Gilchrists and cricket
Cricket was a popular game in the era Robert Gilchrist lived. A small card in the Tyne and Wear Archives reveals Robert Gilchrist was once secretary of Newcastle Cricket Club. No further information can be found about his cricketing career, nor the early history of this club. Historical records can be found, however, relating to the cricketing career of his son, Robert Shaftoe Gilchrist.
Match reports that appeared in the local press show that Robert played for Shieldfield Cricket Club.
Played at the Northumberland Cricket Ground, located in Bath Road, Newcastle on land very near the city centre and now mainly occupied by the University of Northumbria [Jouannou & Candlish, 2009: 30]. Back of St Thomas's church near the Haymarket. The ground is clearly marked on Thomas Oliver's 1849 map of Newcastle. The building numbered 66 is St Thomas's church and the building labelled 72 is the subscription baths.
The cricket ground and the baths are mentioned in Shield & Turner's guidebook to Newcastle of 1846. stating the club had 150 members "who by their ability in Cricket and other manly sports, and their liberality in throwing open their ground and elegant suite of rooms to the public on Match Days, render the place one of great attraction to the young men of the town and neighbourhood" (p.32) "The central position of the field, and the noble appearance of the Club-house, which was erected by the Bath Company, at a cost of not less than £2,500, forms a "tout ensemble" not surpassed, if equalled, by any Cricket ground in England." (Ibid.).
The ground was a popular site for leisure and entertainment. I August 1859 William Hall made an ascent from the ground in a balloon. (see Tyne and Weird book).
Brass Band contests, see Newcastle Courant, 13th June 1859
This was an important sporting centre in the nineteenth century.
American Edward Payton Weston came to Britain. Weston is well known as the pioneer of the six day race, but he undertook a variety of wagers in his various trips to Britain. As well as five day matches, 1,500 mile and 5,000 mile walks, he also agreed to walk 1,000 miles in 400 consecutive hours. This feat took place at the Northumberland Cricket Ground, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in 1877, and was competed in 16 days, 15 hours, 41 minutes. Weston didn’t walk on the two intervening Sundays and altogether took 150 hours, 38 ½ minutes rest.
The History of the 1,000 Mile Race - from 1758 to 1986 - Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team USA (srichinmoyraces.org)
As we can see by Oliver's map, the ground was a short walk from Gilchrist's Old House, across the Pandon Dean.
There was a growing movement to see County Cricket played. 'An Old Cricketer' wrote to the Newcastle Daily Chronicle (27 March 1863), proposing that Northumberland establish County games against Cumberland and Durham. He mentions R.S. Gilchrist and W.C. Gilchrist as potential candidates for a Northumberland Eleven.
In response 'A Looker-On' wrote to the Newcastle Daily Chroncile (28 March 1863) corrects 'An Old Cricketer' by telling him Gilchrist (presumably R.S.) has moved to London.
Itinerant manouvres. In any case by September 1863 R.S. Gilchrist was back in the area.
On 8 September 1863 a 'Grand Cricket Match' was advertised in the Newcastle Journal. A team of twenty-two of the Northumberland Cricket Club would face the United All England Eleven at the Northumberland County Ground for a 3-day exhibition match.
National cricket was in its infancy. Many of the men who played in this match would form England's first international touring team.
Listed as part of the home team was Robert Shaftoe Gilchrist.
Local newspapers recorded his sporting feats from the early 1850s, where he is noted as playing in matches for the Shieldfield Club against teams from Northumberland. In August 1850 his bowling was reported in the Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury (17 August 1850) as “very good” in a match against Alnwick. A year later he is listed as competing against Tynemouth (Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury, 19 July 1851). The latter half of the nineteenth century was a boom period for cricket in Northumberland. Between 1854 and 1914 209 cricket clubs formed in East Northumberland, though the vast majority only had a lifespan of less than 5 years (Metcalfe, 2006: 91).
