The Early Years: Hatfield Cricket Club in the Nineteenth Century

John Hughes, Hertford CC.97

Other Notable Players In an era in which statistics are thin on the ground and from which there are no contemporary eyewitness accounts, it is not easy to determine who the significant figures in Hatfield Cricket Club’s past were. It has crudely come down to combing through the match reports that have survived and separating the more significant performances, which, given the low scores of the time, had a lower bar than would be set for a modern batsman. T Hammond (1810-1851) It is presumed that Thomas Hammond’s father, Sidney Sr (1776-1836), was the Hammond who played for Hatfield against the County of Hertford in 1818. The Hammonds were a cricketing family, with Thomas’s brother, George (1806-1889), also playing for the club. Thanks to the frustrating habit of match reports frequently omitting the initials from players’ names, it is difficult to be sure when the brothers’ playing careers commenced, a situation confused further confused by them overlapping with that of their father. We can be certain, however, that Thomas was playing by 1827, as that year, all three of the Hammonds were in the side that played against Ware at Ware Marsh. While brother George’s main contribution to the club came after he took up umpiring in the 1830s, Thomas began to excel on the pitch in the 1830s. His exploits with the bat may not sound that impressive, but as explained at the beginning of this chapter, runs were hard to come by at the time. His highest known scores included 41 against Finchley in 1835 and 44 against Bishops Stortford. His most successful season came in the summer of 1841 when he became one of only three Hatfield batsmen to score a half-century before the year zero of 1851 when he hit 58 against Ware in an usually high total of 253. Two weeks later, he helped himself to another 40 runs in the return fixture at Ware Park. The same year, he also produced the best bowling performance of his career when taking 11 wickets against the County of Hertford, six in the first innings and five in the second. Around this time, Thomas was likely the Hammond who appeared for a pseudo-Hertfordshire XI. His finest moment for Hatfield came at Hatfield Park in 1850 when he scored 91 runs against St Albans. Hammond continued to play until 1850, the year before his premature death, when he was joined in the team by his son, Sidney Jr (1830-1856). It was during his final season that his finest moment in Hatfield colours came 98

at Hatfield Park, when he scored 91 runs, out of a total of 283, against St Albans. His innings of 91 was the highest recorded in the ‘unofficial pre-1851 era.’ Father and son played in the return fixture, when one of them, presumably Thomas, took six wickets. W Stocks (1807-1882) If you accept that the first official match played by Hatfield CC was against South Herts on 15 July 1851, then William Stocks announced himself in style by taking five wickets in each innings. In reality, he was approaching the end of a playing career that had seen him as the premier player of the pre-1851 era. Stocks, a cordwainer, may have played at least as early as 1825, but he was certainly in the team that opposed Welwyn on 11/12 September 1826 alongside his elder brother Thomas (1792-1874). Ironically, at fifteen years senior to William, this was to be the final appearance in Hatfield’s colours for Thomas. In a two-day match played against Ware in Hatfield Park on 6/7 August 1835, William batted himself into Hatfield folklore when, by scoring 53, he became the first Hatfield CC batsman on record to hit a half-century. Stocks repeated this feat with another score of 53 against the County of Hertford (1841), 62 against Ware (1846), and 74 against Luton in 1849. Stocks’ total of four half-centuries accounted for almost half of those recorded in the first half of the nineteenth century. Added to this, in the same period, of the 15 recorded instances of a bowler taking five or more wickets in an innings, eight of them were down to Stocks. To complete his statistical dominance during this period, Stocks was the only Hatfield cricketer to score a half-century and take five wickets in a match. This he accomplished twice, 53 runs and six wickets against the County of Hertford in 1841 and at Luton in 1849, he took five wickets to add to his 74 runs. It would be thirty-two years before another Hatfield player would emulate this feat. William didn’t produce any cricketing progeny of his own; however, in the twilight years of his career, he played alongside his nephew Frederick (1827-1908), a son of Thomas. His playing days came to an end in 1855 at the age of 48, with his swan song coming the previous season against King’s Langley when he took six wickets in an 82-run victory, which was the eleventh and final occasion on which he was recorded taking five wickets in an innings. 99

W Faircloth (1819-1901) During the crossover period between the ‘unofficial’ and ‘official’ eras of the club’s history, its premier batsman was William ‘Billy’ Faircloth. Breaking into the side in 1840, it wasn’t long before Faircloth made a name for himself, scoring 67 against Ware the following season. Further half-centuries followed against Ball’s Park (1843), Hertford (1847), St Albans (1850), Clapton (1857), and Enfield (1859). Faircloth’s prowess with the bat was such that his fifth and final fifty for the club was only the eleventh on record by a Hatfield batsman. Continuing to play until the 1863 season, in his latter years, Faircloth developed into something of an all-rounder, and the culmination of his efforts with the ball came against Clapton in 1860 when he took five wickets in the second innings of the match. William, who never married, lived with his spinster sister, Elizabeth. In later years, they were joined by their widowed sister, Sarah, who had been married to the brother of William’s teammate, Albert Tregaskiss. S Soames (1826-1908) Stephen Soames wasn’t a native of Hatfield but proved to be a very useful acquisition. Born in Stoke Newington, he was educated at Rugby School before studying at Trinity College, Oxford. While at Oxford, Soames made six first-class appearances for the university between 1846 and 1850, followed by a further four appearances for the MCC between 1850 and 1853. He also appeared for the Gentlemen of England against the Gentlemen of Kent in 1851. For Hatfield, he took five wickets on his debut against Clapton, although the match report implied he bowled numerous wides as a result of trying to bowl too quickly. Soames formed a formidable bowling partnership with Frederick Woolley, with the pair regularly taking the lion’s share of the wickets. In 1860, in an act of symmetry, Soames’ Hatfield career ended as it had begun, with him taking five wickets against Clapton. That was at least the seventh five-wicket performance during his time with the club. A student of Lincoln’s Inn, Soames, was called to the bar in 1854. He later served as a justice of the peace for Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire, as well as being commissioned to the Lieutenancy of the City of London in 1892. F W Woolley (1837-1873) Soames may have had the accolade of playing first-class cricket, but it 100

was his partner in crime, Frederick William Woolley, who had the most successful career with Hatfield CC. Curiously, H J Gray chose to wax lyrical of Woolley as ‘one of Hatfield’s most talented batsmen’ when all the evidence would suggest that bowling was his forte. Frederick, an illegitimate son of Jane Woolley (b. 1816), made his Hatfield debut in 1857 against Clapton before taking five wickets against No Man’s Land (Wheathampstead) in his second match. He followed this with innings of 31 (Colney Hatch) and 48 (Clapton) to show that he was no mug with the bat; however, from this point onwards, all of his successes would be with the ball. Bowling performances for this period were woefully underreported, but despite this, it is known that Woolley took five or more wickets in an innings on at least 21 occasions before he retired in 1869. His best return in a single innings came in 1868 against Islington Albion, when he took eight wickets in the first innings, having taken 13 wickets a match earlier in the season against the same opponent. He also took 12 wickets in a match against St Albans in 1863 and again against Hertford in 1866. Frederick’s younger brother, Edward (1842-1884), another illegitimate child of Jane, also played for the club and continued to do so until 1874, while his second cousin, James (yet another illegitimate child), made a handful of appearances, including the club’s first visit to Lord’s. A CRICKETER’S FUNERAL On Sunday last, the remains of Frederick Woolley were deposited in the Hatfield churchyard in the presence of a large concourse of people. He was for many years connected with the Town Cricket Club, and a number of his old friends and fellow cricketers assembled on the occasion to testify to the respect and esteem in which he had always been held by them. Among those present were the veteran umpire George Hammond, W Parker, Messrs W and J Walby, J Cox, F Hankin, F Stocks, C Stallabrass, etc, etc. The friends of the deceased desire to thank all those who have so kindly contributed towards the funeral fund. Hertfordshire Mercury - 22 November 1873 W Walby (1838-1885) - J Walby (1843-1916) From a family of butchers, the brothers William and James Walby both made their debut for Hatfield when aged sixteen, and both became stalwarts of the club. Both would be classed as all-rounders, with William, a batsman who could also bowl, and James, a bowler who knew how to hold a bat. At a time when an innings of 30 was a decent knock, William Walby 101

exceeded that number many times, eventually securing his first half-century in 1861 with 51 not out against F G Faithfull’s XI (Broxbourne). In the same season, when playing against North London, he also collected his first five-wicket haul. It seems that William enjoyed playing against North London; in the two fixtures of 1865, he hit scores of 65 and 72, and in doing so became the first Hatfield batsman to score two half-centuries in the same season. A final fifty came against Hertford in 1871, and two further fivewicket hauls were achieved, the best of which was seven wickets against Hertford in 1865. James Walby’s most successful year with the ball was 1863, when he took five or more wickets on four occasions, most notably dismissing eight of North London CC’s batsmen. News of the youngster’s form travelled across the county, and in 1864 he was selected in a ‘Hertfordshire’ XI that played against Moor Park. James continued to be a consistent wicket-taker for his club, and he went on to take five or more wickets on another seven occasions. Although not as prolific a run-scorer as his older brother, James still managed a couple of half-century scores. The first, fifty exactly, was scored against North London in the same match that William hit his highest score for the club. James’s best score of 74 came against Bohemians in 1871, an innings that usurped his brother’s effort as a club record high in the ‘official’ era. In 1876, James was selected to play for West Herts versus East Herts in what was effectively a trial match for the newly formed Herts County Club, but, alas, he didn’t make it into the full County XI. William married Ester, the sister of Henry Hankin (Hon, Secretary (1868-1871), and two of their sons, Henry William (1872-1925) and Marcus John ‘Jack’ (1883-1952), followed in their father’s footsteps and played for the club, ‘Jack’ for over twenty seasons. Henry’s son (William’s grandson), Joseph Canham (1908-1974), continued the family tradition, captaining the Thursday XI in the 1930s. G Elliott (1861-1907) In The Lost Years: Hatfield Cricket Club 1901-1945, I uncharitably suggested that the biggest contribution of George Elliott to the fortunes of Hatfield Cricket Club was to have sired Ernest Elliott (1885-1970), one of the best cricketers in its history. This was unfair to George, as he was a fine cricketer in his own right. Earning his place in the side when he was nineteen years old, Elliott was initially selected for his abilities as a bowler. A consistent, if not spectacular, accumulator of wickets in the 1880s, the pinnacle of his bowling career came in 1881 when he took five wickets in both innings 102

while playing against Hertford Victoria. By the time that the decade had reached its conclusion, Elliott had succeeded in taking five wickets an additional three times; however, come the 1890s, despite showing little sign previously, he had transformed into a top-order batsman. He finished third in the club’s batting averages in the 1894 and 1895 seasons, in the latter of which he scored half-centuries against St Mark’s and Totteridge. Sadly, the averages for 1896 were not reported; however, he was the winner of the batting prize in 1897. His record for the season was: 16 innings, not out twice, 312 runs (including scores of 83 not out and 54 against Bell Bar and GNRAA respectively), and an average of 22.28. The following season, he hit his fifth and final fifty for the club. In the twilight years of his career, George added another string to his bow. While continuing to bowl occasionally, Elliott tried his hand at wicketkeeping, which, judging by the number of stumpings he pulled off, he was very adept at. Towards the end of his playing career, Elliott also acted as the club’s groundsman. When he took on this role is unclear, but he was certainly in situ by 1898, and he relinquished his position in 1901, before finally retiring as a player in 1906. In conversation with his relatives, H J Gray discovered that Elliott’s ‘overindulgence in the wares of Bacchus’ contributed to his demise at a relatively young age, a matter of weeks after the death of his father. For those of you whose knowledge of Greek mythology is as poor as mine, Bacchus was the god of wine-making. In addition to Ernest, George produced another cricketing son, Francis Herbert (1902-1942), who played for Hatfield for nineteen seasons, albeit without the success of his elder brother. HATFIELD DEATH.– A well-known inhabitant of the town passed away rather suddenly on Sunday evening in the person of Mr George Elliott. Deceased was the eldest son of the late Mr E Elliott, whose death occurred quite recently. He leaves a widow and nine children, several of whom are of quite tender age, and much sympathy is felt with them in their terrible loss. Deceased was very popular among his friends, and his delightful comic songs were always in great demand at the Public Hall. He was a very old member of the Fire Brigade and also took a very active interest in football and cricket. The funeral took place on Wednesday at the Cemetery. The body was borne on the fire engine and surrounded by beautiful floral tributes, and followed, in addition to the family mourners by members of the Fire Brigade in uniform, and also by brothers of the Court “Industry” of Foresters of which deceased was a member. Herts Advertiser - 04 May 1907 103

