Dimming of the Day

August 1914 92 Sunshine after rain at Canterbury had seen Colin Blythe take seven for 20 and Kent beat Worcestershire by an innings and 154 runs. Hampshire beat Warwickshire by four wickets, Arthur Jaques taking seven for 51 and reaching 100 for the season. Sussex beat Lancashire by six wickets, Jupp and Vincett bowling unchanged to dismiss Lancashire for 146. Essex scored 318 on the first day of their match against Northamptonshire with G.M.Louden, batting at Number 10, making 64. George Louden was one of those amateurs called on from time to time by Essex (like the other poorer counties). He was not a graduate and in 1911 had still been living at home and working as a stockbroker’s clerk. Leicestershire made 233 against Nottinghamshire. Fred Barratt took eight for 75 as he reached 100 wickets in his first season. The short list of leading averages showed three batsmen – Hobbs, Mead and Woolley – past 2000 runs. On 25 August it was reported that Namur had fallen to the Germans: British forces had been holding on at Mons since Sunday afternoon, casualties were reported not to be heavy. The French were falling back, having inflicted tremendous losses on the Germans. Even The Times admitted that this was a day of bad news. But ‘our ultimate success is certain.’ At Lord’s Surrey were out for 206 (Hobbs 56, Ducat 55 not out) but Middlesex chose not to enforce the follow-on and reached 135-4 in their second innings. The Times reports 10,000 watching (on a weekday). Warwickshire and Kent got two innings in on the first day at Gravesend: Kent 167, Warwickshire 179. Hardinge was ill and was replaced in the Kent side by G.V.E.Whitehead, still at school at Clifton. George Whitehead, after playing only two first-class matches, was killed in action in October 1918. Gloucestershire had a poor first day against Yorkshire at Bristol, all out for 94 against Booth and Drake. Yorkshire then reached 256-5 by the close with Roy Kilner undefeated on 101. For Hampshire against Lancashire at Bournemouth, Horace Bowell was 194 not out of 365-9: he went on the next day to 204, his highest score. On 26 August it was reported that the BEF, a small but professional army among huge conscript armies, was falling back at Mons as part of a general retreat, but apparently in good order: there was talk of 2,000 casualties ‘hors de combat’. Lord Kitchener had made a statement in the House of Lords, suggesting a managed retreat without massive losses. The knowledge that British forces had been engaged, that there were casualties and that they had been forced to retreat, however this was spun by the War Office, marked a change in public attitudes. This was going to be a serious business after all. Until then you could almost pretend that it was ‘business as usual’. After that there was some unease about the idea of enjoying yourself. The Middlesex-Surrey game at Lord’s was drawn. Middlesex went on to 215-6 before declaring and Surrey were not going to chase 391 in 280 minutes. They made 252-6 before the game came to an end.