Derbyshire County Cricket Club – “We Will Remember Them”

Derbyshire County Cricket Club – “We Will Remember Them”

During the First World War six Derbyshire cricketers and one coach who was expected to play for the county in 1915 lost their lives. Others connected with the club also served in that war and in World War II.

Heritage Officer David Griffin takes a look at the Derbyshire cricketers who served their country during the two world wars, beginning with those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Captain Frank Miller Bingham – Kings Own (Royal Lancashire Regiment)

 Born in Alfreton, Derbyshire in 1874 he was killed in action in Flanders on 22^nd May 1915, aged forty, and is honoured at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

Captain Bingham had been through severe fighting earlier in May 1915 and had subsequently been granted three days’ leave to visit his wife and children.

On the day after his return, he and other officers were leaving the trenches at daybreak when they found a private soldier half buried by the side of a trench. Captain Bingham insisted on freeing the soldier but while doing so was shot and killed instantaneously.

Formerly a doctor in Lancaster, Frank Bingham was the son of Dr. and Mrs. Bingham, of Alfreton, Derbyshire and husband of Ruth Morley Bingham, of Highfield House, Lancaster.

He played in one match for Derbyshire in 1896 – at Lord’s – and also played rugby union for Blackheath

241075 Sergeant Major Henry (Harry) George Blacklidge – A Company 1^st/5^th Battalion Hampshire Regiment

Born in Guildford, Surrey in 1884 he died from dysentery in Amara, Mesopotamia – now Iraq – on 23^rd May 1917 aged thirty-two and is honoured at the Amara War Cemetery in Iraq.

The son of John and Jean Blacklidge, of East Sheen, London, Harry Blacklidge had played seven first class games for Surrey between 1908 and 1913 and was appointed coach to Derbyshire’s newly formed cricket nursery in 1914 and was due to play for the county when qualified but was prevented by the outbreak of war. He did, however, play two second eleven games for Derbyshire in 1914.

At the 1915 Derbyshire annual meeting, members were notified that a letter had been received from Blacklidge in which he said he was playing some cricket out in the East and was looking forward to returning safely to Derby.

205113 Sergeant Charles Barnett Fleming – Tank Corps

Born in Derby in 1887 he died of wounds in Grevillers, France on 22^nd September 1918 aged thirty-one.

Prior to his war service he was on the staff of the Midland Railway’s general superintendent’s department and was a prominent member of the Midland Railway Athletic Association.

Charles Fleming played one match for Derbyshire, at Derby, in 1907.

Captain Geoffrey Laird Jackson – 1^st Battalion Rifle Brigade

Born in Birkenhead in 1894 he was killed in action at Arras, Belgium on 9^th April 1917 aged twenty-three and is honoured at the Highland Cemetery, Roclincourt, Pas de Calais, France.

Captain Jackson was the eldest son of Brigadier and Mrs. GM Jackson of Clay Cross Hall and at the time of his death both of his brothers were also serving at the front.

He had led his company for over three miles and through enemy lines but lost his life following the explosion of a shell.

His brother Humphrey Jackson won the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty, while another brother, Guy Rolf Jackson – who went on to captain Derbyshire 226 times – was awarded the Military Cross, the French Legion d’Honneur and the Greek Military Cross for gallantry on the field of battle and was mentioned in Dispatches twice.

Captain Geoffrey Jackson, who captained the Harrow School first eleven, played four matches for Derbyshire between 1912 and 1914.

7935 Lance Corporal Arthur Marsden – 12^th Battalion Manchester Regiment

 Born in Buxton in 1880, he died in London on 31^st July 1916 from wounds received on The Somme, aged thirty-five.

He is commemorated in the Gorton Unitarian Churchyard, Gorton Cemetery, Manchester.

Arthur Marsden played one match for Derbyshire, at Derby, in 1910.

17289 Lieutenant Charles Neil Newcombe – 7^th Battalion Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

 Born in Great Yarmouth in 1891 he was killed in action in Flanders, France on 27^th December 1915, aged twenty-four and is buried at the Military Cemetery, Bois-Grenier, France.

He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Percy Newcombe of Matlock and was engaged to be to be married to Nora Kingston Wood of Creswell.

Educated at Chesterfield School, where he was head boy, he was a talented footballer going on to play for Chesterfield, Glossop Town, Manchester United and Rotherham United.

At the outbreak of the war, he enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters and was commissioned on 19th November 1914.

Charles Newcombe played one match for Derbyshire in 1910. His great uncle, Captain William Lister, was killed at Waterloo.

Captain Guy Denis Wilson – 169^th Brigade Royal Field Artillery

Born in Melbourne, Derbyshire in 1882 he was killed in action in Cambrai, France on 30^th November 1917, his 35^th birthday. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval, France.

Guy Wilson was commissioned into the 1st Derbyshire Howitzer Battery of the Territorial Force as a second lieutenant in 1908 having been an outstanding schoolboy athlete at Derby School where he captained the cricket and football teams. He was an MCC member and his name is on the Lord’s Cricket ground MCC Members World War I memorial.

