Chapter Ten Lord’s and the West Country Rain affected the Whitsun fixtures in three consecutive years from 1897 to 1899 and again in 1902, 1909 and 1913. At what is usually a more settled period of the year the weather had also intervened in the August games of 1894 and 1895 and in 1902 when on the Tuesday and the Wednesday of the Canterbury fixture between Kent and Hampshire it was said to be the worst for a decade. The Whit weekend of 16-18 May 1891 saw snow fall to a depth of six to seven inches in Norfolk and there was a severe frost on both Sunday and Monday mornings. The risks of such weather did not deter professionals seeking the grant of a holiday game for their benefits. They preferred to dwell on the record gates not just at the large arenas but from lesser venues such as Hove, Leyton and Bristol, where Whit Monday attendances of 10,000 were not unusual. Lord’s, of course, was a popular ground for benefits. The North-South matches for the Marylebone Professional Cricketers’ Fund gave way to matches between Middlesex and Somerset, which lasted as a holiday attraction for almost a couple of decades. The Lord’s match was generally set aside as a benefit for long-standing members of the MCC ground staff, such as Mordecai Sherwin, Tom Mycroft, Wilfred Flowers, WilliamGunn, George Hay, WilliamAttewell, Dick Pougher and so on. George Burton, a man of many parts, coachsmith, slow bowler, member of the groundstaff for 21 years, Middlesex scorer and secretary of the Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society, actually received two: Middlesex v Somerset as a player in 1892 and again when he was scorer in 1905. Somerset were full of optimism when they made the journey to London in 1891. A year earlier the official Championship had begun, although the new era crept in almost unnoticed; in his research into the competition’s history, Robert Brooke was unable to trace any mention of the opening fixture – Gloucestershire v Yorkshire at Bristol on 12-14 May 1890. The holiday fixtures also scarcely reflected the making of history. At Whitsuntide there were first-class matches involving Lancashire - Kent, Nottinghamshire - Surrey, Sussex -Gloucestershire and Yorkshire-Australians. Among the lower orders Essex met Derbyshire and there were a few local derbies: Glamorgan-Monmouthshire, Leicestershire- Warwickshire, Northamptonshire-Staffordshire and Northumberland-Durham. The programme was even smaller over the August Bank Holiday: Gloucestershire-Sussex, Surrey-Nottinghamshire and Kent v Australians. Interestingly the two Roses counties met second class opposition, Lancashire playing Warwickshire and Yorkshire entertaining Staffordshire. The Second Class County Championship in 1890 was dominated by Somerset, who also flexed their muscles with two matches against Middlesex. They won at Lord’s over Whitsuntide, after some fine bowling from Ted Tyler and George Nichols and an aggressive innings by their captain Herbert Hewett. Twelve victories and a tie – the return with Middlesex at Taunton - provided Somerset with a ticket into the first-class ranks and they were duly admitted for the 1891 season. 43