2nd not 1st: Essex 1899-1914 (6th ed)

Fulham in a horseracing-based farce called ‘Tattenham Corner’, and may well have played other parts that don’t show up on British National Archive. In 1936 an article in the Yorkshire Post described Wilmer as ‘actor and producer, of Beaulieu, Southampton’. He was bringing a case against Hutchinson Publishers and the Evening Standard. He claimed that they had published a short story by ‘Seamark’ (Austin Small) which was based on his script for an unreleased film, written in 1919. Conveniently for Wilmer, Small could not testify because he was dead. The judge was not convinced that the similarities were enough to prove breach of copyright, so found in favour of the defendants and awarded costs. In a twist somehow typical of this story, Geoffrey B Wilmer married Mary B Gavin Q4 1937 in Lewes, and Beryl S Blacklin Q2 1938 in Westminster. A Mary Gavin died Q1 1938 in Lambeth, and no other Geoffrey B Wilmer is listed on FreeBMD, so it’s conceivable that he married twice in six months. The 1939 Register has ‘Jeffrey B Welmer’ born 10 December 1890 living in Bishops Stortford with Beryl S Welmer. His profession is difficult to read but is possibly ‘Engineer construction’ – certainly not actor. If this is Geoffrey, his wife’s name is correct, his name and date of birth not quite right, and his profession completely different. Another case of his being slippery with the truth, or just an enumerator’s error? After the Second World War, Wilmer had minor roles in several films. His final recorded appearance was in 1955 in the then new medium of television when, appropriately, he played a colonel. He starred alongside Andrée Melly and the character actor Richard Johnson in The Orderly , an adaptation of a Maupassant short story. A professional Indian summer might have beckoned, but he died shortly afterwards. His Essex 2nd XI career seems a rather tame prelude to all this. In 1910 the 19-year-old played in two matches against Norfolk and one against Sussex 2nd XI. He made two ducks and his most significant innings was the last – only 13, but it helped save the Sussex match . Batting and fielding record M I NO RUNS AVE 100s 50s CT ST Friendly 2 4 30 7.50 1 Highest score: 17. Winter, Peter (1889-1968) Born 17 March 1889, Barkingside, Essex. Died 24 June 1968, Hawkenbury, Kent. Played 1910. He was the eldest of five children of Alfred Winter and Susan Shambrook. By 1896 the family had moved to Vicarage Lane Chigwell, where in 1911 father and son were listed as domestic gardeners. In the Great War Peter served as a private in the Royal West Kent Regiment, and was taken prisoner. His aunt Emma Winter had married Walter William (Wally) Harman who lived at Rotherfield in Kent, and after the war Peter moved into the area. In 1923 he married Mabel Ingram there and they had son David Peter in 1925. Winter had a long cricket career, initially in Essex and later in Kent. He was playing for the Chigwell club aged 18 and in 1910 played his sole match for Essex 2nd XI, against Norfolk at Lakenham. He scored 17 and took three wickets but never had another opportunity, although in 1911 and 1912 he was taken on to the Essex CCC staff as a ground bowler and groundsman. A preview of Chigwell CC’s 1914 season described him as ‘one of the prominent members of