posted by John Winn
The Wisden of 1919 was a slim volume, priced at 2/6d, 12 and half pence, and like its immediate predecessors many of its 326 pages were taken up listing the casualties of war, the Roll of Honour beginning with Lt Frank Adam died aged 21 and ending with 2nd Lt John Drummond Wyatt-Smith, aged 19 who in 1917 had taken 39 wickets at a cost of little over 6 runs each for Sherborne School. Further pages were given to men killed in 1917 as well as 'Other Deaths in 1918'. There was some cricket but mostly that played in Public Schools.
In his notes editor Sydney Pardon welcomed the end of the 'long nightmare of war' and the return of first class cricket but lamented the decision to reduce county matches to two days. In Pardon's opinion it would have been preferable to postpone the return of the championship until 1920. Following on from the 1918 edition when five 'School Bowlers of the Year had their 'portraits' displayed, five 'Public School Cricketers of The Year' were chosen and they are pictured above. They were AC Gore, Eton, APF Chapman, Uppingham, NE Partridge, Malvern, PW Adams, Cheltenham and LP Hedges Tonbridge.
By far the best known of these is of course Percy Chapman, top right, born 1900, died 1961 and who played 26 tests captaining England in 17. A handsome man of great personal charm the 1919 Wisden describes him as a 'fine natural cricketer' and he went on to score centuries for Cambridge in the Varsity match and for The Gentlemen in the same week in July 1922. Chapman was relieved of the England captaincy and dropped from the side in controversial circumstances when he was left out of the fifth test against Australia in 1930. Wisden politely refers to his later 'ill health' much of which was due to his excessive drinking which prompted his wife to divorce him in 1942 after which he became a sad, overweight figure, frequently drunk and suffering from depression. Perhaps we should heed the words of EW Swanton who in writing Chapman's obituary said that we should best remember him in his 'handsome summer youth'.
None of the other four ever achieved anything like Percy Chapman's fame but the careers of each are preserved in cricket records to this day. Adrian Gore (top left) who was born in Ayr in 1900 died in 1990 and is described by Wisden as 'a naturally gifted all-round sportsman with a touch of genius'. His performances for Eton in 1918 were 'remarkable' and his 'vicious inswingers' took 51 wickets at an average of 7.51, against Sandhurst he took 14 wickets in the match including nine in the second innings. Considering his great season in that year it is perhaps surprising that Gore only played 16 first class matches between 1921 and 1932, mostly for The Army. On one occasion his 'devestating bowling sank the navy'.He had a distinguished military career ending with the rank of Brigadier and a DSO.
Norman Partridge (centre) 1900 to 1982 and born in Birmingham was outstanding for Malvern in 1918 scoring more than 500 hundred runs at an average of over 100 in six innings and the following year claimed 71wickets at 12.98. He was selected to play for The Gentlemen in 1919 but his school refused him leave of absence. He gained his Cambridge blue as a freshman but appears not to have completed his studies. Between 1921 and 1937 he played somewhat spasmodically for Warwickshire. His fast medium inswingers brought him 347 wickets for the county and although never no balled his action was considered somewhat suspect.
Percy Adams, bottom left, was born in St Pancras in 1900 and died in Pimlico in 1962. He played only one first class match, for Sussex v Cambridge University at Fenner's in 1922, bowled by Gubby Allen for 1 and keeping wicket had one stumping to his name. Are there any other first class cricketers whose career runs equal their stumpings? It is keeping that gets him into the five portraits in 1919 for he 'proved himself a most efficient stumper' but, and herein may lie the reason for his relatively few appearances after school days, 'he gets his hands damaged rather easily'. As a batsman he was 'too fond of pulling short balls'.
The fifth of our outstanding schoolboys is Lionel Paget Hedges, bottom right, 1900 to 1933. Described at the time of his early death as 'brilliant schoolboy batsmen and a fine cover point' Hedges had an outstanding season in1918. Going up to Oxford in 1920 with county championship cricket for Kent already on his CV, his team mates in the varsity match included Jardine and Robertson-Glasgow but in a rain ruined match his one trip to the crease yielded only a duck. Wisden maintains that his finest hour came at Maidstone in 1920 when he hit a sharp 130 to gain victory over Yorkshire. Hedges took up a teaching post at Cheltenham College in 1924 thus qualifying for Gloucestershire which extended his first class career to 1929. He was an amateur dramatist and in 1931 he acted in the film Tell England. He is not listed among the twelve main characters who include Fay Compton and Anthony Buckeridge best known as the author of the Jennings stories.
In 1920 Wisden featured five batsmen in its portraits feature, for the record they were Percy Holmes, Herbert Sutcliffe, Patsy Hendren, Andrew Ducat and Ernest Tyldesley.