H Cox (1876-1955) I was unsure as to whether or not to include Harry Cox in this volume, as his career straddled two centuries, and consequently, a profile appears in The Lost Years: Hatfield Cricket Club 1901-1945. But it would of course be arrogant of me to assume that anyone would have read this, and it helps that ‘Dr’ Cox was such an interesting character. Harry was the son of ‘Dr’ James Cox, who was discussed in the chapter Officials, and, as with Cox Sr, the title ‘Dr’ was a pseudonym bestowed upon him by the locals of Hatfield, and like his father before him, he was a druggist. Harry was a precocious talent, as far as I can tell, making his debut for the 2nd XI against Hatfield Newtown when a fourteen-year-old, and taking four wickets in an over. Cox was a genuine all-rounder, and although there is no evidence of him taking five wickets in an innings (he took four several times), with Newtown dismissed for 18, there is a possibility that the brief newspaper report omitted this fact. As an all-rounder, 1895 was undoubtedly Harry Cox’s year. He won the club’s batting prize with an average of 20.14, having scored 282 runs with a highest score of 63 against Essendon. It is possible that this wasn’t his only half-century of the season, as it was reported that Cox and Hardy Wells were involved in a 111-run partnership against the Hatfield Lawn Tennis Club (it is also possible that this fixture wasn’t included in the averages). Added to this, Cox finished second in the bowling averages, taking 26 wickets at an average of 13.23. As far as the rest of the nineteenth century was concerned, 1898 was his most successful season, hitting fifties home and away against Arkley, who were one of the strongest teams in Hertfordshire at the time. Harry was joined in the Hatfield XIs of this time by his cousin, William Walter Cox (1861-1937), who had an array of nicknames, attributed by H J Gray as being; ‘Jimmy’, after his uncle James, ‘Strutty’ because of his gait, and ‘Whistler’ because, inexplicably, rather than a shrill whistle, he made a soft susurrous (‘sussing’) noise through his teeth. His playing days continued into the twentieth century, and in 1905, he once again finished at the top of the batting averages, with a highest score of 106. Legend has it that his time with the club came to an abrupt end following a difference of opinion with his father. The story, as told to H J Gray by Ted Groom, is that James Cox is supposed to have chastised Harry for devoting so much of his time and attention to playing cricket instead of spending more of it helping to run the family’s shop. From that day forward, he never crossed the threshold of No.21 Fore Street, Hatfield, until he 104

was carried out when he died there in 1955. Upon his death, Vice-Presidents Joseph Hanlon and Percy Wheeler wrote a proclamation to the Committee to commemorate this legend: Dear Sirs. We beg to draw your attention to the recent demise of an old Hatfield Estate cricketer who for the past 50 years was a martyr for the game. The story goes that on returning from a Saturday afternoon game in the Park, his old daddy, who was the local alchemist in those days, gave him a severe rollicking as Saturday afternoon was always his busy day, with the youth of both sexes, for contraceptives, aphrodisiacs, love potions, and female corrective pills. As he was a man of high ideals, he made a vow never to cross the old man’s doorstep again. So without a haircut, shave, or wash, he took on the appearance of old Daniel Boon and from that day to this never heard the click of ball on willow. We crave to his memory two seconds’ silence from the Committee standing. The legend of Harry Cox may well be correct, though I would add the caveat that in the final seasons of his career, Cox only appeared to have been playing for the Thursday XI, so the shop would have been closed when he was enjoying his cricket. Other First-Class Cricketers With the current Hatfield (& Crusaders) CC sitting in the sixth tier of Hertfordshire cricket, albeit in a system that is distorted by the inclusion of 1st XIs, 2nd XIs, 3rd XIs, etc., in a single structure, it can be difficult to comprehend that the club was once a leading light in the county. Before the 1860s, the club’s reputation enabled it to call upon the services of some of the finest cricketers in the surrounding areas. In the latter decades of the nineteenth century, through the likes of George Lambert, William Lambert, and Ben Warsop, it was well placed to take advantage of the players that passed through the Lord’s Cricket Ground. In addition to those discussed in the preceding chapters, eleven more players who have played first-class cricket have been identified within Hatfield’s ranks. In all likelihood, there will have been others. W FRANKS (1820-1879). Unlike the rest of the players who will follow, 105

William Franks was not a guest player, but a native of Hatfield. Although that is Hatfield in the loosest sense of the word, with the family living in Woodhill. The name of Woodhill has long since disappeared from the map, but it was located to the south of Wild Hill, on Kentish Lane. Schooled at Harrow, Franks then went to Trinity College, Cambridge, after which he was called to the bar, before becoming the private secretary of the Marquess of Salisbury in 1852. Coinciding as it did with the ‘dark ages’ of the club’s history, how much cricket Franks played for the club is a mystery. The earliest sighting is from an inter-club game in 1840 when he was in an eleven of gentlemen from Cambridge, Harrow, and Oxford.1 He was last seen in 1853 playing against the Earl of Uxbridge’s XI at Tewin Water. His firstclass cricket career was played for the MCC, for whom he made seven appearances between 1845 and 1848. DEATH OF MR WILLIAM FRANKS, JP.– We regret to have to record the death of Mr William Franks, of Woodhill, Hatfield, which took place on Saturday last at No. 107 Marins, St Leonards. The deceased had been suffering for some time past from a diseased heart, and had gone to reside at Brighton during the winter months. Recently, however, he removed to St Leonards, believing the change would be beneficial. He was seemingly better on Thursday than he had been for some days, but on Friday he complained of being poorly, and in the evening he sank into a stupor, from which he never rallied. Mr Franks was in his 59th year, having been born on the 21st March, 1820. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, and took his degree of BA in 1842, afterwards taking that of MA. He was called to the Bar, but practised only a short time. He acted as Private Secretary to the late Marquess of Salisbury when his Lordship held the Office of Lord Privy Seal, in the cabinet of the late Earl of Derby in 1852. Deceased was appointed a Magistrate in 1854; and he has always taken a lively interest in County matters, and was an active and valuable member of almost all the standing committees appointed by the Court of Quarter Sessions, and was Chairman of the Police Committee till his death. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant of the County. In December 1849, he married Emily Florence, daughter of the late Sir John Jones, Bart of Cranmer Hall, Norfolk, who survives him, and by whom he has left an only child, a daughter. The funeral, which was strictly private, took place on Tuesday, the remains of the deceased being interred in the family vault at St Mark’s, Woodhill. Hertfordshire Mercury - 15 February 1879 H K BOLDERO (1831-1900). Following in the footsteps of William Franks, Henry Kearney Boldero was also educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in 1854 and an MA in 1857. It was while at Cambridge that Boldero played out his career as a first-class 106

cricketer, representing the University thirteen times between 1851 and 1853. With no family connection to Hatfield, it has to be assumed that he made his sole appearance for Hatfield at the invitation of William ‘Gerard’ Lysley (1831-1887), a contemporary of Boldero’s at Trinity College. In the match against Clapton in 1852, although Hatfield were well beaten, Boldero was his side’s top scorer, with 33 runs in the first innings and 17 in the second. R GRIMSTON (1816-1884). Yet another Harrovian, Robert Grimston, the fourth son of the 1st Earl of Veralum, was one of the most esteemed cricketers to have appeared in Hatfield colours. A right-handed batsman, between 1836 and 1855, Grimston played in at least 63 first-class matches, appearing for… Oxford University, Middlesex, MCC, Gentlemen of England, Gentlemen, Spin Bowlers, Single, England, and South. Three of his brothers, James, Edward, and Francis, also played first-class cricket, as did his nephews, Walter Grimston and Lord Hyde. A keen patron of the game of cricket, although failing in his desire to attain first-class status for Hertfordshire, he did assist in the formation of the Surrey County Club in 1846, and he was President of the MCC from 1883 to 1884, with the dubious honour of becoming the first incumbent to die in office. G BROCKWELL (1809-1876). The Hatfield CC career of George Brockwell, who played 44 first-class matches for Surrey between 1844 and 1857, was short and very sweet. The match report of his debut, against Clapton at Hatfield Park on 30 August 1855, shows that he was a last-minute replacement for Stephen Soames. An educated guess would be that Brockwell had been recruited by Robert Grimston, who was also in the Hatfield XI. Clapton were left to rue their gracious decision to allow Brockwell to play, for he scored 48 runs before proceeding to take seven wickets to secure victory for Hatfield. The following week, Brockwell returned to Hatfield Park when the club entertained Wimbledon, a fixture that may well have come about as a result of this newly founded Surrey connection. Brockwell’s class again came to the fore, with his innings of 63 guiding Hatfield to a comfortable win. C M HARVEY (1837-1917). As you may have gathered, attempting to speculate on how some players came to be associated with Hatfield CC is little more than educated guesswork. In the case of Charles Musgrave Harvey, the most logical answer is that it was a result of his matriculating at Ox107

ford University in the same year as William Selby Church, whose brother, John William Church, was (possibly) the club’s treasurer at the time. While studying at Oxford, he made a single appearance in first-class cricket for Oxford University against the MCC at Oxford in 1858. The following season, he played once for both the MCC and for Middlesex, and he made two further first-class appearances in 1860, both for the Gentlemen of the South against the Gentlemen of the North. Harvey’s brief spell with Hatfield occurred shortly after his first-class debut. In the two matches he played, he gave ample demonstration of his ability. Harvey took five wickets against both Enfield and Hertford and was also Hatfield’s top run-scorer, with 36 and 35. W HEARN (1849-1904). A son of Essendon, William Hearn was playing cricket for his local club by the time he was fourteen, and his ability led him to become a professional with St Albans. Hatfield’s records for the first half of the 1870s are patchy at best, but it is known that Hearn made at least one appearance for the club in 1870, and he was a fairly regular fixture in 1874 and 1875. His highest score for Hatfield was against Hertford, at Hartham Common, in 1874, when he made 92 runs. In 1878, he joined the MCC ground staff at Lord’s, and between then and 1891, he played in 41 first-class matches, 34 for the MCC, five for the South, and two for the Over 30s. When his playing days came to an end, Hearn became an umpire, initially for the MCC, and then from 1896 until his death (bronchitis), he stood in the County Championship. He was chosen to umpire in four Test Matches against Australia, in 1893 at Lord’s, 1896 at the Oval, 1899 at Headingley, and finally in 1902 at Edgbaston. WILLIAM HEARN William Hearn, the well-known cricketer and umpire, died at Barnet after a short illness on January 30th. As he was born at Essendon, in Hertfordshire, on November 30th, 1849, he was in his fifty-fifth year at the time of his death. In Scores and Biographies (Vol. xi, page 278), he is described as “An excellent batsman, a middle-paced round-armed bowler, and fields generally at cover-point, being extremely good in the latter department of the game, and a dead shot at the wicket.” In 1878, on the suggestion of Mr V E Walker, he was engaged on the MCC staff at Lord’s and retained the post until the day of his decease. His highest innings for Hertfordshire was his 167 against the MCC at Lord’s, in 1887, whilst for MCC and Ground he made such scores as 177 not out against Notts Castle, 160 against Uppingham Rovers (including Hugh Rotherham and Stanley Christopherson), and 149 against Suffolk. In August 1893, the match between Hert108

