Hilsea The winds of change The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph series No. 21 Hilsea - The winds of change by John Sadden, School Archivist Published by Portsmouth Grammar School in 2010 on the 125th anniversary of the School’s In memory of first use of Hilsea Playing Fields Neil Blewett 1954 - 2010 Cover photographs, l to r: PGS v Old Portmuthian rugby team, c 1956; Senior School Sports Day relay race, 1955; 1st XI hockey team, 2001-2. Illustration: detail from PGS v Old England XI match at Hilsea, June 2005, by Jocelyn Galsworthy. The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 21 1 Hilsea – the winds of change Traditional sports like football, cricket and boxing have been played for centuries but it was not until the Victorian era that standard rules were introduced. In public and grammar schools, sport was increasingly valued and encouraged image to be supplied for the development of good moral character. Portsmouth Grammar School Headmaster, Alfred Jerrard, regularly advocated sports as contributing to “the healthiness of body and mind which is the glory of English boyhood”. One perceived practical benefit was that youthful energy was expended on competitive play rather than “other harmful attractions” (as one schoolboy put it in a Portsmouth Grammar School debate in 1890). A scandal at the School in 1888 resulted in several expulsions for “forming unsuitable associations” and “frequenting unsuitable places” like “billiard saloons and refreshment bars”. Cricket (unlike, evidently, billiards) was synonymous with good sportsmanship and fair play, and “playing the game” the mark of a true gentleman. Jerrard, perhaps mindful of the School’s catchment area, settled on the prospect of turning out “good fellows, and useful ones”. Meanwhile, those boys who did not qualify for scholarships, or whose parents were unwilling or unable Hilsea Playing Fields past and present. On their marks (above) are starters in the quarter of a mile handicap race to afford school fees, went to schools that tended to restrict physical activity to dull c. 1885, while the race is almost won (below) on Sports Day in 1998. drill and repetitious physical education, perhaps reflecting their pupils’ future place in an industrial capitalist economy. Up until 1885, East Hants Cricket Ground in the upmarket Saxe-Weimar Road area of Southsea (renamed Waverley Road during the First Word War) was the place where PGS boys played the game and developed their “good fellow” qualities. Staff stumped up for the rent for the Ground out of their own pockets until burgeoning demand for building land resulted in it being auctioned off. Clearly the value of sports had its limits when set against the relentless drive for progress and profit. The wickets were removed for the last time and the foundations of Taswell Road laid, the only remaining grassy area today being Wimbledon Park. Hilsea Playing Field c. 1902 Monograph No. 21 3 It was fortunate that the playing grounds at Hilsea – the property of the War Office for 11 runs, and PGS won by nine runs. It was customary, at this time, for a few - became available to the School on a part-time basis, an arrangement quickly masters to play alongside pupils in representing the School. secured by the Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth, General Sir George Willis. The fields had once formed part of the City’s northern land defences known as the The winter game at this time was rugby, though it was Hilsea Lines. soon to be replaced by soccer, largely because of the lack of suitable rugby schools to play against. The thin As a garrison town and Britain’s premier naval port, Portsmouth had many sports image to be fixture list included Burney’s Academy at Gosport, facilities and pitches for the armed services, provided to help ensure that men were supplied HMS Marlborough, Eastman’s College and the Isle of fighting fit. And, over many years, the School has nurtured excellent relationships Wight College. There was also a reported lack of player with the armed services to the benefit of many generations of boys. The Army, for commitment and a reluctance to train with the school example, allowed the School to use Governor’s Green for cricket practice, and the struggling to field three XVs, and so the decision United Services Ground for Athletic Sports, though, in the early days, “coaching Alfred Wood c.1900 was taken to embrace soccer. Several names feature was so diligently pursued that it became a nuisance to the USG authorities”. prominently in PGS sports at this time, including At that time, the Hilsea site was about half its present size, the ramparts were Norman Pares, who joined the School as a Classics teacher in 1881. An Old derelict and teams changed in a shed. Headmaster Jerrard proclaimed