Dimming of the Day

47 Mr Asquith has had with suffragists, today’s was the most intimate and probably the most interesting’ as he spoke to ordinary working women rather than the well-to-do. It is difficult now to understand how fearful politicians were about this issue – New Zealand had given women the vote as long ago as 1893. There was severe rioting in Andover, with the rioters only dispersed by a charge of mounted police, with some 2,000 people involved: the latest word was that police were still dealing with groups and the mayor was preparing to read the Riot Act. Such civil unrest was unusual. The Times called it a fateful week, with the situation in Ireland still deteriorating and (in their view) the government doing nothing about it. On the cricket field the Eton and Harrow Old Boys’ match was drawn (it had only been allotted two days which was unlikely to be enough). A fair number of gentlemen had preferred it to turning out for their county sides, including B.J.T.Bosanquet, A.C.MacLaren and L.H.Tennyson. Hampshire hung on for a draw at the Oval, with a century from H.A.W.Bowell, a long-serving professional from 1902 to 1927. His eventual career average was 24.13 but he scored 18,466 runs for the county. Such men were the backbone of the county game. Derbyshire scored 401-6 against Northants with 124 from Leonard Oliver, formerly of Manchester Grammar School. It was his first hundred though he had been playing since 1908. He played until 1924 and his career average was 20.39. This perhaps draws attention to those amateurs who were not by any means gentlemen of leisure – Oliver appears in the 1911 census as an ironmonger and plumber, working with his father and brother. Kent beat Yorkshire by an innings and 149 runs at Tonbridge: Middlesex, still unbeaten, won at Trent Bridge, chasing down 233-4 in about three hours. Mr William Robertson – an Old Harrovian, not picked for their team this year, though he did appear for them in 1920 – made 130 in just over two hours. At this stage in the season J.W.Hearne, Tarrant, Hobbs, Mead and Woolley were all averaging over 50 – Tarrant had also taken 73 wickets at 17.01. The Australian team to tour South Africa was announced, though a number of leading players were unable to tour, including Victor Trumper. Five of the nominated team never played Test cricket, though one of them, A.G.Moyes, went on to become one of Australia’s best cricket writers. The Times editorial on 23 June was headed ‘the last hope of peace’ and related (of course) to Ireland. The Times suggested that it might be for the opposition to try framing a settlement, though, since the opposition was mostly egging on Ulster to rebellion, that seemed an improbable scenario. Following the riots in Andover one man was brought to court for breaking a window, but the case collapsed as the house owner refused to be a witness, saying he hadn’t seen who did it and it was only one shilling’s worth of damage anyway. June 1914