fordshire and Bedfordshire was played for his benefit, whilst four years later the MCC showed their appreciation of his services by handing him the proceeds of the match between Middlesex and Somerset, at Lord’s. Hearn was an enthusiastic cricketer, as well as a genial man, and his death at a comparatively early age will be regretted by all with whom he came in contact. He was buried in the Christ Church Cemetery, High Barnet, on February 4th, several prominent cricketers, including Mr Henry Perkins, George Burton, J T, G F, and G G Hearne being present. At the conclusion of the burial service, Canon Trotter, an Old Harrovian and a keen devotee of the game, spoke in feeling terms of the prestige deceased had gained as a cricketer and umpire, and spoke in laudatory terms of cricket as a game. Cricket - 25 February 1904 G CLIFFORD (1852-1941). George Clifford played in two matches for Hatfield, both in 1878 and both against Hertford. Also in the Hatfield lineup for these games was William Lambert, so presumably he brought Clifford with him. It was a fairly successful pair of outings for Clifford, batting three times with scores of 35, 37 (not out), and 44. As far as his first-class cricket credentials are concerned, he played sixteen matches for Surrey between 1871 and 1879. C TURNER (1862-1926). From a cricketing point of view, very little is known of Charles Turner other than he played in three first-class matches for Gloucestershire, spread out between 1886 and 1889. He was first spotted in a Hatfield side in the summer following the end of his first-class days, against Hertford. On this occasion, Ben Warsop seems to be the likeliest candidate for making the introduction since he batted at No. 6 for Hatfield on the day. Turner returned to Hatfield Park in 1891 for the visit of Cheshunt, and he helped himself to six wickets. L WHITEHEAD (1864-1913). If you are only going to make one appearance for a club, then scoring 95 runs and taking eight wickets isn’t a bad way of going about it. Lees Whitehead’s performance against the Three Counties Asylum in 1891 is unarguably one of the all-time best performances in the club’s history. Although on the books of Yorkshire at the time, he was also employed on the Lord’s ground staff, which is presumably how he came to be playing for the club. The presence of Walter Warsop in the Hatfield XI adds credence to this theory. For the Tykes, Whitehead played in 119 first-class matches between 1889 and 1904, and he additionally made 15 appearances for the MCC from 1890 until 1903. After his career 109

as a first-class cricketer, he moved to the North-East, where he became a director of Hartlepools United FC, which was to be the death of him. WELL-KNOWN CRICKETER DEATH The death has occurred at West Hartlepool of Lees Whitehead, the Yorkshire cricketer. Prior to removing to West Hartlepool eight years ago he lived at Sheffield, and was twelfth man for Yorkshire. He was also a former member of the staff of the MCC. After removing to West Hartlepool he played for the local club, and captained the eleven for two years. At a football match on Wednesday he caught a chill, and this developed into pneumonia. Aberdeen Journal - 24 November 1913. E A NEPEAN (1865-1906). The Middlesex cricketer Evan Alcock Nepean was another one-hit wonder. Nepean’s day in the sun came against Welwyn in 1897, when, while playing in a strong Hatfield XI that also included Walter Brearley, he was his side’s top scorer with 90 runs. The Lord’s connection will have come to the fore on this occasion, with the added detail that the previous season Nepean played in the same Wembley Park XI as Lees Whitehead against the Australian tourists. He cut his teeth in firstclass cricket while at Oxford University in 1886, before making his Middlesex debut at the tail-end of the following summer. In all, he played 18 times for Oxford and 45 times for Middlesex. He also appeared for a host of representative elevens, such as the Gentlemen and the South, playing his final first-class match in 1902 for the MCC. A M BASHFORD (1881-1949). Unique among the players included in this section is the Reverend Alfred Myddleton Bashford, so far as his appearances for Hatfield outweighed those of his first-class cricket career. Originally from Wimbledon, by the time of Alfred’s birth, his family had relocated to Norfolk, where his father, Robert, was the Rector of Wickhampton (near Great Yarmouth). The family returned to London in 1888 when Robert became vicar of St Thomas’s, Islington, a position he held until 1900. At the time of Alfred’s four appearances for Hatfield, in 1898, he was studying at Merchant Taylor’s School, so how he ended up in Hatfield is anyone’s guess. To add to the quandary, it is also a possibility that the connection was made through his elder brother, Frederick George Bashford (1874-1935), who was also playing for the club that summer. Alfred’s brief first-class career coincided with his time at Jesus College, Cambridge, while attaining his MA. He appeared twice, in consecutive weeks, in June 1906 110

for Middlesex, with little reward. F C ALMOND (1855-1910). An honourable mention should be made of Frederick Clarence Almond, who played for Essex CCC before the county achieved first-class status. First coming to prominence in 1880, when playing for the Colts of England against the MCC, Almond played for the Essex County Club at least 30 times between 1883 and 1889. Almond’s entry into the ranks of Hatfield CC likely came about as a result of the infamous Lord’s connection. He played twice (as far as can be seen) for the club, the first time with Ben Warsop, and the second time with Walter Warsop. It was a successful dalliance with the Hertfordshire club. On his first appearance, in 1890 against Hertford, he took five wickets, and when playing against the Three Counties Asylum in 1891, while Lees Whitehead was creating mayhem at the other end, Almond helped himself to 53 runs. 1 How times change. In the nearly fifty years that I have been involved with theclub, I am confident in saying that there haven’t been eleven players who wouldqualify to play in such an XI. 111

Inter-Club Matches The players of Hatfield Cricket Club have, since 1956, celebrated the closing of the season by staging an annual match between the married members of the club and their single counterparts. Before that, it had been played at various times of the season from 1919, albeit with a couple of breaks, most notably as a result of the Second World War. The club’s tradition of marking the end of the summer with an inter-club game of cricket, with added food and alcohol, stretches back as far as the club’s records allow. There have been differences over the years. It hasn’t always taken the form of a Married v. Single fixture, and more notably, the Marquess of Salisbury no longer pays for the after-match meal. For the thirty or so years covered in the books of accounts seen by H J Gray, his lordship made an annual donation to club funds to cover the expenses of three ‘practice matches.’ With admittedly not much information to go on, these appear to have consisted of a straightforward practice match on the opening day of the season, a ‘grand’ practice match and meal to close the season, and a mid-season game of no determinable format. By the end of the eighteenhundreds, by which time the fixture list had expanded, the mid-season fixture had bitten the dust. Unsurprisingly, very few of these ‘practice’ matches were deemed worthy of attention by the local news outlets, and of the fifty opening day fixtures that would presumably have been scheduled, details of only three have surfaced. Information on the earliest of these, played on Wednesday, 26 April 1882, was extracted from the club’s scorebook by H J Gray. It was a ten-a-side affair between teams captained by (probably) Arthur Ross Dagg and William Groom. Dagg’s XI included Frederick Hankin, Frank Gregory, Lovell Drage, George Elliott, Vincent Austin, Thomas Cash, Fred Platten, Trevor Dagg, and a tenth man whose name, according to Gray, was ‘quite indecipherable’. Whoever he was, he was bowled out for a duck. Assisting Groom were Charles Lambert, Walter Whitby, William Swift, Alfred Whitby, ‘Dr’ James Cox, Frederick Worman, (James or Herbert) Andrews, Henry Hankin, and William Duckworth. Dagg’s XI batted first and were promptly dismissed for 51 runs, Elliott (22) and Platten (10) the only men to reach double figures. Rain, the curse of April cricket, appears to have intervened as the innings of Groom’s XI ended with their total on 31 for two, Lambert undefeated on 22. There may have been an element of animosity creeping into proceedings. The mode of dismissal attributed to ‘Dr’ Cox read, ‘Nearly out, bowled Dagg.’ Added to the adjoining comments section 112

was the legend ‘Query as to being out’! The club’s 1886 fixture card (the only example from the nineteenth century to have survived), advertised an opening fixture of Club v. Town. As things turned out, the practice match that was played on Monday, 26 April, was a more purposeful affair. That season, the club had entered the Hertfordshire County Challenge Cup for the first time, and the match served as a warm-up for the competition. Clubs entering the county cup had to submit a squad in advance to ensure eligibility criteria had been met, and eleven of that squad were pitted against twenty-two of the remaining members. As strange as 22 v. 11 may sound, uneven-numbered contests were not uncommon at the time; it was seen as a way of levelling the playing field when teams of unequal strength opposed each other. You would like to think that the twenty-two didn’t all field at the same time! The major surprise from a Hatfield point of view was that Charles Lambert was playing for ‘the rest’ as he was arguably Hatfield’s best player at the time. Presumably, he had his reasons, although he made himself available the following season. Based on the report in the Hertfordshire Mercury, the visitors to Hatfield Park enjoyed an exciting climax to proceedings. The county cup XI on the day was not recorded for posterity; however, the players used in the competition were: Vincent Austin, Samuel Booth, Charles Bradshaw, Henry ‘Harry’ Broom, Thomas Cash, William Groom, Percy Collinson, Arthur Dagg, Percy Dagg, George Elliott, Alfred Whitby, and Walter Whitby. HATFIELD CRICKET CLUB – The first match of the season of this club was played on Monday in Hatfield Park and was between the eleven of the club who had been selected to play in the competition for the county challenge cup, and twenty-two other members under the captaincy of Charles Lambert. An interesting and exciting match was the result, and in the end, the eleven were declared victors by one run only. Some very good all-round play was shown by both sides. A great number of people witnessed the match, the park being thrown open to holiday visitors, who thronged to Hatfield and enjoyed the splendid walks in the park. Hertfordshire Mercury - 01 May 1886 Knowledge of the warm-up match played on 4 May 1889 is minimal at best. The first captain was easily identifiable as William Groom, who had been elected to the club’s captaincy at the general meeting in February 1889. Although correctly assuming him to be a son of the Pryor, Reid Hatfield Brewery employee William Collinson, the identity of his opposing skipper evaded H J Gray. That is understandable, as on the day of the 1891 113

census (the only one conducted while the Collinsons were resident in Hatfield), William and his son Percy (1863-1911) were visiting Eastbourne. In a familiar trope of the time, Percy’s place of birth differed from census to census, but it was registered in Islington. After receiving his education at Felsted School in Essex, Collinson became a stockbroker and arrived in Hatfield in 1885. The family’s stay in the town was short-lived, and they moved to Stevenage circa 1891. As well as being a member of the cricket club, he also played for Hatfield Football Club and Hatfield Lawn Tennis Club, becoming a vice-president for the first two. Also, as one of the captains in this practice match, it is possible that he was Groom’s vice-captain. CRICKET.– The members of the Hatfield Cricket Club played their first match on Saturday in the Park. Two scratch teams were chosen by Mr W Groom and Mr P Collinson, Mr Groom’s team winning by two runs. Herts Advertiser - 11 May 1889 The final mention of opening day practice matches was in a report in the Herts Advertiser on the club’s annual general meeting held in April 1890 at the One Bell Inn. It was arranged to be played on Wednesday, 7th April, and it was announced that the teams were to be selected by Mansfeldt de Cardonnel Elmsall (club captain and Hon. Secretary) and Richard Hardy Wells (1846-1896). In discussing these fixtures, it has been suggested that sides were led by the captain and vice-captain of the club, but there is no record of Wells, proprietor of the Red Lion Hotel, ever playing for the club. However, it is possible that he was a 2nd XI player. On balance, considering that in 1882 he did not play in an eleven raised in his name, it is unlikely that he was an active cricketer. Other than being a regular attendee at general meetings, his only known connection to the club was as the father of Hardy Wells, who is discussed in the chapter: Officials. If the match was played, there is no record of the result. Curiously, the same meeting decided to hold the annual dinner on the evening of the match. Curious because the club had held its previous dinner at the end of the last season, and all subsequent mentions of the dinner see it taking place after the conclusion of the summer. The earliest example of a mid-season practice match gives an interesting insight into the make-up of the club’s membership in the mid-nineteenth century. With no disrespect to my contemporaries at the club, a Gentlemen vs. Players match would have been a non-starter during my playing career. It also shows that the institution of practice matches was alive and 114

