Cricket's Historians

192 The World of Cricket Leicestershire The Yearbook for 1961 was priced at one shilling and contained 108 pages. The editors were Eric Snow (see Chapter 10) and F.M.Turner, the County Club Secretary. Detailed scorecards of First XI matches were included with good reports; there was a Who’s Who of current playing staff and a 24 page Record Section with an alphabetical list of all players, though no birth or death data, no career records, but simply date of debut. The 1970 edition saw little change – sadly the County ceased to publish a Yearbook after 1975 and it was more than a decade before one reappeared. Middlesex In 1961 Middlesex County Cricket Club simply published an annual report of 26 pages. It had no historical content and the very briefest summary of the county’s matches in 1960, plus the seasonal averages. Padwick only lists this modest publication as starting in 1951, but surely members ought to have received an annual report in earlier years? Northamptonshire The yearbook broadly followed the format set by V.W.C.Jupp, who edited the first modern Northants yearbook in 1925. A records section first appeared in 1947, running to fourteen pages, compiled by the Secretary, W.C.Brown. W.C.‘Beau’ Brown was born on November 13, 1900 and died on January 20, 1986 in Brighton. Born in Wellingborough and educated at both Wellingborough and Charterhouse, he became a solicitor. He played for Northants from 1925 to 1937, was captain from 1932 to 1935 and Hon Secretary from 1937 to 1942. In 1948, Cyril Smith of Wellingborough added season-by-season partnership records – his first contribution to the yearbook. Records were omitted from the 1950 yearbook, being published as a separate booklet compiled by W.C.Brown and Cyril Smith – 32 pages selling for one shilling. The booklet was republished in 1952. Whilst lacking any records section, the 1950s yearbooks did contain a series of historical articles by Jim Coldham. Records only reappeared in the yearbook for 1960. This cost 2s 6d and was 191 pages in length. Cyril Smith had compiled records for