Social Changes at Hertford Cricket Club

Social changes at Hertford Cricket Club All clubs are the product of their members, past and present. Hertford Cricket Club is no exception. But who were the members? What did they do for a job? Where did they live? This note tries to shed light on these aspects of the club's history and also show how the composition of the club has changed over the years. Hertford's history is bound up with the history of the game in general. The origins of cricket are obscure. There is a report of something akin to cricket being played at Guildford in the middle of the 16th century on land also used for bear baiting. The game steadily evolved over the next century. By the 18th century it is certain that games were being played regularly between the famous public schools and also between colleges at Oxford and Cambridge albeit in a fairly casual manner. The modern game developed between 1770 and 1780 notably in the southern counties of Hampshire, Kent and Surrey. The village of Hambledon in Hampshire was 'the nursery of the best players and the down of Broad Halfpenny the area of their glory'. At this time much of the support for the game came from the landed gentry either by providing grounds to play on or by supporting teams. Two reasons for this seem to have been (a) it was fashionable to support a cricket team in the same manner that it had been fashionable to build a large house, develop extensive gardens or import exotic foreign plants and (b) there were endless possibilities for gambling on the outcome of the game. I should say here that of all games cricket is both one of the most predicable and one of an infinity of statistics. Gambling was a very big part of these early games and of course today gambling on the game has become international. The evidence suggests that the game was popularised by the gentry and spread (quickly) to ordinary townsfolk and villagers. Of course the latter groups may have started the game but failed to retain any evidence of their efforts. By the middle of the 18th century cricket was being played quite widely among ordinary local sides. It was popular across Hertfordshire. Locally one of the earliest records is for 1737 when a match was played between eleven gentlemen of the corporation of Hertford and eleven of Stanstead for 200 guineas. Upwards of £1000 was reported to have been won and lost on the match which Hertford lost. In the same year a game was played between Hertford and Brentwood for £200. A further £2000 is thought to have been wagered on the result, a truly huge sum of money. Incidentally Brentford won by six runs. The gentry do not seem to have played a very big part in promoting the game in Hertfordshire. Games tended to be played by ordinary people in local places such as Hartham, but Lord Frederick Beauclerk, the fourth son of Aubrey, the Fifth Duke of St Albans was for fifty years the dominant force behind the game nationally. Cassiobury, Gorhambury, Hatfield, the Grove and Moor Park did, however, become significant centres. One of the earliest records of cricket in Hertford is of three matches played against Ware in 1788. Hertford won two of them. They attracted a lot of rivalry and local interest apparently. One Ware player is reported to have been so mortified at a partial defeat and the loss of a well contested field, that in a paroxysm of rage and vexation he went home and burnt his breeches. There are score cards for each of the games but apart from the names of the players nothing is known about them. Although there are a growing number of match reports in the Mercury as the years passed, there is not much information about the composition of the club or its organization. Until the 1841 census we know next to nothing about the players beyond their names. The census of that year and every ten years thereafter enables us to track the occupation and address of people. Important though this is it only gives the barest of details. Almost the only early player we know a significant amount about is John Hughes who played in the second half of the 19th century. He was a pipe maker who lived in the Folly area and had family connections with the Barge Inn. However, he also happened to be one of the finest bowlers in the whole of England (although he never played for England) and made a tidy income from playing cricket in the County and in the London area. Among other players from this period we can identify at least two brewers, a solicitor, a stone mason, a printer and publican, a tailor and draper, and a boot-maker. We do know that for much of this time Hertford played on Hartham. Balls Park was the home of the Balls Park side, a team composed largely of workers at the big house. As near as we can tell the first Hartham ground was close to where the old Eastern station now stands. When the railway was built the ground was moved a few hundred yards to where the tennis courts are today. Hartham was in those days still a regular flood plain not a made level as it is today. Consequently, with careful preparation the wickets could be reasonable. In 1876 and 1877 a County trial game was played there. However, it was not very satisfactory. The ground was subject to Commoners Rights, no reservation could be made, and wickets prepared overnight were frequently found on the next morning to be occupied by small boys, or the cattle had had a war-dance over it during the night. Conditions clearly worsened in the early eighties and it is hardly surprising that interest both in playing and especially in running the Club waned. Most worrying of all, the club's debt steadily mounted until by 1882 it was in excess of £30. It says something about the social composition and perceived standing of the Club that on the 28th March 1883 a meeting was held in the Council Chambers of the Town Hall under the chairmanship of the mayor to re-organize the Club onto its old footings and to return it the enviable position it once held. One possible solution raised was for the club to move to Balls Park where there had been a ground. Hertford had played there from time to time but it had been used, mainly but intermittently, by the workforce of Balls Park house. Shortly after the meeting George Nicholls (of Nicholls brewery) and Edmund Baker (another brewer) wrote to Sir George Faudel-Phillips asking for an appointment. This was promptly granted. The request to be able to play cricket in Balls Park was clearly not unexpected and an agreement was soon drawn up. Hertford have played there ever since except during the First World War when the Faudel-Phillips decided the field should be used to produce pasture for the war effort. Since 1883 the game of cricket has undergone many changes but so too has society, no less in Hertford than elsewhere. The regular ten year census continue to enable us to determine what jobs the players had but in addition from that date we begin to have names of the presidents and vice presidents as fixture cards with this information begin to survive. Although there is not a complete set of cards enough have survived to allow at least an initial study to be made. Of course it has not been possible to trace the employment of all involved but a partial picture at least does begin to emerge. In 1885 the Hertford Town Cricket, Lawn Tennis and Football Club had a President, two vice presidents, and a committee of ten. The cricket sub-committee comprised seven members. The President was Thomas Sworder. Thomas J Sworder was the eldest son of Thomas and Frances Sworder. Thomas senior was a solicitor and became County Coroner in 1851. His firm merged with Longmore's to become Sworder & Longmore. The family, which expanded to include at least five servants as well as ten children lived at Wallfield House. T.J. had two brothers, Edward Robert, a year younger, and Frederick William. The latter died at the age of 12 but Edward would also take up cricket. T.J. followed in the family business and took over Wallfield House after his parents died, Thomas in March 1875 and Frances a year later. Thomas J. married Sarah Parks and they had two daughters., Ethel and Elfrida. They moved to Balsams at the top of Queens Road in the 1880s. T.J. was much involved in the affairs of Hertford, be it sports clubs, public works, small businesses or charities. He was a keen member of the Rifle Club, and the Militia (Herts. Volunteers). His name is to be found in cast lists of local dramatic efforts. He followed in his father’s footsteps as coroner in 1875. He was chairman of the club for many years and following the move to Balls Park became the first President of the club, a position he held for 21 years. Thomas Sworder The two vice presidents were the Hon. Baron Dimsdale and George Faudel-Phillips. Robert Dimsdale (1 July 1828 - 2 May 1898) was an English Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons for two periods between 1866 and 1892. Robert Dimsdale was born at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, the son of Charles John Dimsdale, and his wife Jemima Rye.

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