kicking before the year zero of 1851. A match played on 15 July 1840, ‘eleven gentlemen of Cambridge, Harrow, and Oxford’ and the Hatfield Junior Club was deemed noteworthy enough for a match report to be published. It is good to see that the ‘gentlemen’ behaved like gentlemen and allowed their opponents the services of the club’s two best players, William Stocks and Thomas Hammond. In the absence of initials, only six of the gentlemen have been identified: Valentine Faithfull (Cambridge), Roger Anderson (Harrow, Cambridge), Henry Nethercote (Oxford), Henry Anderson (Harrow, Cambridge), Mutkirk is presumably an interesting misspelling of Adolphus Meetkerke (Cambridge), and William Franks (Cambridge). The club’s book of accounts states that a ‘match between the gentlemen and players of Hatfield CC's membership and acquaintance’ was played on 10 July 1856, but, alas, there is no surviving record of the match itself. MATCH AT HATFIELD On Wednesday, a match was played in Hatfield Park between 11 gentlemen of Cambridge, Harrow, and Oxford, and 11 of the Hatfield Junior Club, with Stocks and Hammond given, which was won by the latter in the first innings, as some players could not attend the next day. The Hatfield players speak in high terms of the liberality of their opponents. Score:– PLAYERS GENTLEMENW Bridgens run out 4 V Faithful c Saunders 40W Wells b Mutkirk 5 Bell st Hammond 1J Lambert b Mutkirk 0 R Anderson c Chapman 42J Hart c H Anderson 3 Barker run out 1W Stocks run out 46 H Nethercote b Stocks 17W Hart b Mutkirk 10 H Anderson b Stocks 0T Wells b R Anderson 7 Mutkirk b Stocks 1J Faithfull b Barker 8 W Franks b Stocks 1J Saunders b Mutkirk 8 A Daniell not out 20T Hammond c H Bell 16 Sutton b Stocks 0J Chapman not out 3 Blake run out 4Byes 26, wide balls 19 45 Byes 6, wide ball 1, no ball 1 8Total 155 Total 135Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle - 19 July 1840 The other mid-season inter-club match to survive was more lighthearted in nature. It is also the earliest example of a Hatfield House XI, a forerunner of Hatfield Estate CC, that I have come across in the course of my research. There was certainly a wide range of ages on display, from William Faircloth, dragged out of retirement aged 58, to, at least, the thirteen-year115

old Walter Whitby, who was taking his first tentative steps into the world of cricket.1 Charles Lambert’s employment as the professional at the Hatfield House real tennis court helped to make it an even contest (in the first innings at least), but although his bowling partner shared the same surname, the Reverend Frederick Fox Lambert, was not a member of the Hatfield Lambert family, as described in the chapter: The Lamberts of Hatfield. HATFIELD CLUB v. HATFIELD HOUSE Played on the Hatfield Park ground on July 30. Time did not permit the match being brought to a definite issue. Score: 1st Innings HATFIELD CLUB 2nd innings H T Eve b F Lambert 12 c Sibley b Dagg 28H H Hankin c Dagg b F Lambert 8 run out 26F Hankin b F Lambert 0 c Faircloth b Ealing 37F Gregory not out 0 c and b Dagg 9W Groom b C Lambert 2 absent -C Stallabrass b C Lambert 2 b Ealing 6A Austin run out 0 c Whitby b Ealing 7F Stoneham b C Lambert 0 b Ealing 6F Dunham b C Lambert 0 not out 10F Cornell run out 7 absent -W Hart b C Lambert 0 b C Lambert 4Byes 4, lb 2, w 2 8 Byes 21, lb 2, w 11 33Total 39 Total 1661st Innings HATFIELD HOUSE 2nd innings Rev F Lambert c Dunham b Stallabrass 2 hit wicket b Austin 15A R Dagg b Stallabrass 1 b Gregory 13C Lambert b F Hankin 6 c Sub b Austin 15Lord Cranborne b F Hankin 1 W Faircloth b Stallabrass 1 W Sibley c Dunham b F Hankin 1 b Gregory 0Lord William b Gregory 10 C Cowland b Stallabrass 4 not out 0Masterton b F Gregory 2 not out 6Ealing b Gregory 2 W Whitby not out 5 b F Hankin 0Byes 5, w 3 8 Byes 8, lb 1, w 1 10Total 43 Total 59The Field - 07 August 1875 We only know that the annual tradition of staging a Married v. Single fixture dates back to 1919, thanks to the engraving on the plinth of a silver cup that was presented to the club by the 1/10th County of London Regiment, who were billeted in Hatfield during the Great War and used the 116

ground in Hatfield Park. However, that does not mean that such matches were not being played before this date. According to the club’s 1886 fixture list, that season’s wind-up game was scheduled to be between Town and Club on Wednesday, 15 September. Presumably, that game didn’t happen for whatever reason; maybe it rained. Eight days later, thirty-two of the club’s members took part in a sixteen-a-side match between its married men and their bachelor counterparts. Whether this was an impromptu oneoff or a regular feature of Hatfield’s cricketing calendar will likely remain one of life’s unknowns. MARRIED v. SINGLE This match was played in Hatfield Park on Thursday, 23rd September, being the wind-up of the season, between 16 married and 16 single members of the Town Club; after which a very nice dinner was provided by Mr Kerby at the Clubhouse, One Bell Hotel. About 20 members sat down and spent a very pleasant evening. Scores:– 1st Innings MARRIED 2nd innings C Lambert b Austin 10 c Webb b Bradshaw 15C Atkinson b Austin 1 c Whitby b Webb 4W Groom c Thomas b Bradshaw 9 c Whitby b Bradshaw 4A R Dagg st Dagg b Canham 26 retired hurt 58T Cash b Canham 0 G Diddams b Canham 9 c Sub b Canham 7J Green c and b Canham 13 C Osborn b Dagg 0 c Sub b Webb 11W Howe not out 0 c and b Dagg 5C Chapman b Austin 1 J Andrews b Canham 4 b Webb 2W Horsey b Canham 2 c Canham b Bradshaw 14R Sullivan c Canham b Cox 2 G Elliott b Canham 14 b Canham 6J Cox b Cox 2 b Webb 10Wheeler c Whitby b Austin 0 not out 0Extras 12 Extras 7Total 105 Total 143SINGLEW Parker b Cox 0F Cox c Wheeler b Dagg 0A Austin b Elliott 5C Bradshaw st Groom b Cox 30A Whitby b Elliott 4P H Dagg c Cox 11J Canham b Elliott 5P E Webb b Lambert 32K Thomas b Dagg 17117

H Andrews st Groom 0 A Arthur c Horsey b Dagg 1J Kerby c Cox b Elliott 0H Palmer not out 16W Palmer b Cox 0F Sullivan b Elliott 15T Palmer c Wheeler b Cox 0Extras 7Total 143Hertfordshire Mercury - 02 October 1886 Aside from the apparent blip of 1886, the club’s end-of-season wind-up seems to be divided into two particular types of fixtures. The Club v. Town, or variations thereof, fixture (originally scheduled as the opening and closing fixtures of the 1886 season) was deep-rooted in the traditions of Hatfield CC, with the earliest confirmed example dating to 1857. Not a serious affair, to even out the contest, the ‘non-cricketers’ of the town played as a twenty-two. Not that this prevented the eleven men from winning. An interesting game was played in Hatfield Park, on Wednesday the 10th inst., between eleven and twenty-two of the town of Hatfield; the weather was very unfavourable, however, the players stood it like staunch cricketers. The twenty-two went to the wicket first, Messrs Wilkinson, Humphrey, and Cooper making some very good play, the three scoring half the runs in the first innings. The batting of Walby was excellent on the eleven side, the batting of Messrs Woolley, Tregaskiss, Ashman, Stocks, and Hankin was very good. The match ended in favour of the eleven. Score: 1st Innings TWENTY-TWO 2nd innings Sams b Woolley 0 c Siggins 4Dunham b Stocks 9 Cooper run out 17 c Walby 8Andrews b Woolley 1 run out 0Thomas c Ashman 5 not out 0Hart c Skillman 3 c Hankin 2 Clark b Stocks 1 c Stocks 2Cockel b Woolley 8 Wilkinson c Willson 19 b Stocks 3Horsey b Stocks 0 Bull b Stocks 1 Woolley b Stocks 2 Humphrey not out 19 b Stocks 0Dawson c Willson 4 Staines b Woolley 0 Hankin b Woolley 0 not out 0Cricket c Willson 3 118

Ellis b Stocks 1 
 A Barker b Stocks 1 G Barker b Stocks 0 b Stocks 0Hammond c Tregaskiss 1 Cottee b Woolley 0 Byes, etc 15Total 110 Total 19ELEVEN Champion b Wilkinson 2Woolley b Cockel 26Walby b Cockel 29Stocks b Cockel 16Tregaskiss b Wilkinson 21Willson c Cockel 1Ashman c Dunham 20Siggins run out 1Hankin not out 10Dunham b Hankin 0Skillman lbw 2Byes, etc 19Total 120Herts Guardian - 19 September 1857 The last cricket match of the season was played on Wednesday in Hatfield Park, between 11 of the town and 22 of the neighbourhood, and was decided by the first innings. The 11 made 65; the 22 60. In the evening, the players and a few friends dined at Mrs Andrew’s, the Salisbury Arms Tap, had a little singing, and passed a merry evening. Herts Guardian - 28 September 1867 It would be easy at first glance to dismiss the suggestion that fixtures between the Town Club and the Fire Brigade were an inter-club affair. But it was a volunteer fire service, and many of those volunteers came from within the ranks of Hatfield Cricket Club’s membership. Of the fourteen Fire Brigade men to be named in match reports, ten of them (Jack Andrews, Brant Bamford, Henry Broom, George Elliott, James Gray, William Groom, Manasseh Johnson, Charles Lambert, Jack Richardson, and William Swift) can be confirmed as being Hatfield CC men. Such was the quality within the ranks of the firemen that in the 1894 fixture, they played with thirteen men while the ‘rest of the club’ opposed them with twenty-one! The reports reproduced below of the 1894 and 1896 encounters show that these matches were something of a celebration, with the firemen dressed in historical costume and parading up Fore Street on their way to the ground 119

in Hatfield Park. Presumably, their journey from the bottom of the hill began at the One Bell Inn, where they later enjoyed the evening's entertainment. An alternative report, which appeared in the Herts Advertiser in 1894, added a historical perspective to the fixture. It stated that one of the high hats worn during the game had been used in a similar match back in 1854. Thursday was the wind-up of the season: the crowning glory of 1883. The cricketers of Hatfield assembled in the Park, by the kind permission of the Marquess of Salisbury, and there was a match between the Fire Brigade and the Town Club. The ground was in excellent order, and all was very nice except for the slight intervention by rain. The Fire Brigade went in first and scored 63; then the Town Club went in and made 74. At the second innings, the Fire Brigade scored 112, with six wickets down, when time was called, and the match was decided in favour of the Town Club by the first innings. Refreshments on the ground were supplied by Mrs Goodacre, and at 7.30 the players sat down to supper at her house (a comfortable old-fashioned hostelry, near Countess Anne’s School and the Church); Mr A Dagg presided, Mr Hankin (sec.) was vice. Mrs Goodacre, as usual, provided an excellent repast, which after the day’s exertions was thoroughly enjoyed. After supper, a few other friends dropped in, and with toasts and songs, a pleasant and convivial evening was spent. A bat was presented to Mr C Lambert for having the highest average score during the season, 17; and a second bat was presented by Dr Hall to W Groom for the second highest average 13, and thus ended the cricket season at Hatfield in 1883. Herts Guardian - 29 September 1883 The ‘comfortable old-fashioned hostelry’ was the Two Brewers Inn. HATFIELD CRICKET CLUB – CLOSE OF THE SEASON.– The concluding game of the season in connection with the Hatfield Club was played in Hatfield Park on Thursday, 20th inst. The opposing teams were 13 of the Hatfield Fire Brigade and 21 other members of the Club. The majority of the number of the Fire Brigade are capable players, and as several of the 21 opposed to them rarely appear on the cricket field, the play was of a fairly even character. The Firemen, who wore high hats of the style worn by cricketers 50 years ago and top boots, fielded first, and their opponents put together the respectable total of 120, the chief contributors being J Bell, Harry Cox, Hardy Wells, J G Johnson, and E W Horsey. The Brigade batted well and made 92 for six wickets before stumps were drawn. Messrs Henry Broom, George Elliott, Charles Lambert, Jack Richardson, Brant Bamford, William Groom and William Swift all playing a good game. At seven o’clock the teams and others dined together at the One Bell Hotel, when Mr J Lewis provided an excellent repast. Mr Walter Whitby occupied the chair, and Mr James Gray (Lieutenant of the Fire Brigade) was in the vice-chair. Upon the removal of the 120

