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

In late 1910, qualified as a solicitor, Hunt married Margaret Henrietta Day. On census night, 2 April 1911, the young couple were at her parents’ 15-room house in Hampton Wick. Her father, Joseph (right), was a mechanical engineer and motor manufacturer who developed the two-stroke petrol engine used for small engines in lawnmowers and small motorcycles. In a remarkable life, he won several court cases over infringement of his patents but the expense bankrupted him. He recovered and established a successful motor business before backing a failed attempt to extract oil from shale in Norfolk and dying in obscurity. There is a short but interesting account of his life in the Dictionary of National Biography. Sydney and Margaret soon moved back to Romford, where they had sons Alfred Alastair Parfitt Hunt and Anthony Patrick Day Hunt who both, unsurprisingly, became solicitors. In 1922 they moved to 33 Ernest Road Hornchurch, where they remained for the rest of their lives. Sydney died in 1960 leaving £33,224 (roughly £770,000 in 2021). Hunt was an amateur top order batsman who played in seven of Essex 2nd XI’s eleven matches in 1899 and 1900, and appeared once more in 1903. After a duck on debut, he produced scores of 72, 24, 23 and 44 before falling away a little. In 1899 he was an occasional bowler but he took no wickets and was not needed when the young professionals Buckenham, Reeves and Tremlin came into the side. In 1903 ‘Sidney’ Hunt donated one guinea to the Essex CCC Deficiency Fund appeal, an attempt to deal with the financial crisis which led to the demise of the 2nd XI. Hunt was a leading club cricketer who was well up to 2nd XI standards. In 1900 he guested for Ilford CC and other clubs, before settling down to play for his native Romford. In 1902 he ‘headed the batting averages with… magnificent figures’, including 63 against Ilford. At club level he was also a useful bowler, taking 54 wickets in 1898 and taking 5 for 29 against Brunswick in 1905. At the Romford CC and AFC annual dinner in 1903, ‘Mr S. Hunt…said that he would promise to stick to Romford’ 7 , which implies that he hadn’t always been at that club. He was captain for several years until in 1908 he decided not to seek re-election. Batting and fielding record M I NO RUNS AVE 100s 50s CT ST Friendly 8 8 0 200 25.00 1 3 Bowling Balls M R W 5wI 10wM Friendly 120 5 64 0 Highest score:72. Best bowling 0-12. Keigwin, Herbert Stanley (1878-1963) Born: 4 May 1878, Capel, Colchester, Essex. Died: 11 March 1962, Amalinda, East London, South Africa. Played 1900, 1901. Keigwin was the second of five boys born in Colchester to Charles David Keigwin (1850-1937) and Louisa Stinton (1850-1946), the daughter of a corn merchant. Though only a bank clerk who later became an accountant, Charles managed to put all but the eldest through Cambridge and leave over £16,000 (an estimated £1.2 million in 2021). Herbert’s brothers Henry David