith' 266 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, Sydney NSW 2037

Glebe is on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

Accessibility

Wheelchair accessible

About Albert (Tibby) Cotter

Australian test cricketer Albert 'Tibby' Cotter was one of Australia's earliest masters of the art of fast bowling. He played in 21 tests between 1903 and 1911, taking 89 wickets.

After enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in 1915, Tibby's image was used on an AIF recruitment campaign poster. He served briefly in Gallipoli and later in Palestine, where he was commended for his 'fine work under heavy fire'.

Blue Plaque commemorating Tibby Cotter mounted on the exterior of Monteith, a heritage-listed two-storey brick residence in Glebe, Sydney. The plaque is affixed to the red-brick façade of the house, which was built after 1890 as the home of the Cotter family. Monteith is situated on a rectangular plot on the western side of Glebe Point Road.
Tibby Cotter's Blue Plaque at Monteith
Image Credit: Matthew Dunbar/Heritage NSW

Tibby Cotter’s Blue Plaque at Monteith

The early days

Albert 'Tibby' Cotter was born in Sydney on 3 December 1883. The Cotter family moved to Glebe in 1889 when Tibby's father, John Henry Cotter, purchased a site at Glebe Road (now Glebe Point Road) and built 'Monteith' for his wife Margaret and 6 sons. Tibby lived at Monteith with his family until 1915, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).

Nicknamed 'Tibby' because of his small stature, he attended Forest Lodge Public School and Sydney Grammar School, where his talent as a bowler soon became evident.

Tibby joined the Glebe District Cricket Club in 1900 and established himself as an exceptional pace bowler and hard-hitting batsman. He earned his place in the NSW Cricket XI the following year at age 18.

Black and white portrait of Albert Cotter, New South Wales and Australia cricketer, circa 1905. He stands upright, holding a cricket ball up in his right hand. The photo is cropped at the thighs. Cotter wears a dark cap, white long-sleeved shirt, and white pants, looking slightly off-camera with a smile.
Albert Cotter, New South Wales and Australia, circa 1905.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Albert Cotter, New South Wales and Australia, circa 1905

Bowling for Australia

Aged 20, Tibby was selected to bowl for Australia against England’s touring team in the 1903–04 season. He toured England with the Australian team in 1905 and 1909. Tibby could bowl for long spells and was a good fieldsman. During one memorable summer, he snared an impressive 22 wickets against the South African side.

The bowler’s promising test career came to an end in 1912 after he and 5 other senior players demanded that the newly formed Australian Board of Control for International Cricket Matches allow players to elect a manager from their own ranks. The board refused and the 'rebellious six' – Warwick Armstrong, Hanson Carter, Clement Hill, Vernon Ransford, Victor Trumper and Cotter – declared themselves unavailable for selection for the next tour of England. Tibby never played for Australia again.

Black and white photographic postcard of the 1905 Australian Cricket Team in England, featuring 15 individual portrait photographs arranged in three rows of five. Each player is shown in formal attire. J. Darling, the team captain, is centered in the middle row, while Albert Cotter appears on the far left of the same row. The portraits are framed with decorative borders, typical of early 20th-century postcard design.
Photographic postcard of The Australian Cricket Team in England 1905.
Image Credit: National Museum of Australia

Photographic postcard of the Australian Cricket Team in England, 1905

Military service

Tibby joined the AIF in April 1915. He served in the final months of the Gallipoli campaign with the 3rd Reinforcements, 12th Light Horse Regiment. Tibby was not a particularly disciplined soldier and was reprimanded for drunkenness shortly after arriving in Gallipoli. Despite this, he soon earned a reputation for bravery. After his unit was deployed to Palestine, he was commended for his 'fine work under heavy fire’ during the second battle of Gaza. The official history of the battle remarked that ‘he behaved in action as a man without fear'.

Driven by falling enlistment numbers, in 1917 the AIF developed a series of recruitment posters featuring sportsmen, including one of Tibby, which encouraged sportsman to enlist in a ‘sportsman’s unit’. Despite the AIF's hopes, the Australian campaign did not prove as popular as the English campaign that inspired it.

An Australian Imperial Force (AIF) recruiting lantern slide from 1917 featuring a portrait of Australian Test cricketer Albert 'Tibby' Cotter. The image was used to encourage enlistment by highlighting Cotter’s sporting fame and military service. He is shown in uniform, representing his transition from celebrated cricketer to soldier in the Australian Light Horse during World War I.
An AIF recruitment campaign featured Tibby.
Image Credit: Linton Slide 1917. Australian War Memorial P04366.001.

An AIF recruitment campaign featured Tibby, Linton Slide, 1917

A true sportsman

Tibby Cotter was killed while acting as a mounted stretcher-bearer on 31 October 1917 at the third Battle of Gaza. He had taken part in the most famous mounted action of the war, the Light Horse charge to capture the wells at Beersheba.

Tibby is remembered as a fast bowler, an ANZAC digger and an undeniable larrikin. In a thoughtful obituary, his friend and fellow cricketer Peter McAlister reflected on Tibby’s charming nature.

He was a most agreeable companion on the [1909 Ashes] tour, and was exceedingly popular among the English cricketers and supporters of the game. He was naturally easygoing, with a smile for everybody. He was also full of humour.

  • Original 1905 drawing by A. Chevallier Tayler of Australian Test cricketer Albert 'Tibby' Cotter. The illustration captures Cotter in motion, poised to deliver a ball, with a focused stance and dynamic posture, reflecting the energy and precision of his bowling style. The artwork is part of 'The Empire's Cricketers' series.
    Original drawing by A. Chevallier Tayler, Albert 'Tibby' Cotter, Australian test cricketer, about to deliver the ball from the Empire's cricketers, 1905
    A. Chevallier Tayler, Albert 'Tibby' Cotter, Australian Test cricketer, about to deliver the ball from The Empire's cricketers 1905.
    Image Credit: Newcastle Libraries
  • Black and white portrait of Australian fast bowler Albert 'Tibby' Cotter in 1908. He stands upright beside a cricket stand, holding a cricket ball high in his right hand, poised to deliver a ball. Cotter wears a dark cap, white long-sleeved top, white pants, and white shoes.
    Portrait of fast bowler Albert Cotter
    Portrait of fast bowler, Albert Cotter, 1908.
    Image Credit: Bolland, Hanwell, W. & Southall/National Library of Australia

References and further reading