cloth, the toast of the Queen was received with enthusiasm, and then the Chairman proposed “Success to the Hatfield Cricket Club,” which he said had taken a new lease of life, and, thanks to the zeal of its officers, was now in a prosperous condition. Mr Charles Smith, hon. Secretary, in response, briefly reviewed the past season. He said of 16 matches played eight were won, six lost, and two drawn. The finances of the club were in a satisfactory condition, and when all accounts were settled there would be a balance in hand. The best batting averages were those of Tom Blinko 30.6, Harry Cox 13.3, and George Elliott 11.5, while the best bowling averages were those of Charles Lambert (55 wickets) 4.8 runs each, Manasseh Johnson (28 wickets) 5.7, and Harry Cox (19 wickets) 6.6. Mr James Gray then presented a ball to, suitably lettered, to Mr Charles Lambert for the best bowling average, and the recipient returned thanks in very appropriate terms. “Success to the Hatfield Fire Brigade” was then submitted by Mr Manasseh Johnson, who remarked that the members were a fine body of men, and they deserved the support of everyone in the neighbourhood. Lieut. Gray, in reply, said that when the brigade were bent on pleasure they generally managed to enjoy themselves. They had done so that afternoon, and he hoped their opponents had done the same. Mr E W Horsey proposed the health of the Marquess of Salisbury, of whom they were all proud as a fellow-townsman and as a statesman, and who so materially assisted their club by allowing them to use his park. The toast was drunk with musical honours. Other toasts were the health of the Captain, Lord Robert Cecil, proposed by Mr J Cox; and the “Host and Hostess,” by Mr Jack Richardson. Mr T Gregory ably presided at the piano, and an excellent selection of songs, duets and quartettes, and cornet solos was contributed by various members of the company. Harmony was the order of the evening, and the proceedings were of a most enjoyable character. Hertfordshire Mercury - 29 September 1894 HATFIELD v. FIRE BRIGADE The Hatfield Cricket Club terminated its season on Thursday when an eleven of the Club was opposed by an eleven of the Hatfield Fire Brigade. The latter were attired in the style of the compatriots of the celebrated Dr Jameson, with top boots, white breeches, coloured shirts, and slouch hats, and were armed with revolvers, etc. They marched to the Park by way of Fore Street, and their appearance caused quite a considerable amount of interest. After the match, the teams, with a few friends, dined together at the One Bell Hotel, when a capital repast was served by Mr and Mrs W Clarke. Mr E W Horsey occupied the chair, and Mensah Johnson the vice chair. A good selection of instrumental and vocal music was rendered, Mr T Gregory kindly playing the accompaniments. The game resulted as follows:– FIRE BRIGADE HATFIELDG Elliott c Wells b Cox 10 T Blinko c Dooley b Johnson 19B Bamford lbw b Clarke 12 I Horsey b Johnson 16M Johnson c Rowlatt b Cox 11 H Wells c Elliott b Lambert 8121

W Swift b Wells 8 H Cox not out 38J Andrews b Cox 1 L Longley b Johnson 1C Lambert c Rowlatt b Wells 2 H Andrews not out 3J Gray c Longley b Wells 10 C Bishop B Pateman b Bishop 1 F Keeble A Hardy not out 0 E J Dunham H Smith b Bishop 0 P T Rowlatt J Dooley b Bishop 0 J Bishop Extras 1 Extras 0Total 56 Total (for 4 wickets) 85Hertfordshire Mercury - 19 September 1896 And finally, a mention of a fixture that surfaced more than once while conducting research for this book. Whether or not they were Hatfield CC matches is up for debate. Butchers v. Bakers cricket matches were once as common as Married v. Single, and the only match report I kept of a Hatfield version of the fixture certainly includes many names of players associated with the cricket club. Although records are scant for the 1840s, Charles Bradshaw Sr, John Hart Jr, William Hart, John Sanders, and Thomas Sanders can be positively identified. To my regret, I dismissed it as a novelty and didn’t bother to keep further examples that I came across, deciding that one was enough. It would be a monumental waste of effort to revisit fifty years’ worth of local newspapers in the hope of validating (or not) a theory. The main evidence to support the case, thanks to H J Gray, is that a match played on 18 August 1879 between a Butchers XI and a Brewers XI was recorded in the club’s scorebook. The Butchers XI included the Hatfield CC players Crosby Stallabrass, William Walby, William Horsey, George Elliott, and Henry and William Palmer. Assisting the breadmakers were Robert Townsend, Charles Bradshaw Jr, William Swift, and Charles Wheeler. At least one of Jonah Austin (Butchers) and Josiah Austin (Brewers) also played for the club. For the record, the Butchers won by 68 runs to 44. BUTCHERS AND BAKERS OF HATFIELD.– An interesting match was played in Hatfield Park, the seat of the Marquis of Salisbury, between nine butchers of Hatfield and six bakers, with three given men from the Hatfield Club. Score: Bakers 45 and 21 - total 66; T Sanders marked 13 and 0, J Bradshaw 13 and 0, A Matthews 5 and 7, J Sanders 3 and 3, C Bradshaw 2 and 3, J Humphrey 5 (not out) and 0 (not out), etc; byes 2 and 4. Butchers 33 and 35 - total 68, with seven wickets to go down; Pratchett obtained 16 and 5, W Hart 4 and 15 (not out), W Walby 3 and 3, J Farthing 0 (not out) and 4, J Hart 2, J Lankford 0 and 2 (not out), etc; byes etc 8 and 6. Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle - 03 September 1843 122

1 The identity of W Hart cannot be confidently confirmed as two William Hartswere living in Hatfield at the time. Because of his family connections to HatfieldCC, it may have been the ten-year-old William Henry Hart, whose father andgrandfather played for the club. 123

Cricket: 1851 - 1900 Since Part Two of this book contains details of every match known to have been played by the Hatfield Cricket Club in the nineteenth century, this chapter will serve only as a general window into the second half of the century, while at the same time highlighting the significant moments. The exception to this concerns the club’s visits to the Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood, which have already been covered in a dedicated chapter. 1851-1860 In the early years of the decade, since every match that was detailed in the scorebook also appeared on the pages of a newspaper, it must be assumed that all fixtures played by the club have been accounted for. There may of course have been games that fell victim to the weather; however, only four appear to have been played in 1851. Home and away against South Herts and Ware. With South Herts also playing their home matches at Hatfield Park, there wasn’t much travelling involved. Seven were played in 1852, but seemingly only three in 1853. It wouldn’t be until the 1870s that the amount of cricket played would begin to noticeably increase. Entering this period, the reliable trio of William Stocks, Thomas Hammond, and William Faircloth were still at the club, and in 1849 they were joined by the talented George Fairbrother. As a nineteen-year-old in 1851, Fairbrother took twenty-two wickets in the seven innings during which Hatfield were in the field, and his score of 30 in the first match with South Herts was the best of any Hatfield batsman that year. Fate dealt Hatfield a blow when, in 1852, Fairbrother’s father died, and the family relocated to Hertford, thus ending both his Hatfield career and that of his brother John. George was seen playing against his old club for both Ball’s Park and Hertford in 1852, after which he disappeared off the face of the earth. The loss of Fairbrother aside, several pivotal players joined the club in the 1850s. The bowlers Stephen Soames and Frederick Woolley formed a formidable partnership, time and time again being responsible for dismissing the opposition. John William Church and his brother William Selby Church, both of whom had previously played against the club for South Herts, were useful acquisitions, as was Allen Bathurst (1832-1892), who later became the member of parliament for Cirencester. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the club had been reliant on horsepower to transport its teams to away fixtures, but with the arrival of 124

the railway in Hatfield in 1850, its transportation options were greatly improved. As the century progressed, Hatfield’s fixture list was drawn in the direction of North London. One of these new destinations was Clapton, whose cricket club was one of the leading lights in the area. Even with the railway, Clapton was a straightforward journey. When the club played there in 1861, James Dunham detailed the journey, which started at 8.10 in the morning, in his diary. The players alighted the train at Holloway Station (since renamed Finsbury Park), walked through the Metropolitan Cattle Market and Caledonian Road, a journey of approximately two miles, and then boarded another train at Barnsbury Station (now Caledonian Road and Barnsbury, albeit ever so slightly to the east of the original station). From here they travelled to Hackney, and, presumably, finished the trip on foot. There were some less strenuous southbound journeys undertaken in the 1850s. They took the train to Barnet (now New Barnet) and Colney Hatch (now New Southgate), and possibly Hornsey (still Hornsey). There is a record of Hatfield playing at home against Hornsey, and as the custom at the time was to play return fixtures, it has to be assumed they played away as well. No clues were given as to the venues. Barnet CC were playing at Underhill before the end of the century, but when cricket was first played there is not known. Colney Hatch railway station took its name from the adjacent Asylum of the same name, and Colney Hatch Park was in the area now known as New Southgate. Their elevens opposing Hatfield in 1856 and 1857 included Alfred, Frederick, and Vyell Walker, members of the famous ‘Walkers of Southgate’, who among other achievements founded Southgate CC in 1855. 1 This led both H J Gray and myself to ponder if these matches were played against Southgate, and Colney Hatch merely a description the area that they played in. The only northbound journey made was to the next station up the line, Welwyn (now Welwyn North), to play against Lord Uxbridge’s XI in Tewin Water Park. Another ‘lost’ ground, despite it hosting cricket until the outbreak of the Second World War, I have found no reference as to where the ground was in relation to the house. Hatfield’s visit in 1853 highlights that the nightmare that haunts team secretaries and captains has a very long history. The week before the fixture was due to be played, the Hertfordshire Mercury published the respective elevens due to play, and Francis Faithfull would have been content with the guns at his disposal. Owing to ‘shooting, and one engagement or another,’ the Hatfield XI on the day was missing William Faircloth, Arthur Peile, Thomas Ray, Stephen Soames, and Allen 125

Bathurst, and the team that played was well beaten. The absence of Faircloth is a bit of a surprise given that the club’s accounts show that a dogcart had been hired especially to get him to Tewin Water. There has been much talk so far of cricket grounds that no longer exist. It should be said that several of the grounds visited by Hatfield Cricket Club in the 1850s are still with us today. Ball’s Park in Hertford, and No Man’s Land (Nomansland) in Wheathampstead have been mentioned previously in the chapter Life Before 1851. Ball’s Park staged matches played by both the Ball’s Park and Hertford clubs, while Hatfield played against a team billed as the ‘No Man’s Land Club, which could have been a remnant of the County of Hertford team or an early incarnation of Wheathampstead CC. 1858 witnessed the first recorded visit of Hatfield to Redbourn, who, then as now, were playing on Redbourn Common. A frequent adversary of Hatfield throughout the decade was King’s Langley CC. A trip to King’s Langley by train would have been fairly straightforward (Hatfield to King’s Cross, Euston to King’s Langley). However, although a map from the mid-1870s shows the current cricket ground on King’s Langley Common, reports of these matches state that they were played on Chipperfield Common, the current home of Chipperfield Clarendon CC. It must therefore be assumed that the club had a reputation sufficiently impressive to encourage the Hatfield players to undertake such a long journey by horse and carriage. If accepting 1851 as year zero and ignoring the performances that predated it, the club’s Hon. Secretary Francis Grantham Faithfull batted his way into the annals of the club’s history. On 1 July 1852, when scoring 58 in the second innings against South Herts, Faithfull scored the first half-century of the ‘official’ era. Maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising, but of the 68 innings of fifty runs or more by Hatfield’s batsmen in the years preceding 1901, only eleven were scored by players that do not appear in the player profiles appearing in various chapters of this book. Three of those were in the 1850s. First to the plate was Charles John Smith, who hit 60 against the 2nd Life Guards in 1854. The Life Guards weren’t to be found hanging around swimming pools; they were members of the Household Cavalry. Smiths are notoriously difficult to research, so other than the fact that he played for the club from 1854 until 1859 and was an auctioneer, nothing is known about him. Albert Tregaskiss (1838-1903) began playing for the club as a seventeen-year-old, and it may have been Hatfield’s loss that he was only twenty-one when he finished, shortly after scoring 54 against Clapton. Finally, with 52 not out against Enfield in 1859, was George Champion. 126