it “a Etonian, he played in the F.A. Cup final of 1879 and brought his enthusiasm for capital ground for Saturday matches” but unsuitable for weekday sports because soccer to the School; he is also credited as having sown the seeds for the formation of its location four miles from the School. Transport by horse-drawn tram was of Portsmouth Football Club. Alfred Wood, a former PGS pupil who served the organised by the Games Club and a cheap-rate was negotiated for boys who school as a science teacher from 1888 to 1901, was a Hampshire cricketer, played made it a point of honour to travel on the open upper deck whatever the weather. for the school teams in both cricket and soccer, and also for Portsmouth Football The inconvenience of its location was to become a recurring feature in its history Club alongside his friend, local GP, Dr Arthur Conan Doyle. Wood, described by (as commented on in The Portmuthian) along with the impression that Hilsea Julian Barnes in Arthur and George as a “fellow with the possessed its own unique climate - almost invariably wet and windy – which honest look of a pharmacist”, went on to become the added, one imagines, to the character-forming qualities of the sports played there. author’s loyal and trusted secretary. Despite its recognised benefits, school sport at this time was not compulsory, Cricket scoring books in the PGS archive reveal though the Headmaster and his staff did everything they could to encourage that Conan Doyle played at Hilsea alongside Wood participation .One disincentive was the cost of Games Club subscription. The during 1888-90 in matches against the School. He entrance fee for athletic sports events were set by the Games Committee and, in was opening bat for the South Hampshire Rovers 1895, were 6d (2.5p) for the first event, 4d (1.7p) for the second and one shilling on all three occasions, though match reports in The and sixpence (7.5p) to compete in all events. The games subscription was three Portmuthian make no comment on his individual shillings (15p) per term in the football season, and four shillings (20p) to play performance. In 1890, he demonstrated his bowling skills, taking six wickets in the first innings in an cricket. By the mid 1920s, the entrance fee had been dropped in favour of voluntary Sir Arthur Conan Doyle subscriptions. exciting contest, beating the School by seven runs. Later, in the summer of 1896, against a backdrop of the overgrown ramparts and The first cricket match took place at Hilsea on 25 April 1885, a nail-biting the sound of willow on leather, Conan Doyle returned as a spectator, giving encounter between A.H Wood’s XI and G Nicholson’s XI which ended in a tie, an ad hoc interview for the school magazine. each side scoring 71 runs. The second match between the First XI and the 2nd XI (with Masters) ended in victory for the first XI. The first match against an external opponent took place the following week, but the school was soundly beaten by the Naval engineer trainees of HMS Marlborough (based in Portsmouth Harbour). Conan Doyle’s entry in the Honour was restored the following week in an exciting match against the Royal school’s cricket scoring book, 1888 Artillery. Cooke’s “underhand bowling” was “very destructive” taking five wickets 4 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 21 5 Two professional cricketers were employed as groundsmen at Hilsea towards passed P.B. Wake by he might have reflected on the advantages of training, though the end of the 19th century, the “steady and civil Smith”, who had played for in some circles training was considered “ungentlemanly”. The previous year, only Lancashire, and Hargreaves, who was appointed in 1882. At this time, class five runners out of seventeen managed to complete the mile race, comprising three etiquette meant that groundsmen, who were also professional sportsmen rather laps of the field. than “gentlemen amateurs”, were relieved of any initials or first name and were known, not without affection, by their surname only. A writer in The Portmuthian of March 1896 had no such reservations about the ethics and advisability of training, publishing some no-nonsense advice and As well as preparing the wickets and training tips for boys who wanted to excel: maintaining the ground, their duties included Have a cold or slightly tepid sponge bath every morning followed by a brisk towelling. coaching. James Henry Hargreaves was a Dietary advice was simple: formidable batsman who played for the school, For a few days before the Sports, extreme care should be taken not to drink more than is the town and Hampshire County. His School quite necessary, and on the day itself the lightest possible food should be taken not later cricketing career was summarised in one than three or four hours before an event.