Guy Wilson played two matches for Derbyshire, at Derby in 1902 and at Lord’s in 1905.

“At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them”

 Other Derbyshire cricketers served in the armed forces during World War I and World War II as follows.

 Derbyshire Cricketers who served in the Great War 1914-18

Richard Romer Claude Baggallay captained Derbyshire in 1913 and 1914. During the 1914 August Bank Holiday match against Essex at Derby he received a telegram from the Army whilst he was batting which read: “Adjutant – Mobilise.”

Baggallay said: “I showed the telegram to the Essex captain, J.W.H.T Douglas, and we agreed that we must abandon the match unless it ended that day, which it did.”

Eight days later he was in France. During the conflict Lieutenant-Colonel Baggallay was awarded the MC and DSO.

Guy Rolfe Jackson captained DCCC from 1922 to 1930. He served in Macedonia and Salonika with the Derbyshire Yeomanry. He reached the rank of Captain and was awarded the Military Cross, the French Legion d’Honneur and the Greek Military Cross for gallantry on the field of battle.

Twice mentioned in dispatches, it was in Salonika that, while leading his troops, he was approached by Bulgars carrying a flag of truce. They asked for an armistice and Jackson sent them to headquarters. It was the end of Bulgaria’s participation in the war.

Christopher Lowther played in club and ground matches and it was thanks to his generosity that the Nursery was established in 1914, with Harry Blacklidge appointed coach. Lowther served with the Westmoreland and Cumberland Yeomanry, receiving a severe wound in France in September 1915.

William Ferguson Parrington played in 1926. He was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry at Ypres.

Walter Reader-Blackton played between 1914 and 1921. He enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters and was commissioned in the Leicestershire Regiment. Reader-Blackton won the Military Cross.

William Thomas Taylor Club Secretary between 1908 and 1959. One of the first to enlist he was badly wounded on the Somme in July 1916, subsequently returning to France only to suffer a further wound.

Captain Taylor was about to be promoted Major when he was demobilised in 1919.

From a Wirksworth family, Will Taylor lost two brothers in the 1914-18 war. He also played four times for Derbyshire.

Among other players who also served in the 1914-18 war were:

EM Ashcroft, A. Blount, GF Bell, G.P.Brooke-Taylor, G.M.Buckston, J. Chapman, TGO Cole, BO Corbett, G. Curgenven, H. Elliott, SH Evershed, LE Flint, J. Horsley, N.M. Hughes-Hallett, C.N.B. Hurt, A.H.M. Jackson, HFD Jelf, H.G.B. Jordan, C.H. Lyon, C.F. Root, A. Rose, R. Sale snr, J.D. Southern, H Turland, NAM Walker H. Wild and HF Wright.

Derbyshire Cricketers who served in the Second World War 1939-45

When considering war service in 1939-45, note that the county then had many coal mines. Mining and related occupations were essential for the war effort and although miners may have wanted to join the Forces their work was considered too important.

Albert Alderman Served with Civil Defence as a warden and stretcher bearer and also in the Home Guard.

Robin Buckston Invalided out from the Army as a Lieutenant as a result of ill health. He became a Captain and then Adjutant in the Home Guard.

Sam Cadman Served with the National Fire Service.

Donald Carr Joined the army at the age of 18 in January 1945 as an officer cadet. War ended in August 1945 before he could see active service

Bill Copson A former miner, Copson worked in mining haulage and later munitions.

George Dawkes Worked at Armstrong Whitworth before called up to the RAF.

Charlie Elliott Although accepted for the Royal Navy, he served in the National Fire Service.

In 1940, Elliott found himself on the roof of the bombed and burning Coventry Cathedral as a volunteer fireman. When the water ran out, he came off the roof to find that his fire tender was parked over a crater in which there was an unexploded bomb.

Cliff Gladwin Worked in the coal mines and served with the Home Guard.

Neville Montague Ford Served with the Berkshire Yeomanry and Household Cavalry.

Arnold Hamer Served in the Army in Malta.

Gilbert Hodgkinson Captain in the Sherwood Foresters, Hodgkinson then joined the Highland Division.

He received severe head wound in France and was in a hospital in Fecamp when the Germans seized it. He was well-treated and repatriated via Sweden in a prisoner exchange in 1943.

The 1941 edition of Wisden recorded his death, although fortunately his wife and family had received news he was missing three months’ earlier.

Tommy Hounsfield Served as a Major in the Home Guard.

Les Jackson Denied his wish to join the Royal Navy, Jackson worked in the coal mines.

Tommy Mitchell Worked in the coal mines.

Alf Pope Worked in the coal mines.

George Pope Served in the Royal Signals but was discharged with a knee injury.

Alan Revill Worked as a colliery electrician.

Arthur Richardson Served as a Major in a Light Artillery Regiment.

Albert ‘Dusty’ Rhodes Served as a Lance Bombardier in the Royal Artillery in North Africa and Italy.

Ken Shearwood Joined the Royal Navy and served in destroyers. As the result of his actions commanding a tank landing craft at Salerno and Anzio in Italy, Shearwood was awarded a DSC.

