A History of Beverley Cricket Club by Peter Henderson
Contents:
Introduction
1. 1835: the Maiden Match
2. 1835 - 1843: 'Nulli Secundus'
3. 1843 - 1870: Gentlemen, and a Few Players
4. 1870 - 1914: Not Just Poking the Ball About
5. 1919 - 1946: Playing the Game in the Right Spirit
6. 1946 - 1977: Getting into a Frightful Mess
7. Since 1977: Beyond the Apple Pudding Gates
Bibliography
Introduction
The Beverley Cricket Club, whose history is recorded in this volume, is best known for its association with Canterbury Cricket Week.
"The Canterbury Cricket Week may be fairly said to have originated with the Beverley Cricket Club, which had its meetings for practice and played its home matches in St. Stephen's Field, near Canterbury, on the estate of the Baker family. The Beverley Club was founded in 1835, Mr. John G. A. Baker being the Hon. Sec. The Club held its meetings weekly, and all comers were hospitably entertained by the amicable Lady of Beverley at every meeting and home match. The Club had amongst its early members several who afterwards became known to fame in more than one 'tented field'."
Thus reads the opening paragraph of Canterbury Cricket Week, published by William Davey in 1865. The Beverley was closely connected with the development of cricket in Kent in the mid-nineteenth century and with the emergence of the Kent County Cricket Club, and since then it has been mentioned in most of the important histories of the game.
The Club is not particularly old. Goulstone's Early Club and Village Cricket mentions over 160 teams recorded in Kent before 1800, including several in Canterbury - although "the first reference to an actual Canterbury club was in 1798". The Colman collection at Lord's includes a picture of 'A Cricket Match at Canterbury' by Henry Hodgins, dated c. 1760, and St. Stephen's Field was referred to as a cricket ground as early as the 1760s. Nonetheless, the Beverley's more or less continuous existence since 1835 - albeit with several changes of name and of ground - is itself noteworthy. At different times, it was one of the greatest clubs in England and a modest village side. Its members have included the aristocracy and gentry, famous players such as Fuller Pilch, Nicholas Felix and Arthur Fagg, many shopkeepers and schoolboys, and even a village blacksmith. Matches have been played against 'Manchester, with Wisden', and against local parish sides. The fluctuating fortunes of the Club thus provide an illustration of the changing nature of the game of cricket and of evolving patterns of leisure in Canterbury.
Unfortunately, the absence of any detailed studies of the city of Canterbury in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and also, more seriously, the patchy nature of many of the available sources, severely limit the range of this study. The Beverley Cricket Club itself has few surviving records earlier than 1947, apart from a nearly complete set of fixture cards, originally belonging to J.W. Banks and W.J. Parker, dating back to 1895, and a collection of press cuttings, photographs and other memorabilia kept by Laurie Kemp from the 1890s to the 1930s. In the inter-war years, the Club Secretary, Alfred Divers, was able to acquire several older items, largely from the de Chair Baker family. Unfortunately, these were lost in the 1940s. Little remains, therefore, from the nineteenth century, although the Kent County C.C. has some posters for the early Cricket Weeks, as well as several portraits of players from that period. And the Beverley Board can still be seen at the 'Old Beverlie' in St. Stephen's.
This account is heavily dependent on the local newspapers, the Kentish Gazette, the Kent Herald and the Kentish Observer. Coverage is uneven, reflecting editorial policy as well as the efficiency of Club secretaries: it is good in the 1840s, for example, but poor in the 1880s - and the twentieth century seems to follow a similar pattern. In the early days of the Club, important matches were also reported in magazines such as Bell's Life in London, and hence over twenty games appear in Haygarth's Cricket Scores and Biographies, where the careers of William de Chair Baker, Frederick Fagge, Nicholas Felix, William Goodhew, William Martingell, Fuller Pilch and William Pilch are described. Some information has been obtained from local directories, Canterbury and East Kent poll books, electoral registers, and other material in the Canterbury Library. Mention must also be made of H.W. Warner's earlier History of Beverley Cricket Club (1959), which was an essential starting point for the present work.
'Plum' Warner was one of several people, including Ralph Kemp, Ernie Baldock and Charlie Stace, who provided Sam Rogers with photographs, press cuttings and reminiscences to assist in the production of a new history. I am particularly grateful, therefore, to Doris Rogers for allowing me to use this material. In addition, several other former players, particularly Pat Shirley and Dick Skelton, provided information on the post-war period. Assistance of various kinds has also been given by Bob Bee, Alan Dewell, Steve Uglow, the Lord's Library, Christopher Taylor of the Kent County Cricket Club, the Canterbury Library, Philip Fox and Canon Peter Pilkington. Lucy Ross typed the original manuscript with care and efficiency. Finally, I must thank Stephen Rogers, then the Club Chairman, who originally invited me to write this, and Ken Amos, who has bullied me into coming close to finishing it.