Well-known Boston man - war veteran, local cricket legend, businessman and author - Ralph Ottey dies, aged 102

Ralph Ottey passed away peacefully yesterday (Sunday, May 10) following a period of ill health, his family said.

Daughter Lesley Morrison said: “He was kept high in spirits because he was never short of friends visiting and I am and will be forever grateful to them for their devotion to my Dad.”

Ralph was born in Little London, Westmoreland, Jamaica, in 1924.

Following a call for assistance from the so-called ‘Mother Land’ in fighting the Second World War, he came to the UK in 1944.

He would go on to be attached to the unit responsible for the famous Dambusters raids, Lincolnshire’s 617 Squadron. There, he acted as a chauffeur to the chief armament officer. While the officer was in meetings, Ralph studied bookkeeping and accounting, laying the foundations for the successful business career that would follow.

After the Second World War and a period back in Jamaica, Ralph returned to England in 1948, settling in Boston.

Ralph took a bookkeeping and cashier post at Messrs G. Beaulah Ltd, a wholesale grocers in Pump Square. He then rose through the ranks to retire in 1989 as general manager of amalgamated foods, of which Beaulah’s had become a part. After retirement, he acted as Boston Chamber of Commerce membership officer for 20 years.

Ralph is fondly remembered for his extraordinary achievements as a fast bowler in cricket.

In 1949, The Standard wrote in its ‘Talking About Cricket’ section: “It is high time that readers of this column made the acquaintance of Ralph Ottey, a 25-years-old ex-airman from Jamaica.”

Playing for Carlton Cricket Club against the police, the paper continued, Ralph took eight wickets for 11 runs.

“In his first over Ottey obtained his hat-trick and at one stage his analysis was the almost unbelievable one of seven wickets for one run!” the paper said.

In an autobiography dealing with the years 1949-1989, he wrote of a time when he and a friend – a fellow Jamaican national – dismissed Wainfleet for three runs.

“Roy March took three wickets for three runs and I took seven wickets for none. Roy March had a ticking off from Captain Dick Harlow. Roy bowled a full toss on the leg-side, which resulted in Wainfleet getting two runs.”

Other contributions to the town have included documenting the changing face of Boston in two books – Memories of Boston Market Place 1949 – 2009 and Memories of Bargate in Boston.

Both also raised funds for community causes, including the Boston Stump, of which he said at the time: “For me, the Boston Stump belongs to everybody in Boston. I would want to do anything I could to see that the Stump goes on forever and ever.”

His achievements as an author continued beyond his 100th birthday with the publication of a memoir titled A Jamaican in Lincolnshire: From the Wartime RAF to a Life in Boston.

It was featured at an event held at The International Bomber Command Centre, near Lincoln, hosted by Bishop Grosseteste University and the University of Lincoln, with Ralph in attendance.

Lesley said a celebration and thanksgiving service would be held for her father in due course.

“We have so much to be thankful for and he wouldn’t want people to be sad,” she said.

Of her father’s character, she said: “There is so much I could say, but he was a father. He had high expectations, but supported me at all times. Above all, I knew his love for me was unconditional and it remained so until he took his last breath. He was a devoted father-in-law, grandfather and great-grandfather.

“Although his immediate family is small, he has an extended family in Jamaica, USA and Canada, all of whom are so very proud of him.”