The brothers George (b. 1839) and Thomas (b. 1836) were both natives of Westminster who became carpenters while in Hatfield. George was active with the club from 1856 until 1865. As previously mentioned, there is strong evidence that the club was fielding two elevens as early as 1844. Proof positive of a 2nd XI was provided on the pages of the diary of James Dunham, who recorded that a match had been played against Newtown, Hatfield, on 31 August 1854. Questions remain as to whether or not the second eleven was synonymous with the Hatfield Junior Club, and as to how closely tied together the two were. Sporadic reports of matches involving the junior eleven rarely provided the initials of the players, which makes identification difficult. From those that could be, it is clear that these sides were distinct from the juvenile elevens that appeared from time to time. With ages for the most part falling in the range from late teens to early twenties, if these were 2nd XIs, then they were different in nature to the ones of today. The day before the match against Newtown, the book of accounts noted that ‘£1 was voted from the club box to the players of the 2nd XI’, which perhaps suggests that they were subsidised by the main club rather than fully under its control. 1861-1870 It was in this decade that the club’s fixture list became dominated by teams from North London. It would probably be more accurate to say Middlesex, as the urban sprawl of Greater London had yet to happen. In the seasons from 1867 to 1871, Hertford were the only Hertfordshire side to play Hatfield. Among Hatfield’s opponents at this time were North London (based in Clapton), Metropolitan (Holloway), Eton Ramblers, Royal Arsenal (Woolwich), St Thomas’s Hospital, Islington Albion, Middlesex Rangers, Bohemians, St John’s Wood Wanderers, and Bedford Amateurs. The last one sounds as though it is in this list in error, but their home ground was in Tufnell Park. The Amateurs’ ground was imaginatively called the New Ground (possibly a reference to the Islington Cattle Market Ground that had closed the season previous to Hatfield’s visit). A map produced twenty years later shows that the only cricket ground in the area was located in what is now Tufnell Park Playing Fields. Alas, other than a cricket net, the majestical game is no longer played there. The Cattle Market ground, at which Metropolitan, North London, and Islington Albion all staged home matches, was on the site of the former Metropolitan Cattle Market that was mentioned concerning Hatfield’s journey to Clapton. On 30 June 1862, Hatfield made their first visit to Broxbourne’s Mill 127

Lane Close Ground, which has been their home since 1848. Lining up against Hatfield was its former Hon. Secretary Francis Faithfull. I have said before that sometimes it is unclear as to the true identity of the club’s opponents, and on this occasion, the scorebook named them as F G Faithfull’s XI. It is only from a newspaper report that the correct moniker came to light. Fixtures were played against ‘F G Faithfull’s XI’ in Hatfield Park in 1860 and 1861, which therefore may or may not have been against Broxbourne. The train may have become the club's transport of choice, and although it was possible to reach Broxbourne by this method of transport, on this occasion the Hatfield players relied on horsepower. Four years after Faithfull had his final encounter with Hatfield CC, another pivotal figure in its history made his entrance. Although he didn’t have the same success when playing for Hatfield as he so often did opposing them, Ben Warsop’s (1837-1925) connections with the Lord’s Cricket Ground delivered a certain amount of glamour to the final decades of the century. Born in Nottingham, Warsop moved to London in 1863, where he was engaged as a professional cricketer by several clubs. He became a household name in the world of cricket through his enterprise as a highly reputable bat-maker. His factory, which opened in 1870, was at 127a Park Road, St John’s Wood, a stone’s throw away from the Lord’s Cricket Ground. It is said that Warsop was a frequent visitor to cut clefts from the willows which grew in Hatfield Park and along the banks of the River Lea at Mill Green to shape into bats. Described in Lillywhite’s Scores and Biographies as ‘a good average batsman and medium-paced round-arm bowler who fielded generally at point’, Hatfield and Warsop first crossed swords at the Cattle Market Ground in 1866 and again in 1867, when he was playing for North London CC. He made his first visit to Hatfield Park in August 1870 with St John’s Wood Ramblers, and between 1878 and 1898 he raised many elevens to play against Hatfield. He also played for the club on a number of occasions, the last of which was when he was sixty years old. OLD CRICKETER’S DEATH The death has occurred of Mr Ben Warsop, the well-known cricketer and cricket bat maker of St John’s Wood. Mr Warsop, who was 88 years of age, was the father of Mr Walter Warsop of Little Baddow, a clever all-round amateur cricketer who last season played for Whitham and also assisted the Little Baddow, Chelmsford, and other elevens. Mr Walter Warsop’s three sons are also splendid players of the game, two being in the Little Baddow side while another, Eric, is a well-known Chelmsford player. Mr Ben Warsop was one of the oldest habitués of Lord’s cricket round. He played for Notts Colts in 1862, and was regularly with 128

the North of the Thames, LVCC, until his 70th year. Afterwards, he played for the Cross Arrows CC, and when over 70, he took four wickets in succession. For many years he played for the Felsted Long Vacation side. The funeral takes place today (Friday) at West Hampstead. Chelmsford Chronicle - 13 March 1925 Whoever was filing reports on Hertford CC’s activities to the Hertfordshire Mercury in 1866 wasn’t shy of offering an opinion, with both of those involving Hatfield featuring a tirade. On the first occasion, he appeared to be unimpressed with the fielding display of the Hertford men… ‘The Hertford cricketers used to look well to their fielding, believing that the batting and bowling would be sure to follow; but we have often passed through Hartham recently when our men have been at what they have called their practice, and have seen one, two, or three bowling, one batting, and one acting as long-stop, and the others either grouped round the batsman, lying on the ground and giving some little boy a penny to fetch the ball, or walking coolly home as soon as they have had their turn with the bat. This is not the discipline which secures success.’ In fairness, this criticism is still valid of nets practice today. His rant after the return fixture was equally justifiable. When matches were played over two days, it made sense, but now they were to be completed in a single day, two-innings matches had become an anachronism. A look at Hatfield’s results shows that matches going the full distance were a rarity, with the vast majority being decided on the first innings. The point our happy correspondent was making was that the side that held an advantage after the first innings had been completed would slow the match down, making a reversal of the result in the second innings impossible. It was particularly difficult to overturn a first innings deficit for the side batting first, as there was no provision within the laws of cricket to allow for a declaration. This occasionally led to the bizarre spectacle of batsmen desperately trying to get themselves out to give their side sufficient time to try and take ten wickets! On the field of play, it was a good time for the Walby brothers. On 3 August 1863, in the match against North London in Clapton, James Walby became the first Hatfield bowler, as far as records allow, to take eight wickets in an innings. Two years later, his brother William became the club’s first batsman to score two fifties in the same season, 72 and 65 home and away against North London. The Walbys enjoyed playing against North London CC, for while William was scoring his 72, James helped himself to 50. William Walby’s feat of scoring two half-centuries in the same season 129

was surpassed the following summer by John Rigby Kewley (1846-1927), who managed to do so in the two innings of the same match against Hertford at Ball’s Park. Born in Childwall, now encompassed by the city of Liverpool, the Rev. Thomas Rigby Kewley (1821-1885) was the patriarch of the family. Kewley Sr became a curate in Hatfield in 1855 and began playing for the club in 1855. John Kewley’s playing career began in 1864, and he was joined by his brother, the Rev. Thomas Wilson Kewley (1847-1922), in 1868. Thomas Sr was appointed as Rector of Baldock in 1871, at which time the brothers ceased to play for the club. 1871-1880 The early 1870s are the ‘dark ages’ of this period of the club’s history. The assumption is that Henry Hudson Hankin had resigned as Hon. Secretary after the 1871 season, and consequently, the club’s record-keeping went to pot. For the seasons 1872-1876, the club’s scorebook had gaps where pages were left blank, presumably with the intention of the scores being filled in at a later date. This, combined with a reduction in the number of match reports being submitted to the press, has resulted in a mere handful of games for which there is knowledge. 1873 and 1876 are particularly bleak, with one result known for each season. Despite this handicap, it is possible to determine a move towards a greater number of fixtures against Hertfordshire clubs. This was aided by the opening of the Hertford, St Albans, and Dunstable branch lines. And a sudden realisation that trains travelled in a northerly direction as well as towards London. It would be wrong, however, to suggest that the club was turning its back on the metropolis. New away venues included Greville, Holborn, Highbury, and Dulwich Village. To counter this, there were also several fixtures against local teams such as Hertford, Essendon, Ayot St Lawrence, Kimpton, and Coopers Lane (Potters Bar…ish). A common trope when compiling the various volumes on the History of Hatfield Cricket Club is that after I think a book is finished, something else comes to light, and I have to shoehorn an additional paragraph into the existing text. This one had been hiding in plain sight, but H J Gray had inadvertently misdirected me. The mess that was the Hatfield scorebook at the time showed that a match had been scheduled to take place at ‘Camb’n Place’ on 8 August 1872, against ‘Cam’d Victoria’. Not without good reason, when you consider the club’s many visits to North London at this time, Gray had pontificated that the venue may have been Camden Place. Had he known, as I did, that Cambridge Victoria CC had visited Hatfield Park 130

in 1874, then Hatfield’s destination in 1872 would have been obvious. I mention this for two reasons. Firstly, this was the most northerly fixture the club would play until 1976 when they visited Lowestoft. The second is, admittedly, pure speculation. You have to wonder why the club would have outlaid a large sum of money to travel to Cambridge for a match. It is possible, however, that twelve months on from playing at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground, Hatfield CC may have played at another well-known firstclass cricket venue. There is no trace of Cambridge Place on maps from the Victorian era. But… on modern maps of the city, you will find a street with this name. It is found in very close proximity to Fenner’s Cricket Ground, the home of the Cambridge University Cricket Club, which is a short walk from the railway station. One fresh fixture for the 1st XI saw them playing home and away against Lyonsdown (New Barnet) in 1880. One of two conclusions can be drawn from this. The last time the clubs met, in 1869, Hatfield put out their 2nd XI and won the match by an innings and 19 runs. In the intervening years, either Lyonsdown had made huge advances in the standard of their cricket, or conversely, Hatfield’s standing in the cricket world was in decline. The New Barnet club won the first meeting by an innings and were also triumphant in the return fixture. The end of the decade introduced fixtures against two new opponents that would provide familiar opposition in the years that followed. Harpenden CC, then as now, had its home ground on Harpenden Common, while the match at Stevenage adds to the list of long-lost cricket grounds. By far the easiest part of the journey to Stevenage was the train journey. The walk from the station to the cricket ground would have been twice as long. At the time, today’s Old Stevenage was Stevenage, and the railway station was at the northern end of the town. The cricket ground, which was consistently described in Hatfield’s scorebooks as being in Shephalbury (albeit with some appalling spelling mistakes), was located in a field now occupied by the Stevenage police station.2 For Hatfield’s first visit to Stevenage, the club was using a new scorebook. Unlike previous incarnations, this one included a column for comments. Perhaps advisably, this was the only occasion on which this innovation was utilised. On the plus side, it does help to locate the cricket ground as being very close to the railway line, with the dismissal of two batsmen attributed to passing trains! For posterity, here are the comments. Hatfield’s innings: 131