Denis Smith Carried our war work in munitions.

Arnold Townsend Served abroad with the RAF as a Leading Aircraftman, then served with the Royal Observer Corps.

Guy Willatt Commissioned in the Royal Artillery, Willatt served in North Africa and Italy.

Stan Worthington Served with a light anti-aircraft unit in Gibraltar, then commissioned in Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) where he rose to rank of Captain.

The County Ground and Queen’s Park Chesterfield

Derby

At the County Ground during the First World War the stables and paddock were initially handed over to the government for use as a military veterinary hospital and the pavilion was utilised by the St John’s Ambulance Service as a sick ward with a cricket pitch allocated to troops for practice and matches.

In April 1915 military authorities approached the Chief Constable of Derby with a request to accommodate 1,000 soldiers and 150 horses belonging to the Army Service Corps. Eighty horses were housed in the stables on the racecourse with a large number of soldiers billeted in the Grandstand Hotel.

And over a century before members offered to donate their subscriptions to the club during the Covid-19 epidemic, 240 members continued to pay their membership fees through the four seasons covering the war.

At the start of World War II Royal Artillery soldiers occupied the site with the Grandstand Hotel taken over by the military apart from the licensed premises, with many of the new hotel residents being those who manned the anti-aircraft guns and searchlights which were positioned on the ground.

In 1940 the Derbyshire War Agricultural Committee arranged contracts between RG Food products of Hatton for the ensilage of grass cuttings at the Racecourse and County Ground. The cuttings were stored in silos and put through a process which allowed it to be kept indefinitely. The process was considered better and more economical than haymaking.

Cricket matches took place occasionally, with the local Home Guard team taking on military units from the Army and RAF with proceeds going to the Prisoners of War Fund and the RAOC Comforts Fund.

In 1943 a Derbyshire XI – featuring Harry Elliott and Les Townsend who had played in the 1936 Championship-winning side – played the Mayor of Derby’s XI in a one-day game which Derbyshire won by five wickets.

In 1945 Derbyshire played Leicestershire and beat them by an innings and 13 runs in a day. Harold Pope, the less celebrated brother of Alf and George, took six for 12 in 12.1 overs as Leicestershire were skittled for 58 in 37.1 overs before Derbyshire replied with 139 for four declared off 41 overs, Arnold Townsend top scoring with 42.

Leicestershire fared little better in their second innings reaching 68 all out as Pope and Stan Worthington took three wickets apiece.

Holidays at Home events also took place on the ground as well as boxing football, hockey and tennis matches.

Four hundred Derbyshire members died during the years 1939 to 1945 although as in WWI, many members continued to pay their subscriptions.

In Derbyshire’s Annual Report March 1946, the Honorary Treasure stated: “But for those subscribers who have supported the club since 1939, Derbyshire cricket could not have restarted”

Chesterfield

Queen’s Park in Chesterfield hosted a variety of sporting events during World War I, including a baseball match held on the cricket ground on 10th August 1918. Twenty American soldiers took part and each of three bases were marked by half a sack of hay. The Hasland Silver Band played until dusk, and admission prices varying from sixpence to two shillings raised £136 towards war funds.

In July 1941 a fund-raising match took place in Queen’s Park between representatives of Chesterfield and District and the Army with the aim of providing comforts and sports equipment for local military units. Lieutenant Mansfield Markham captained the Army XI and both sides included Derbyshire cricketers.

The Queen’s Park annexe was requisitioned for use as a drill square and subsequently for accommodation for service personnel, and in 1943 the metal railings around the pitch were removed for the war effort.

An initiative begun by the government in 1941 was ‘Holidays at Home’, which encouraged people to avoid travel to coastal resorts during the war, thereby helping to reduce pressure on public transport and limit petrol consumption. Cricket matches in aid of ‘Holidays at Home’ were staged in Queen’s Park, the first of which was in July 1943 between a George Pope XI and a police team. The matches were played in the form of a knockout competition with the early rounds played on club grounds and the semi-finals and final at Queen’s Park.

A month earlier during Chesterfield Youth Week a match took place between Chesterfield Youth Council and Sheffield ARP Messenger Service which the latter won by nine runs.

A year later a ‘Holidays at Home’ match attracted a crowd of 10,000 to watch Bill Copson, Cliff Gladwin, Walter Keeton, Eric Marsh, George Pope, Alan Revill and the great Herbert Sutcliffe, while during the same summer a floral tribute to the many Chesterfield men serving with the Royal Navy was prepared in a carpet bed near the pavilion, depicting in flowers a design of the naval badge.

To attract non-cricketing spectators there was a dog jamboree which included a 10-shilling prize in the class ‘The dog which can wag its tail the fastest’, alongside a rabbit show plus flower and vegetable stalls selling local produce.

Derbyshire played three non-first class matches at Chesterfield in 1945, the only games they played in the north of the county during the war. Nottinghamshire and Lancashire were their opponents in June and July respectively with more than 2,000 spectators attending the Lancashire game.