Two Yorkshire Giants

posted by John Winn

Hawke, Martin Bladen, seventh Lord, died on October 10th (1937), aged 78

Jackson, Rt Hon  Sir F Stanley, died on March 9th (1948), aged 76

These two stark lines in the obituary section towards the rear of the  appropriate Wisden Almanacks tell us nothing of the lives of these two great men of Yorkshire and England cricket but each received a generous allocation of space in special tributes in the same volumes. I have recently read biographies of the two men by the same author, James P Coldham.

It is fitting that one of the contributors to the seven pages devoted to Lord Hawke, you had to be very close to him to use anything but that title, should be Jackson, for reading the books in close succession it is clear how intertwined their lives were. In the index on Hawke 'Jacker' is mentioned 36 times and in the story of the younger man the seventh Lord falls just one short of a half century of references.

Both of course led very privileged lives. Eton for Hawke, Harrow for Jackson then the same path to Cambridge, Yorkshire and England, and each very much part of England's and Yorkshire's cricketing establishment. Jackson followed Hawke as President of Yorkshire on the latter's death and both captained their country. If one searches for differences between them then they are most marked by two omissions from Jackson's CV, namely that business commitments prevented him touring Australia and that he was  never county captain although he did lead the side on occasions. Hawke by contrast led the side for more than 25 years, something that is quite inconceivable now. With all due respect to the present incumbent it is hard to see Andrew Gale leading the side out of the Carnegie Pavilion in 2035! Now there's a thought, the Carnegie Pavilion in 2035, wonder if the debenture seats will be full.

Coldham writes in a neat economical style and I enjoyed both books, the one on Lord Hawke slightly more than the biography of 'Jacker'. Partly because I read it first and partly I think because Hawke's is a slightly more interesting tale to tell. Apart from his involvement in cricket he travelled widely, not just to play cricket but he was fond of tiger shooting to the extent that after a tour of India in 1893 he stayed behind to search Nepal for the unfortunate beast. As well as India, Hawke played cricket in Argentina, South Africa, Australia, North America and West Indies, and all by sea travel.

Jackson was a member of the cricketing part of that tour of India but was not amongst  the shooting party. That 1893 trip appears to have been his only experience of overseas cricket for his visit to South Africa in 1899 was as a member of The Royal Lancaster (sic) Regiment and the much more serious business of The Boer War

Both books  are clearly the product of very diligent research and if you enjoy an uncomplicated style then you may well appreciate Coldham's work.