C Lambert 4 “Felt very unhappy” F J Hankin 18 “Wonderful play, only 4 chances” R Townsend 17 “Steady and well-played innings” Sharpe 43 W F Thompson 22 P H Morris 0 “One ball, one out. Too good to hit” C F Morris 4 “Middling” E Hughes 14 “Excellent play” W Groom 2 “Bad, very bad” M Mann 0 “First ball” W Gaylor 0 “Didn't see it. Train went by” F Gregory 5 Total 144 And the Stevenage reply: H Hughes 18 “Splendid innings” G Hutchins 1 “Ball too good” A D Guille 1 “Ball too good” Capt. Baker 1 “Unfortunate” H Salmon 22 “Very fine innings” J Woodward 23 “Careful innings C Stevens 4 “Flukey hit” S U Robins 4 “Very unfortunate” R Welland 9*W Wadsworth 0 “Hardly ready” J Medcalf ? “Very steady and careful innings” R Fenwick 0 “Train Passing” Total 98 In the context of Hatfield Cricket Club, the year 1871 will be remembered primarily for the club’s first visit to play at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. However, the match played at Hatfield Park on Wednesday, 12 July, produced a performance that, had it not been long since forgotten, would have stuck out in the record books.3 It can’t have been a fun day in the field for the visiting players of Bohemian CC. James Walby (74), William Lambert (67), Robert Townsend (38), S U Robins (35), Thomas Kewley (22), and William Walby (21) were the main contributors towards Hatfield’s total of 333. This enormous total was also aided by 49 extras (34 wides, 10 132

byes, 3 no-balls, and 2 leg-byes). What makes this total remarkable is the fact that (ignoring the wides and no-balls) boundaries had yet to be introduced to the game, so it was an all-run score. It may also be interesting to note that the most runs scored from a single stroke was three. (Had it been known), it was a record for the highest score that would last for a hundred and thirty years and has since only been bettered three times. When the record was broken, it was also only the second time the club had passed the three-hundred mark. Hatfield’s winning total of 265 runs was the secondhighest at the time and has only been bettered once in the years that have followed. It has already been documented that Charles Lambert took all ten wickets in an innings on three occasions. No other Hatfield bowler was successful in dismissing an entire team in the nineteenth century, but there were a smattering of nine-wicket hauls, the first two of which happened in this decade of cricket. First to the fore was George Warner against Hertford in 1875. It is impossible to be certain, but given the level of the performance, it is hard to argue against it being the Welwyn native George Warner (1830-1904), who had been a professional cricketer with Hitchin CC earlier in the decade. Before playing a couple of times for Hatfield in 1874, Warner’s only previous experience with Hatfield dated back to 1853 when he was in the Lord Uxbridge’s XI that defeated the club at Tewin Water. The Rev. Thurston George Dale (1846-1917), the brother of the firstclass cricketer John William Dale (1848-1895) (MCC & Middlesex), only made two appearances for Hatfield, but he made quite an impression. Born in Lincoln, Dale had represented Lincolnshire before his ecclesiastical postings brought him, via Stansted and Aldenham, to Hatfield as its curate in 1879. It was in the same year that he played for the club, firstly taking nine wickets for 22 runs against Hitchin, followed by six wickets against Greville. Although a resident of Hatfield, disappointingly for the club, when not playing representative cricket, he chose to continue his club career at Abbots Langley. Even though he was now in his mid-forties, he made several appearances for his adopted county, Hertfordshire, between 1879 and 1883. Dale served on the Committee of the Herts County Club until 1888, when he was appointed Vicar of Alton, Staffordshire. It turns out that scandal among the clergy is not a modern phenomenon, and Dale’s career almost ended in disgrace. SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST A CLERGYMAN At Cheadle, Staffordshire, on Tuesday, the vicar of Alton and chaplain to the 133

Earl of Shrewsbury, the Rev. Thurston George Dale, was charged on remand with committing an act of gross indecency on Sunday, December 1st. Mr Brett, prosecuted, and Mr Plumpton defended. The prisoner was called, and denied all the statements made against him. “There was not,” he said, “an atom of truth in them.” The prisoner was committed for trial. Bail was allowed, and other charges will be taken on Thursday. Huddersfield Chronicle - 18 December 1896 At Stafford assizes the Rev. Thurston George Dale, Vicar of Alton and domestic chaplain to the Earl of Shrewsbury, was acquitted by the jury upon two charges of misconduct with boys at Farley and Alton in December last. Stamford Mercury - 20 March 1896 It wasn’t just the bowlers who found success; the two highest recorded individual innings in the club’s history, to date, including a century, were scored in 1974. It was a bumper year all round, with four fifties scored in the same season for the first time. When he scored 92 runs against Hertford, at Hartham Common, on 29 July, William Hearn was part of a very strong Hatfield XI. I would assume that there was a fair amount of money staked on the match, as, in addition to Hearn, a professional with St Albans CC, also imported into the side were his St Albans teammate Tom Pearce, Strode Robins (Stevenage), George Lambert, and William Lambert. Although, in fairness, the Lamberts did have a strong connection to the club. Frustratingly, coinciding as it did with a season from which there were gaps in the scorebook, it has to be taken on trust that William Lambert scored 100 against Essendon. But, with the source being the reputable Haygarth’s Scores and Biographies (Volume 12), there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the information. Cup Glory! Well, not exactly, but the club did win silverware in 1875. The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was at this time a member of Benjamin Disraeli’s cabinet, serving as Secretary of State for India. On Monday, 2 August, Salisbury hosted an excursion by the London and Westminster Working Men’s Constitutional Association, with what was described by the Hertfordshire Mercury as a ‘Conservative fête’, in the grounds of Hatfield House. One of the attractions was a cricket match between the club and an XI representing the Association. After winning the match with consummate ease, the club was presented with a silver cup to honour the occasion. This trophy does not appear to have been considered a prize asset of the club, and it looks like they disposed of it six years later, when an item of income 134

in the accounts was described as ‘Silver Cup... £2 6s. 0d.’ Whether it was sold or simply melted down was not recorded. 1881-1890 What was the state of cricket in Hatfield by the 1880s? There is no question that the heady days of the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century were long gone. But how bad had it become? Detailed reporting of off-thefield matters by the local newspapers had yet to begin, as can be seen by the Herts Advertiser issue of 26 November 1881 dedicating a single sentence to the club’s affairs: ‘We hear that efforts are being made with a view to revive the Hatfield Cricket Club during next summer.’ Unfortunately, there are not enough lines to be able to read between them and speculate as to what exactly ‘revive’ meant. A more extensive report (three sentences) appeared on the pages of the Hertfordshire Mercury five months later, which showed that there was still enthusiasm within the club. HATFIELD PARK.– The members of the Cricket Club have held two successful meetings at the “Two Brewers” Inn to prepare for the coming cricketing season. Several matches are already arranged. The ground in Hatfield Park has been returfed. Hertfordshire Mercury - 29 April 1882 As the decade neared its end and the club celebrated with its annual dinner on 7 October 1889, at the One Bell Inn, the current and future prospects of the club were mused upon. I have no idea who Mr Wood from Holwell Hyde, the chair of the dinner, was. However, reflecting on the state of play of the club, he said that a few years ago, he thought that cricket in Hatfield was going to the dogs. From what he saw that night, however, and from the records of the last two years, he now believed that the prospects of the cricket club were once more brightening up, and before long they would have as good a team of players as ever they had. Responding, Mansfeldt de Cardonnel Elmsall said that he was ‘glad to be able to say that during the last two years they had progressed very favourably. Last year, they played twelve matches, out of which they won three and lost nine. This year they played eleven matches, six were won, one drawn, and the other four were lost.’ He added, ‘Years ago, Hatfield was noted for its cricket; why should it not be so again? The fact was, as the Chairman had remarked, they wanted young members to join them, and it rested with each individual member who wished to see cricket flourish to induce young players to join the club.’ 135

Before the decade was out, there had been a fundamental shift in the make-up of the club’s fixture list that reflected changes to the working week and a shift in the social class of those playing the game. The tradition of Saint Monday had been longstanding among artisan workers. The basic premise was that they would work like crazy from Tuesday to Saturday, which was payday, then enjoy themselves to excess on Saturday night and Sunday, and then take an unauthorised holiday on Monday. Strangely, this wasn’t a popular practice with the factory owners, and various Factory Acts in the mid-nineteenth century attempted to regulate the working week to allow an official holiday on Saturday afternoons. Perhaps the most influential leisure activity to help forge the modern week was the decision to stage football matches on Saturday afternoons. The ‘Football Craze’, as it was called, took off in the 1890s, just as the new working week was beginning to take shape. So Saturday afternoon became a very attractive holiday for workers, as it facilitated cheap excursions and new, exciting forms of leisure. Hatfield CC’s fixture list for 1889 (reproduced below) shows that matches were now predominantly scheduled to be played at this time. This shift enabled a different class of player to emerge. Cricket had hitherto, except for professionals, been the preserve of the self-employed, the gentry, and men of the cloth, i.e. those who could play on whatever day of the week that they chose to do so. Other than Sundays, of course, which would still be sacrosanct for some decades to come. Saturday cricket opened the game up to the masses, assuming, of course, that they could afford it. At the club’s annual dinner in 1889, Elmsall had expressed a desire to see the next season ‘more whole-day and less half-day matches played’. In response to this, Walter Whitby had explained that ‘the half-day matches were arranged to suit the majority of the members, and also that a great number Date Day Opponents Where Played TimeMay 4 Saturday Opening Match Hatfield18 Saturday Hoddesdon HatfieldJune 1 Saturday Hadley C.C. Hatfield 3.00 p.m.29 Saturday The Park Wanderers Hatfield 2.30 p.m.July 4 Thursday Neasden C.C. Hatfield 11.30 p.m.15 Monday Curzon C.C. Hatfield 11.30 p.m.20 Saturday Essendon C.C. Essendon 2.30 p.m.27 Saturday Granville United C.C. Hatfield 2.30 p.m.Aug. 24 Saturday Hadley C.C. Hadley 3.00 p.m.31 Saturday Essendon C.C. Hatfield 2.30 p.m.Sept. 5 Thursday Hertford Victoria C.C. Hatfield 11.30 p.m.136

of clubs around about were unable to play whole-day matches.’ The times they were a-changin’. The fixture list continued to evolve. Trips into North London had become fewer; indeed, travelling in general was kept to a minimum. Take the above fixtures for example. Of the ten matches arranged, only two were away from home. Instead of Hatfield heading into the metropolis, the reverse was in operation. Maybe for the city dwellers, the prospect of a Saturday spent in the idyllic setting of Hatfield House was sufficiently attractive to entice sides without requiring a reverse fixture. Teams tempted to the Hertfordshire countryside included Neasden, Curzon, The Albert (Woolwich), and from the world of entertainment, United Theatricals (AKA The Thespians) and the Carl Rosa Opera Company. Neasden CC had only recently formed, and though there is no record of Hatfield paying a visit, they presumably played at Morley’s Cricket Ground. Located near the current Neasden Station, the ground had closed by 1906 as a result of the construction of a railway line between Neasden and Northolt. Nothing is known of Curzon CC, and The Albert CC was most likely in some way connected to either the Royal Albert or Prince Albert public houses. Of the local fixtures, although the club had visited the ground on No Man’s Land Common many times previously, in 1882 they did so to play against a side called Wheathampstead for the first time. Potters Bar had been around since the beginning of the 1860s, and in 1883, the clubs met for the first time. Potters Bar had yet to move to The Walk and were playing at a ground in Coopers Lane. Welwyn CC had only appeared as opposition a couple of times in the previous sixty years, but it was now set to become a regular fixture. The exact location is impossible to locate; however, their home ground at this point was somewhere within the grounds of Danesbury Park. Although fixtures had been against an Essendon CC before, the club that Hatfield met from the 1880s onwards was a new incarnation. The Hertfordshire Mercury issue of 14 June 1884 reported that ‘At a meeting of the Committee of the Essendon Cricket Club, held last Saturday, it was resolved that the club in its present form should cease to exist. It is intended that a new club shall shortly be formed, which is to consist solely of residents of the parish.’ That seems to be an extreme way of removing people you don’t like from your club. Earlier in the century, Essendon had been playing on a cricket pitch in the grounds of Essendon Place, the house of Baron Dimsdale; it is not known when they moved to their current home. A pitfall of attempting to evaluate the players from the distant past is that the performances of bowlers were woefully underreported. It is incon137