A Grand Cricket Match was also advertised to be played, featuring R.S. Gilchrist in the 22 of Northumablerland Cricket Club, vs. the United Eleven of all England (Lillywhite, Wisden, Dean, Caffyn, Carpenter, Grundy, Mortlock, Griffith, Lockyer, Hearne, Sewell, Chatterton, Ellis, Atkkinson and Wells) (Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 12 September 1860). Although it looks like Gilchrist did not play (Morpeth Herland, 15 September 1860). (see also Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury, 15 September 1860) - this includes more of a description of the match.
To be selected to play against an All England team was the highest honour a local player could achieve in 1863. The County Championship was not established until 1873 and so many games remained parochial though competitive affairs.
The advertisement carried the names of the England players, the best cricket talent in the country. No initials were required. The use of just their surnames suggested a level of familiarity, even national fame.
The emergence of all England Elevens was a commercial enterprise that transformed cricket. William Clarke, a Nottingham bricklayer, who had early forsaken his trade in order to become a professional cricketer, was engaged by the M.C.C. in 1846 as a practice bowler and in the same year he established his All England XI with the object of touring in all parts of the country, especially in those places in which cricket was as yet little known. His team consisting of the leading amateurs and professionals was to be a cricketing circus, but it was also a cricketing mission, playing exhibition matches against local teams of anything up to 22 players.
The benefit to cricket was immediately obvious. The team of famous cricketers aroused the deepest interest everywhere it went. The public turned out in thousands to watch the matches and every keen young local cricketer longed to be picked to play against All England. The local players were eager to imitate the style and methods of the great professionals and there was a rapid improvement in the standard of cricket even in the more remote parts of England such as Northumberland.
It was hard work for the England team for they had a heavy programme and travelling conditions were extremely primitive. Often they would have to travel all night to be ready to play the following day at 11 o’clock and in those days only the largest towns were linked by the railways whose rolling stock was anything but comfortable. Wages were far from generous for such hard toil, varying from £4 to £6 a match depending on the length of the journey, the players paying their own expenses.
It is scarcely surprising that there was discontent at such shabby treatment. In 1853 John Wisden, John Lillywhite and others broke away from the leadership of Clarke and formed a new venture called the United England Eleven, having almost exactly similar objectives in view as Clarke’s team.
The All England Eleven and the United England Eleven continued to tour the country as travelling shows until 1876 when support for the teams had slackened largely because of the growing interest in county cricket.
The 'Grand Cricket Match' featured:
Caffyn
Carpenter
Lockyer
Mortlock
Lillywhite
Wisden
Griffith
Grundy
Hearne
Ellis
Wootton
Atkinson
A number of these players featured in the first cricket international matches. The Surrey cricketer Will Mortlock participated in the first cricket tour of Australia, in 1861-2, where he was nicknamed 'Old Stonewall' for his stubborn defensive batting. His Surrey teammate William Caffyn was one of the 12 players who took part in cricket's first-ever overseas tour when an England cricket team led by George Parr visited North America.
John Lillywhite was a Sussex cricketer who also toured America and was part of a famous cricketing family, his father being William Lillywhite, a brother being Fred Lillywhite and his cousin being James Lillywhite. In 1863, members of the family established the sports outfitters Lillywhites, which still trades at Picadilly Circus, London.
John Wisden (5 September 1826 – 5 April 1884) was an English cricketer who played 190 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex and Sussex. He is now best known for launching the eponymous Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1864, the year after he retired from first-class cricket.
The Cambridgeshire cricketer Robert Carpenter, who also toured America and Australia. Rated as one of the finest batsmen in England in the 1860s. W. G. Grace said of Carpenter that "he may be safely placed as one of the finest of our great batsmen".[2]
And the team also included the Middlesex cricketer Thomas Hearne, part of the Hearne cricketing dynasty, who was born in Chalfont St Peter in 1826.
Robert Shafto Gilchrist played two innings. Bowled Lbw by Ellis in the first for 7 and then 7 again lbw by Atkinson in the second. WHAT WAS THE REACTION/OCCASION?
Cricket was still playing by the round-arm approach.
