Church Cricket and Community in Halifax and the Calder Valley 1860-C.1920
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University of Huddersfield Repository O'Keefe, Dennis Church Cricket and Community in Halifax and the Calder Valley 1860-c.1920. Original Citation O'Keefe, Dennis (2013) Church Cricket and Community in Halifax and the Calder Valley 1860- c.1920. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/18053/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ CHURCH CRICKET AND COMMUNITY IN HALIFAX AND THE CALDER VALLEY, 1860-c.1920. DENNIS LAWRENCE O’KEEFE A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2013 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the emergence of church cricket clubs in Halifax and the Calder Valley between 1860 and 1920. It encompasses the years of mature factory-based industrial society following Chartism as well as the upheavals of the Great War and its immediate aftermath. Though a period of relative tranquillity, from 1873 the staple textile trades began to stagnate, bringing economic uncertainty only partially offset by industrial diversification and a brief post-war revival. From the mid-1880s this brought industrial unrest and the emergence of labour politics. Churches, having experienced growth, were also betraying signs of decline towards the end of the century. Their role in welfare and education was being eroded and denominational influence on party political allegiance was being replaced by that of social class. And yet, religious organisations became the area’s biggest single source of popular organised cricket during its crucial formative decades. This study evaluates why, from such an unpromising situation around 1850, religious bodies became involved in cricket and what were the nature, extent and relevance of this. It addresses several key questions. What was the contribution of clergymen? Who were involved in the clubs and what did this mean for them? What was the significance of grounds and their development? How did the clubs finance themselves? What did their rules reveal? What part did they play in their local communities? Within these themes will be evaluated crucial factors such as social class, gender, religious denomination, identity, topography and demography as will important concepts such as cultural diffusion, muscular Christianity, social control and secularisation. This thesis shows that church sponsorship provided the platform for mainly working-class agency in developing cricket clubs. This agency manifested itself in a mutualism and self- reliance similar to that of the highly popular and consciously independent organisations such as Friendly Societies and Co-operatives, which operated in the same arduous economic context. Nonetheless, at a time when workers were becoming increasingly assertive in the world of industry and politics, church cricket exhibited class co-operation and harmony. Moreover, greater genuine popular adherence to ecclesiastical organisations was found to exist than has often been allowed. Those cricket clubs that became established initially reinforced their churches’ identity, helping them to retain a profile in their localities, and so retard the advance of secularism. However, as those clubs’ cricketing potential grew, they became ever more a part of their wider communities. This situation was aided by their crucial fundraising entertainments, which often secured a place in their districts’ social calendar. Increasingly the clubs became an alternative attraction to the church in their communities and ultimately a small agent of secularism. It is, in summary, contended that church cricket in Halifax and the Calder Valley was more the product of industrial society, and the adaptation of ordinary men and women and their culture to that society, than it was of muscular Christianity or clerical influence. 2 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such Copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trademarks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the “Intellectual Property Rights”) and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions. 3 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Glossary and Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 1 Moors, Mills and Ministers ..................................................................................... 38 Chapter 2 Primary Clubs .......................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 3 Clergy ...................................................................................................................... 88 Chapter 4 Club People ........................................................................................................... 123 Chapter 5 Grounds: The Cathedrals of Church Cricket ......................................................... 168 Chapter 6 Finance .................................................................................................................. 193 Chapter 7 Rules ...................................................................................................................... 218 Chapter 8 Community Service ............................................................................................... 242 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 269 Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 279 Appendix 1 Town Populations of Halifax and the Calder Valley 1801-1931 ................... 279 Appendix 2 Methodism Divided in Halifax and the Calder Valley................................... 280 Appendix 3 Leagues Formed in Halifax and the Calder Valley, 1891-1916..................... 283 Appendix 4 Sunday School Membership 1851-1931 ........................................................ 284 Appendix 5 Members of St Thomas’s CC and St Thomas’s Sunday School CC .............. 285 Appendix 6 Members of Luddenden St Mary’s CC, 1884-85. .......................................... 286 Appendix 7 Members of Illingworth St. Mary’s CC, 1884 ............................................... 287 Appendix 8 Members of Stones Wesleyan CC, 1884-85. ................................................. 289 Appendix 9 Members of Mytholmroyd Wesleyan Sunday School CC, 1894. .................. 290 Appendix 10 Members of Inchfield Bottom UMFC Sunday School CC 1903. ................ 291 Appendix 11 Members of Outlane MNC CC, 1897-98. .................................................... 292 Appendix 12 Members of Lumbutts CC, 1891. ................................................................. 293 Appendix 13 Extracts from Halifax Parish Challenge Cup Ground Reports, 1891-97 ..... 294 Appendix 14 St Thomas’s Sunday School Cricket Club: Rules, c.1870. ......................... 297 Appendix 15 Rules of Water-Foot Mill, 1851. .................................................................. 298 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 299 Word Count 112,084 4 GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS AGM – Annual General Meeting CA - Calderdale branch of the West Yorkshire Archive Service C&K Website - The Cricket History of Calderdale and Kirklees (see Websites). CLH