the field and being critical of the performances of others. According to historian Anthony Woodhouse, Rhodes was a "dour, methodical and calculating cricketer". Not popular in the way that a player like Hirst was popular, Rhodes "commanded respect rather than plaudits" in the words of Bowes. An introvert, he did not always get along with the more extrovert Hirst, possibly owing to mutual jealousy and some of Hirst's jocular comments, and was rarely pictured smiling. However, Rhodes became more relaxed and approachable in later life, particularly after his eyesight failed. Cardus was surprised, after meeting him in 1950, at how much more readily Rhodes engaged in conversation, commenting that "history comes from his mouth in rivers". Rhodes's obituary in The Times concluded: "Gruff or mellow, he was all of a piece, a fighting Yorkshireman, superbly gifted." Personal life In October 1899, Rhodes, aged 22, married Sarah Elizabeth Stancliffe, who lived in Kirkheaton and was two years his senior. They lived in a farmhouse, shared with other people, at Bog Hall near Kirkheaton. On 25 August 1902 his wife gave birth to a daughter, their only child. Rhodes found Yorkshire's dealings with money to be ungenerous; following his benefit in 1911 Yorkshire, as was their custom, paid only one-third of the money to Rhodes and kept back the rest to invest on his behalf, only paying out the interest. Rhodes considered this to be unfair; however, he was able to use the money to build a stone house at Marsh, Huddersfield, which his family moved into in the autumn of 1912. He lived there until 1956. From around 1936 Rhodes's sight began to fail, and on the outbreak of war in 1939 he was unable to take up a wartime job. Eventually a specialist diagnosed glaucoma, but at that stage nothing could be done. Rhodes was still able to see well enough to watch cricket and play golf, although by 1946 he was unable to read a newspaper. Another specialist was consulted in 1951 and an operation performed, but by 1952 Rhodes was completely blind. The build-up of pain led to the removal of his left eyeball in 1958. In 1950, Sarah Rhodes suffered a heart attack, which limited the help she could give to her husband; she died in 1954, a few months before her 80th birthday. Rhodes then sold his house at Marsh and moved in with his daughter