Town and University teams of Cambridge 1847 by Felix (Permission of  MCC Museum)		Site Aims 1) Share my research findings and current research into  cricket  in Cambridgeshire     1700 - 1890. 2) Invite comments, queries and contributions via the blog or by email   Gaps » Details 1710-1848 » Any info on 1849-90 » Player info
Welcome
My name is Willie Sugg. I  have researched Cambridgeshire cricket of the 18th and 19th centuries  for about 10 years. I have written three books: "A Tradition Unshared", "The Cambridge Cricket Club Era", and Fenner's Men". A few copies of the first two  are still available. The third covers the period 1822-48 and is only just out.  Please email me if you would like a copy.  Just £5 + 75p p&p.  I  hope you find this site interesting and enjoyable.    I think the site is reasonably easy to navigate.  The comments page, reached by clicking on "comments", top right of page, is a blog for you to comment both on the site in general and on any articles I post.		wanted for offences against  the exhibiting of glazed expressions

Does it matter what a cricket club or team is called?  When looking at history it most certainly does.   Cricket history books are almost unanimous in talking about the successful Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club throughout the 1860's, when a look at contemporary sources suggests that teams now regarded as "Cambridgeshire" were variously organised by the County Club, Cambridge Town Club, individuals, public subscription and even the opposing clubs.   Similarly a look through Arthur Haygarth's "Scores and Biographies" gives the  impression  that  the dominant team in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire

1800-21

 

I have at last got round to writing up the matches of 1800-1821.  You can find these on the "1800-21" page.

 

Fred Reynolds

 

One of the less talked about Cambridgeshire players, despite his being a mainstay opening bowler for the county from 1857-1867, is Frederick Reginald Reynolds.  That may be because he has a prior claim to fame in being a player, ground manager and historian at Lancashire's Old Trafford ground from 1860 to 1908.  A recent glance at the introduction to a welcome 2000 reprint of Reynold's "Lancashire County Cricket"  has made me want to restore his place in Cambridgeshire cricket history.  Watch this space!   Any information and especially photographs would be very welcome.

 

 

a (very) rough sketch map of Cambridge  highlighting St Andrew the Less parish

Cricket Ghetto Shock! In checking the census of 1861 for confirmation of Billy Buttress's address in Eden St in Cambridge I found, to my delight, no less than 19 men living in the same parish of St Andrew the Less who gave their profession as "cricketer".  This may be explained partly by the nearby presence of the University cricket ground, Fenner's, as the University club certainly employed local players during it's short season, although probably not in those numbers.

 

Was this an expression of these, mostly young, men's aspirations or simply an attempt to impress?  If the latter then it does not seem to have impressed everyone as in the same parish Elizabeth Hayward, mother of Daniel and Thomas and grandmother of T W, described herself as a "gardener's widow" making no allusion to her late husband's pedigree as a cricketer.

 

 

Gaps

There are, of course, many gaps in my research.  By going to the "research gaps" page you will find some of the areas I still want to find out about.  Here is a list of names I would particularly like to know more about:

 

Charles Arnold Robert Carpenter FP Fenner Israel Haggis AM Hoare OC Pell Fred Reynolds Thomas Stearn WC Winterton

Mark Arnold Henry Cornwell George Fenner WJ Hammersley RT King Henry Perkins Rbt Ringwood George Sussums

Frederick Bell John Crouch James Fenner D Hayward Snr JM Lee John Perkins John Smith George Tarrant

John Boning AJD Diver TS Fryer D Hayward Jnr James Martin(poet) Charles Pryor George Smith Fred Thackeray

William Buttress DB Edwards Rbt Glassscock T Hayward Snr HJ&M Page FC Pryor Thomas Snow TM Townley

  

 

Sir St Vincent Cotton   The nearest C19th Cambridgeshire cricket had to noble patronage was Sir St Vincent Cotton of Madingley Hall just north of Cambridge.  He was also a player, president of the Cambridge town and County Club, inveterate gambler and coach driver.  A recent article in the Cricket statistician  (Felix Ladbroke and Cricket on Epsom Downs by Ralph M Hudson) referred to Cotton as a "great" cricketer.  Unfortunately this  appears to be an exaggeration.  See "Research so far" for details.

 

 

Fuller Pilch of Norfolk, Kent and Cambs!   Fuller Pilch is best known for his appearances for Kent and in various so called "great matches" of the mid 19th century.  Perhaps less well known are his connections with Cambridgeshire. See the "Research  so  far"  and "1st Cambs sides" pages for details.

John Smith - a Likeness   Thanks to Giles Phillips for the team picture of the 1868 England tour of US and Canada (see Gallery).  This contains the first likeness of John Smith I have seen as well as another representation of George Tarrant.  Newspapers of the time announced a painting of John Smith on his own but I have yet to hear of its continued existence.   For the record I am still keen to see likenesses of Israel Haggis, Fred Reynolds (Cambs and Lancs), Dan Hayward Jnr, William Buttress, FC Pryor and Thomas Snow, as well as any of the many Cambridgeshire players not form Cambridge during the period 1700-1890.  Anyone wishing to try their hand at imaginative drawing might like to draw an impression of one of the above.  That would be great.

 

"Infant" Winterton   Rereading Pycroft's Cricket Field I recently came across a reference to Cambridge's Charles Winterton as, rather surprisingly, an "infant genius" despite his then age of 29.  See "research so far" for details.

 

 

The First Cambridgeshire Sides

 

If you click on "1st Cambs sides" above you will find a discussion on which team  should rightfully be considered the first official Cambridgeshire side.  Please have a look.   I would love to receive comments on this.

 

Felix or Boning?

 

   

 Somewhat belatedly I have recently consulted Gerald Brodribb's "The Art of Nicholas Felix".  The most intriguing find is Brodribb's assertion that Felix included a self-portrait in his group portrait of the Cambridge Town and University teams.  When I first saw the picture in question (see top of this page) I thought, like Brodribb, that the player on the right-hand edge of the centre group was indeed the artist as this portrait looked so similar to that of Felix in the All England Eleven picture.

 

Subsequently, however, I received a copy of a caption for the Cambridge picture which identified the portrait as being of John Boning of the Cambridge Town and County side. 

 

It would certainly have been odd had Boning been excluded from this picture as he was a mainstay of the club throughout its existence.  On the other hand I would have expected the author of more than one book on Felix to recognise his subject.  Can anyone help?  

 

    

                                                         Then and Now

With the help of my friend Michael in 2009 I took photographs of places associated with 18th & 19th century cricket in Cambridge.  Below right is an attempt to recreate the view shown in 1854.  Cricket is still played on the same area of Parker's Piece, especially at weekends, although the activity shown in the distance in our photograph is kids from the local Parkside School in their break time.  For more comparisons see the gallery page.