ceivable that it had not happened on multiple occasions, but there is only one recorded hat-trick by a Hatfield bowler before 1912. Charles ‘Charlie’ Herbert Wheeler (1870-1945) was football’s gain and cricket’s loss. Wheeler, who was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, would appear to have been a highly talented young sportsman. From accounts given by his contemporaries, Wheeler was a very good cricketer, though his prowess at this game did not equal, in skill, his ability as a footballer.4 Described by the Herts Advertiser as ‘a little left-winger,’ the same newspaper, in November 1893, reported that he had been offered a trial with Everton FC, a leading team of the day. It was not confirmed as to whether or not he attended the trial, but he remained with West Herts FC. His brief cricket career for Hatfield included two stand-out performances. On 8 September 1888, at Danesbury Park, Wheeler was a key figure in the humiliation of Welwyn. In the victory by an innings and 58 runs, Hatfield dismissed the home team for totals of 10 and 11. Charlie took six wickets in the first innings, followed by eight in the second. Just for good measure, he was also Hatfield’s top scorer of the match. When compiling Hatfield CC’s records, because low totals were so prevalent beforehand, I took the editorial decision to only include those happening after the Second World War. Welwyn’s combined total of 21 is comfortably the lowest in a two-innings match. The dubious honour for the lowest single innings score belongs to Kimpton, who, in 1882, were bowled out by Archie Austin and Charles Bradshaw Jr for the derisory total of six! As impressive as Wheeler’s deeds against Welwyn were, his finest outing in Hatfield colours occurred the following season against Neasden, in Hatfield Park, on 4 July 1889. Ranking all-round performances is a subjective affair. How do you evaluate the worth of a wicket in comparison to a run? By my crude system of ranking, Wheeler’s innings of 73 not out, followed by his taking seven wickets, was the second-best effort of the nineteenth century. It was only surpassed by a professional cricketer. Not bad for a nineteen-year-old. Returning to the original reason for discussing him, while claiming his wickets, Wheeler clean bowled four Neasden batsmen in one over, the last three in succession. It is worth pointing out that five-ball overs were the standard at the time. One of Kimpton’s tormentors, Charles George John Bradshaw (1855-1940), can be considered unfortunate not to have received a place in the chapter: Other Notable Players. Along with the professional William Westell, Bradshaw is the only Hatfield batsman known to have scored two halfcenturies during the decade. To his credit, both were against strong opposi138

tion: 53 versus Greville in 1882, followed by his highest score of 81 against Hertford in 1886. He was no mug with the ball and is known to have taken five wickets in an innings on at least five occasions. Earlier in this chapter, it was noted that it was challenging for teams to attempt to force a result in the second innings of a match because it was not permissible to declare an innings closed. This changed in May 1889, when the laws of cricket were revised to allow a declaration on the final day of a match. The first-class game was slow on the uptake, with the new law not being utilised until the following season, when Charles Wright closed Nottinghamshire’s second innings on 157 for 5 to set Kent a target of 231 to win. It almost paid off, with Kent hanging on at 98 for 9 at the close. Hatfield didn’t wait so long to take advantage, declaring against the Carl Rosa Opera Company at Hatfield Park on 10 August 1889. In the absence of William Groom from the Hatfields XI, the identity of Hatfield’s captain on the day is not known. The historic declaration was probably made by Mansfeldt de Cardonnel Elmsall, the club’s secretary, who took over the captaincy from Groom the following season. It was a purely symbolic act, as there was insufficient time before stumps to possibly take the ten wickets required for victory. 1891-1900 ‘The Hatfield Cricket Club is not reckoned to be a particularly powerful organisation.’ Thus was the verdict of the Herts Advertiser on 12 September 1891. An indication that the club’s fall from grace as a leading side in the county was complete. Not that it was a picture of complete despondency. The same report continued to state that, ‘The Hatfield club has improved a great deal, and if they go on at that rate they should give a good account of themselves when May comes round again.’ And it was right to sound an air of optimism as only two years later, Elmsall (Hon. Secretary) was able to announce a large increase in the club’s membership, which in turn had put the club on a sound financial footing. However, he also offered a hint of frustration that the team was not playing to its full potential, stating, ‘Nevertheless, those who have watched the play of the Hatfield XI will probably agree that we very seldom play up to our proper form.’ In a criticism that can still be levelled at the current crop of players, he added, ‘This is partly due to an unaccountable desire which seizes so many members of our teams to hit the first three balls that they receive out of the ground, a desire which is usually disastrous both to themselves and to their side.’ The enlarged membership of the club was one of the factors that al139

lowed the fixture list to grow as the decade progressed. For the 1891 season, only eleven fixtures had been arranged, and at least one of these was lost to the weather. Two years later, Elmsall was able to report that the club had implemented a couple of experiments, one of which was to ‘provide on every Saturday afternoon that the Club shall either play a game or a match.’ An experiment that was deemed a success. To clarify, a ‘match’ was played for money, while a ‘game’ was a friendly. This led to a debate, with Elmsall reporting that the weekly dose of cricket had ‘given a considerable impetus to cricket in Hatfield. Some, indeed, think that more games and consequently fewer matches would give opportunities for play to a large number of the younger members of the Club.’ Elmsall’s own opinion was that this was ‘a desirable end, but it is very difficult to refuse the challenge of neighbouring clubs, and of course, the interest in the result of a match is always greater than the interest in a game.’ Although there is no documented evidence to confirm so, the fact that in the early years of the twentieth century, the younger cricketers of Hatfield migrated towards Hatfield Hyde CC suggests that Elmsall’s point of view won the day. Further expansion of the fixture list involved the availability of shop workers. The Factory Act did not apply to them, so they were excluded from the newly enhanced Saturday programme of cricket. On this particular issue, the shopkeepers of Hatfield were ahead of the curve. It would not be until the passing of the 1904 Shop Hours Act gave local councils the power to enforce shops to close at 1.00 pm on a given day of the week. However, 1894 witnessed the first outing of the Hatfield Early Closers XI, who played against their counterparts from St Albans, firstly at Bernard’s Heath, closely followed by a return encounter at Hatfield Park. In time, the Early Closers mutated into the Thursday XI, which ran until the 1937 season. By 1895, the club’s list of planned fixtures had increased to twentythree matches/games, a figure that had increased again by 1897. In 1895, the club attempted a novel approach to open up the game to the working man. In late June, when the days were at their longest, the club experimented with evening cricket. Played across three consecutive days, the club entertained an eleven representing the Hatfield Lawn Tennis Association. Play was scheduled to begin at 6 o’clock each evening, with stumps to be drawn at an unspecified time. Whatever time was available was not sufficient to allow for the completion of the game, which was settled in favour of the cricketers based on the first innings. With the following season’s fixture between these sides taking place on a Saturday, it must be concluded that it was deemed to have been an unsuccessful venture. 140

Other than a trip to Kilburn in 1893, Hatfield had turned its back on travelling into the suburbs of North London. This may well have been a result of the club’s declining reputation, or it could equally have been a financial consideration. Another possibility, as hinted at by Elmsall, was that the club was receiving sufficient challenges from clubs in the locality that it did not need to travel afar. For the remainder of the century, the furthest south the club ventured was Friern Barnet. Geographically speaking, there was a move towards playing against clubs from, for want of a better description, the Barnet area, in towns and villages that were in Hertfordshire and Middlesex at the time. In addition to Friern Barnet, there were fixtures against Arkley, Barnet, Cockfosters, Totteridge, and Wrotham Park. There was also a match played in Woodside Park against a side raised by L Longley, for whom Hatfield’s former player Charlie Wheeler was among his eleven. Longley made a handful of appearances for the club, but nothing is known of him. Returning to the theme of cricket grounds, as far as can be seen, Totteridge and Cockfosters were playing at their current homes. Barnet’s ground at Underhill and Arkely’s at the junction of Rowley Lane and Rowley Green Road are no longer in use. Although Bentley Heath CC’s ground is within Wrotham Park, it is more likely that the ground in the 1890s would have been located closer to the house. For all the talk of the declining stature of the club, it should be remembered that, as already discussed, it was still capable of attracting highcalibre players to play as guests of the club. Among those to play for the club in the 1890s (whose exploits have been detailed in previous chapters) were Charles Turner (Gloucestershire), Lees Whitehead (Yorkshire), Evan Nepean (Middlesex), Alfred Bashford (Middlesex), Frederick Almond (Essex), Frances Ford (Middlesex), and Walter Brearley (Lancashire). The latter two, of course, also played Test Match cricket for England. Every single one of them either scored a fifty or took five wickets while playing for the club. Considering the increased number of fixtures being played, it should come as no surprise that the final decade of the century was a bumper one for individual performances of note. These have all been commented on before on the players’ profiles, but they are worth repeating to emphasise that they all occurred in the same decade. Francis Ford’s 111 runs against Frogmore in 1894, as well as being only the second century in the club’s history, was the highest score by a Hatfield batsman before the twentieth century. Lees Whitehead’s eight wickets and 95 runs against the Three Counties Asylum in 1891 was unquestionably the most impressive all-round performance. In 1896, Branton Bamford became the club’s first batsman to 141

register three half-centuries in the same season. Charles Lambert took the second and third ten-wicket hauls of his career, with his ten for 14 against Cockfosters in 1894 a record that stands to this day. Between 1891 and 1895, he took five or more wickets in an innings on at least 16 occasions. He also took nine wickets against City Police in 1899. Tom Blinko was also among the wickets with two nine-for’s, against Hatfield Lawn Tennis Club in 1896, and the Foreign Office the following season. Among the plethora of batsmen to score half-centuries in the 1890s, all bar one of them were attributed to someone that has already been profiled elsewhere. The exception was a teenager who was just beginning his cricket career with Hatfield as the nineteenth century approached its dying moments. William Lawrence Thorogood (1871-1949) was an eighteen-year-old when he burst into the Hatfield side and immediately showed that he was a player of great potential with both bat and ball. He must have impressed in the pre-season practice match as he opened the bowling in the first fixture of the season and the batting in the second. He first came to prominence with the bat, scoring 71 against Cockfosters on 22 July 1899, followed by five wickets against the Great Northern Railway Athletic Association. He scored a century in 1901 against St Albans, but it was the following summer that proved to be his most successful, winning the batting prize and finishing second in the bowling averages. Following a fifteen-year absence, Thorogood returned to the club in 1927, winning his second batting prize. So, what state was the Hatfield Cricket Club in when it entered the twentieth century? In short, it’s impossible to say. That may sound like a cop-out, but in an age before competitive cricket, there is no practicable way to evaluate the standard of the opposition they were competing against. There is the added complication that in ‘matches’, clubs would bring in professional players to artificially amplify their perceived abilities. What is beyond question is that the standing of the club was lower than it had been a hundred years previously. Although even that is an unquantifiable proposition, as, although all the available evidence suggests that the club was held in very high regard, there is little information to go on. The club had issues that needed addressing. It was entering a period of instability at the top, accompanied by financial instability. There is no doubt that the town of Hatfield was home to many talented cricketers, but the problem was that the overall ethos of the club was alienating the emerging younger players. It would require the drive of an outsider to set the club in a new direction, but that is a story for The Lost Years: Hatfield Cricket Club 1901-1945.142

1 The Walker Cricket Ground in Southgate is named after John Walker, the eldestof the brothers. 2 I was initially confused by a description of the ground as being next to the OurMutual Friend public house. This was because the pub had moved from its originallocation, which was on the opposite side of Lytton Way, to the police station. 3 Mainly as a result of its pre-war records being destroyed, with a handful of exceptions, the club records only included feats achieved since 1946. A happy consequence of the research carried out in the 2020s, since 2024, the records nowreflect many long-lost performances. 4 H J Gray quoted Ireton ‘Squire’ Horsey as a source. 143

HATFIELD VS. NORTH LONDON, played at Islington Cattle Market Ground, on Tuesday, 4th July 1865. Back: George Hammond (umpire), Henry Hankin, James Wicks, William Parker, William Walby, Charles Ellis, James Dunham. Middle: Francis Chapman, William Lambert, James Cox. Front: George Champion, Frederick Woolley, James Walby.144

HATFIELD CRICKET CLUB, circa 1866.L-R: James Wicks, George Hammond (umpire), Frederick Woolley, William Parker, Francis Chapman, William Lambert, unknown, unknown, James Cox, Henry Hankin, James Dunham (Hon. Secretary), C Ellis.145

[This page and next: A recreation of the 1886 Fixture Card]146HATFIELD CRICKET CLUB 1886