The Newcastle Journal (16 and 17 September 1863) gives a ball-by-ball account of the match, including Gilchrist's performance.
R.S. Gilchrist played for Northumberland vs. Kelso (although it mentions a G. Gilchrist played in the second innnings) (Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 18 September1865).
Gentlemen of Middlesex
The family fortunes changed. Robert moved to London.
On 16 June 1868, Robert married Mary Ann Frances Branburg (1849 - ), the daughter of a London collecting clerk, at St Botolph, Aldgate. They subsequently lived in Northampton Villas, Tottenham and Mile End, moving to London in the 1860s. He is recorded as a sailmaker and was involved in a trial at the Old Bailey (7 April 1862). The case also included his brother, James Morrison Gilchrist, who was living in Willoughby Terrace, Stockwell. They would have children, all of whom died in childhood.
1870 listed as a cigar dealer living in 5 High Street Place, White Horse Lane, Stepney. This was a place where wealthier merchants lived. This runs from Mile End Road. According to Charles Booth’s poverty map of 1898-1899 this was a comfortable road to live in.
Moved to London and lived in Mile End. Recorded in 1861 as a sailmaker. In 1891 as a fuel and brick agent. 1901 – brick agent/manufacturer. 1851 clerk to a ship broker
The question is given this pedigree and previous encounters with the All England Eleven, we know that Robert Shafto Gilchrist was living in London during the 1860s. Would he have not been hired as a bowler for these teams?
There was a Gentleman of Middlesex vs Gentlemen of England match played in 1865, featuring WG Grace!. But not a gentleman, a sailmaker. It is unlikely it is the same guy? Bowler. Lower down batting order. Against a 16 year-old WG Grace, who had made his reputation a year before. Is this Robert Selby Nesbit Gilchrist?
September 1867 played in a match for Twenty Gentlemen of Middlesex vs. United South Eleven at the Cattle Ground in Islington. In the first innings he was caught by Pooley and bowled by Willsher, but scored a respectable 12, which was the second highest performance of the Middlesex innings. In the second innings he scored 1, caught by Griffith and bowled by Southerton as the team made a total of 82.
The Morning Post, 6 September 1867, mentions "the leading Middlesex amateurs had left town for "the stubbles" - grouse shooting.?
The match seems to have occasioned a further match for Eleven of England vs Twenty-Two of Turnham Green. Gilchrist's batting performance may have impressed a local enterpreneur and caught the eye of these touring professionals.
"Mr Beauchamp of the Compasses, London Road, has for the last few days been extremely busy in getting up the above match, and we are happy to say his endeavours have been rewarded with success, as it is advertised to take pace on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday next, at Acton Green. The Eleven are to be selected from the following gentlemen: - R. Gilchrist, Esq. Messrs. G. Mundy, C. Payne, T. Hearne, W. Mortlock, G. Griffith, F. Silcock, Lillywhite, Dean, Howitt, Trodd, Beauhcamp, G. Bennett, Southerton, Street, and T. Sewell. We anticipate a fine game from the well known powers of those gentlemen, and we believe some first-class men of Turnham Green and vicinity will be brought to contend against them." (Essex Times, 21 September 1867).
The game wa splayed on Acton Green, facing the Duke of Sussex Tavern, on 19-21 September. Gilchrist was run out for 3 in the first innings (Essex Times, 2 October 1867).
They beat Turnham Green by 45 runs. The Sheffield Independent (1 October 1867) complained about the proliferation of these Elevens teams.
There is also an R. Gilchrist listed as playing for Poplar. (Sporting Life, 24 December 1867).
Branburg, Thatched Cottage, Islington
commercial interest. In The Sportsman 18 April 1867 'Cricket Extraordinary' was advertised as taking place at the Middlsex County Cricket and Running Ground, Caledonian-Road. for Eleven One Arms vs. Eleven One Legs. A novel match played over Easter. With a balloon ascent by Mr W. H Adams, the Cremorne Aeronaut, in his far-famed balloon Robin Hood. A splendid band in attendance. Admission sixpence each.
