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

Aleck’s younger brother Leonard (1891-1971) had a similar career – Marlborough, Oxford, captain in the Essex Regiment, Gentlemen of Essex. He went one better than Aleck in that his sole Essex appearance was for the 1st XI but the main difference was that he spurned the Stock Exchange and became the proprietor of a chemical manufacturers. Batting and fielding record M I NO RUNS AVE 100s 50s CT ST Champ 2 4 47 11.75 3 Bowling Balls M R W 5wI 10wM Champ 104 91 4 Highest score: 47. Best bowling: 4-63. Woodward, Vivian John (1879-1954) Born: 3 June 1879, Kennington, Surrey. Died: 31 January 1954, Ealing, Middlesex. Played: 1902, 1903. Woodward was best known as a prolific goal-scoring centre-forward for England and Tottenham Hotspur, and later for Chelsea, but he also played four matches for cricket teams representing Essex – two for the 2nd XI in 1902 and 1903, and two for the Gentlemen of Essex in their tour of Wales in 1906. He was born at Kennington but moved to Clacton as a small boy, and his county loyalty in football and cricket was to Essex 4 . Previewing the annual Tottenham CC v Spurs match in 1902, the Middlesex Gazette described Woodward as ‘an exceptionally fine wicket-keeper and a brilliant bat’. He confirmed their view of his batting by scoring 53 not out in an hour and a half. His 2nd XI matches were both at the Oval, where he scored 22 runs in each match. He had an architect and surveyor’s practice in the place of his birth and it was doubtless more convenient for him. In 1906 he made a duck against Glamorgan at Neath but hit 39 ‘in brilliant style’ against Carmarthenshire. The Neath CC annual report suggests that his footballing fame would have been a selling point for them when advertising the Glamorgan match. In 1903 at The Oval he ‘conceded only five byes’ in Surrey’s 441, and in 1906 at Neath he ‘took a smart catch behind the stumps’. Although there is no report of it, he probably kept wicket in his other two Essex matches as well. His father was a successful architect and a Freeman of the City of London. The family rented a house in Clacton-on-Sea from 1880 and moved to the town in 1885 5 . He went to the private school Ascham College and played cricket for the school 1st XI aged twelve, but his first love was football and two of his teachers told his father ‘your boy will play for England one day’. Woodward played most of his early football for Clacton Town and was spotted by Spurs while playing for the Essex county team. 4 Information taken from John Simkin’s article a t https://spartacus-educational.com/SPURSwoodward.htm , written 1997, revised 2014, sourced 13 Dec 2019. It is an excellent summary of his life in and out of football. 5 Woodward’s life in Clacton and other useful information from Clacton & District Local History Society website Vivian Woodward 1879 – 1954: Clacton’s Olympic Hero by Norman Jacobs, author of the authorised biography Vivian Woodward : Football's Gentleman (2005) .