Cremorne was the Chelsea pleasure gardens? Cremorne Gardens.
Commercial aspects of entertainment.
Match reports that appeared in the local press show that Robert played for Shieldfield Cricket Club.
Played at the Northumberland Cricket Ground, located in Bath Road, Newcastle on land very near the city centre and now mainly occupied by the University of Northumbria [Jouannou & Candlish, 2009: 30]. Back of St Thomas's church near the Haymarket. The ground is clearly marked on Thomas Oliver's 1849 map of Newcastle. The building numbered 66 is St Thomas's church and the building labelled 72 is the subscription baths.
The cricket ground and the baths are mentioned in Shield & Turner's guidebook to Newcastle of 1846. stating the club had 150 members "who by their ability in Cricket and other manly sports, and their liberality in throwing open their ground and elegant suite of rooms to the public on Match Days, render the place one of great attraction to the young men of the town and neighbourhood" (p.32) "The central position of the field, and the noble appearance of the Club-house, which was erected by the Bath Company, at a cost of not less than £2,500, forms a "tout ensemble" not surpassed, if equalled, by any Cricket ground in England." (Ibid.).
The ground was a popular site for leisure and entertainment. I August 1859 William Hall made an ascent from the ground in a balloon. (see Tyne and Weird book).
Brass Band contests, see Newcastle Courant, 13th June 1859
This was an important sporting centre in the nineteenth century.
American Edward Payton Weston came to Britain. Weston is well known as the pioneer of the six day race, but he undertook a variety of wagers in his various trips to Britain. As well as five day matches, 1,500 mile and 5,000 mile walks, he also agreed to walk 1,000 miles in 400 consecutive hours. This feat took place at the Northumberland Cricket Ground, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in 1877, and was competed in 16 days, 15 hours, 41 minutes. Weston didn’t walk on the two intervening Sundays and altogether took 150 hours, 38 ½ minutes rest.
The History of the 1,000 Mile Race - from 1758 to 1986 - Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team USA (srichinmoyraces.org)
As we can see by Oliver's map, the ground was a short walk from Gilchrist's Old House, across the Pandon Dean.
There was a growing movement to see County Cricket played. 'An Old Cricketer' wrote to the Newcastle Daily Chronicle (27 March 1863), proposing that Northumberland establish County games against Cumberland and Durham. He mentions R.S. Gilchrist and W.C. Gilchrist as potential candidates for a Northumberland Eleven.
In response 'A Looker-On' wrote to the Newcastle Daily Chroncile (28 March 1863) corrects 'An Old Cricketer' by telling him Gilchrist (presumably R.S.) has moved to London.
Itinerant manouvres. In any case by September 1863 R.S. Gilchrist was back in the area.
On 8 September 1863 a 'Grand Cricket Match' was advertised in the Newcastle Journal. A team of twenty-two of the Northumberland Cricket Club would face the United All England Eleven at the Northumberland County Ground for a 3-day exhibition match.
National cricket was in its infancy. Many of the men who played in this match would form England's first international touring team.
Listed as part of the home team was Robert Shaftoe Gilchrist.
Local newspapers recorded his sporting feats from the early 1850s, where he is noted as playing in matches for the Shieldfield Club against teams from Northumberland. In August 1850 his bowling was reported in the Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury (17 August 1850) as “very good” in a match against Alnwick. A year later he is listed as competing against Tynemouth (Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury, 19 July 1851). The latter half of the nineteenth century was a boom period for cricket in Northumberland. Between 1854 and 1914 209 cricket clubs formed in East Northumberland, though the vast majority only had a lifespan of less than 5 years (Metcalfe, 2006: 91).
A Grand Cricket Match was also advertised to be played, featuring R.S. Gilchrist in the 22 of Northumablerland Cricket Club, vs. the United Eleven of all England (Lillywhite, Wisden, Dean, Caffyn, Carpenter, Grundy, Mortlock, Griffith, Lockyer, Hearne, Sewell, Chatterton, Ellis, Atkkinson and Wells) (Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 12 September 1860). Although it looks like Gilchrist did not play (Morpeth Herland, 15 September 1860). (see also Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury, 15 September 1860) - this includes more of a description of the match.
To be selected to play against an All England team was the highest honour a local player could achieve in 1863. The County Championship was not established until 1873 and so many games remained parochial though competitive affairs.
The advertisement carried the names of the England players, the best cricket talent in the country. No initials were required. The use of just their surnames suggested a level of familiarity, even national fame.
The emergence of all England Elevens was a commercial enterprise that transformed cricket. William Clarke, a Nottingham bricklayer, who had early forsaken his trade in order to become a professional cricketer, was engaged by the M.C.C. in 1846 as a practice bowler and in the same year he established his All England XI with the object of touring in all parts of the country, especially in those places in which cricket was as yet little known. His team consisting of the leading amateurs and professionals was to be a cricketing circus, but it was also a cricketing mission, playing exhibition matches against local teams of anything up to 22 players.
The benefit to cricket was immediately obvious. The team of famous cricketers aroused the deepest interest everywhere it went. The public turned out in thousands to watch the matches and every keen young local cricketer longed to be picked to play against All England. The local players were eager to imitate the style and methods of the great professionals and there was a rapid improvement in the standard of cricket even in the more remote parts of England such as Northumberland.
It was hard work for the England team for they had a heavy programme and travelling conditions were extremely primitive. Often they would have to travel all night to be ready to play the following day at 11 o’clock and in those days only the largest towns were linked by the railways whose rolling stock was anything but comfortable. Wages were far from generous for such hard toil, varying from £4 to £6 a match depending on the length of the journey, the players paying their own expenses.
It is scarcely surprising that there was discontent at such shabby treatment. In 1853 John Wisden, John Lillywhite and others broke away from the leadership of Clarke and formed a new venture called the United England Eleven, having almost exactly similar objectives in view as Clarke’s team.
The All England Eleven and the United England Eleven continued to tour the country as travelling shows until 1876 when support for the teams had slackened largely because of the growing interest in county cricket.
The 'Grand Cricket Match' featured:
Caffyn
Carpenter
Lockyer
Mortlock
Lillywhite
Wisden
Griffith
Grundy
Hearne
Ellis
Wootton
Atkinson
A number of these players featured in the first cricket international matches. The Surrey cricketer Will Mortlock participated in the first cricket tour of Australia, in 1861-2, where he was nicknamed 'Old Stonewall' for his stubborn defensive batting. His Surrey teammate William Caffyn was one of the 12 players who took part in cricket's first-ever overseas tour when an England cricket team led by George Parr visited North America.
John Lillywhite was a Sussex cricketer who also toured America and was part of a famous cricketing family, his father being William Lillywhite, a brother being Fred Lillywhite and his cousin being James Lillywhite. In 1863, members of the family established the sports outfitters Lillywhites, which still trades at Picadilly Circus, London.
John Wisden (5 September 1826 – 5 April 1884) was an English cricketer who played 190 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex and Sussex. He is now best known for launching the eponymous Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1864, the year after he retired from first-class cricket.
The Cambridgeshire cricketer Robert Carpenter, who also toured America and Australia. Rated as one of the finest batsmen in England in the 1860s. W. G. Grace said of Carpenter that "he may be safely placed as one of the finest of our great batsmen".[2]
And the team also included the Middlesex cricketer Thomas Hearne, part of the Hearne cricketing dynasty, who was born in Chalfont St Peter in 1826.
Robert Shafto Gilchrist played two innings. Bowled Lbw by Ellis in the first for 7 and then 7 again lbw by Atkinson in the second. WHAT WAS THE REACTION/OCCASION?
Cricket was still playing by the round-arm approach.
The Newcastle Journal (16 and 17 September 1863) gives a ball-by-ball account of the match, including Gilchrist's performance.
R.S. Gilchrist played for Northumberland vs. Kelso (although it mentions a G. Gilchrist played in the second innnings) (Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 18 September1865).
Gentlemen of Middlesex
The family fortunes changed. Robert moved to London.
On 16 June 1868, Robert married Mary Ann Frances Branburg (1849 - ), the daughter of a London collecting clerk, at St Botolph, Aldgate. They subsequently lived in Northampton Villas, Tottenham and Mile End, moving to London in the 1860s. He is recorded as a sailmaker and was involved in a trial at the Old Bailey (7 April 1862). The case also included his brother, James Morrison Gilchrist, who was living in Willoughby Terrace, Stockwell. They would have children, all of whom died in childhood.
1870 listed as a cigar dealer living in 5 High Street Place, White Horse Lane, Stepney. This was a place where wealthier merchants lived. This runs from Mile End Road. According to Charles Booth’s poverty map of 1898-1899 this was a comfortable road to live in.
Moved to London and lived in Mile End. Recorded in 1861 as a sailmaker. In 1891 as a fuel and brick agent. 1901 – brick agent/manufacturer. 1851 clerk to a ship broker
The question is given this pedigree and previous encounters with the All England Eleven, we know that Robert Shafto Gilchrist was living in London during the 1860s. Would he have not been hired as a bowler for these teams?
There was a Gentleman of Middlesex vs Gentlemen of England match played in 1865, featuring WG Grace!. But not a gentleman, a sailmaker. It is unlikely it is the same guy? Bowler. Lower down batting order. Against a 16 year-old WG Grace, who had made his reputation a year before. Is this Robert Selby Nesbit Gilchrist?
September 1867 played in a match for Twenty Gentlemen of Middlesex vs. United South Eleven at the Cattle Ground in Islington. In the first innings he was caught by Pooley and bowled by Willsher, but scored a respectable 12, which was the second highest performance of the Middlesex innings. In the second innings he scored 1, caught by Griffith and bowled by Southerton as the team made a total of 82.
The Morning Post, 6 September 1867, mentions "the leading Middlesex amateurs had left town for "the stubbles" - grouse shooting.?
The match seems to have occasioned a further match for Eleven of England vs Twenty-Two of Turnham Green. Gilchrist's batting performance may have impressed a local enterpreneur and caught the eye of these touring professionals.
"Mr Beauchamp of the Compasses, London Road, has for the last few days been extremely busy in getting up the above match, and we are happy to say his endeavours have been rewarded with success, as it is advertised to take pace on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday next, at Acton Green. The Eleven are to be selected from the following gentlemen: - R. Gilchrist, Esq. Messrs. G. Mundy, C. Payne, T. Hearne, W. Mortlock, G. Griffith, F. Silcock, Lillywhite, Dean, Howitt, Trodd, Beauhcamp, G. Bennett, Southerton, Street, and T. Sewell. We anticipate a fine game from the well known powers of those gentlemen, and we believe some first-class men of Turnham Green and vicinity will be brought to contend against them." (Essex Times, 21 September 1867).
The game wa splayed on Acton Green, facing the Duke of Sussex Tavern, on 19-21 September. Gilchrist was run out for 3 in the first innings (Essex Times, 2 October 1867).
They beat Turnham Green by 45 runs. The Sheffield Independent (1 October 1867) complained about the proliferation of these Elevens teams.
There is also an R. Gilchrist listed as playing for Poplar. (Sporting Life, 24 December 1867).
Branburg, Thatched Cottage, Islington
commercial interest. In The Sportsman 18 April 1867 'Cricket Extraordinary' was advertised as taking place at the Middlsex County Cricket and Running Ground, Caledonian-Road. for Eleven One Arms vs. Eleven One Legs. A novel match played over Easter. With a balloon ascent by Mr W. H Adams, the Cremorne Aeronaut, in his far-famed balloon Robin Hood. A splendid band in attendance. Admission sixpence each.
Cremorne was the Chelsea pleasure gardens? Cremorne Gardens.
Commercial aspects of entertainment.
