History of Bucks CCC

sixth and last Baronet of Nether Winchendon, and in that year he became known as FT Higgins-Bernard or simply FTH Bernard. He had been called to the bar in 1889 and his London residence was one of the venues for early committee meetings. The minutes and contemporary newspaper reports contain no reference to the previously constituted club - despite the inclusion on the new committee of HE Bull. Whether this was Henry Bull, the earlier secretary now aged 47, or his 21 year-old son Herbert, who inherited his father’s initials and who was destined to become secretary in 1904, we can only speculate. The younger Bull was certainly a close friend of other stalwarts on the newly formed committee, most notably Charles Cobb, and a later tribute to him refers to his involvement in the formation of the club. However, regardless of the date when his son first came onto the committee, HE Bull senior will not have been far from the action and would have been able to speak at first hand of the earlier attempt to form a county club. It was felt that at least £100 would be needed to launch the club, and doubts were expressed about the shortage of professionals and the weakness of the game in the north of the county. The shape of Buckinghamshire has always presented difficulties, but if those involved with the governance of the club in its early days were truly concerned about the plight of the north it may well be wondered why the initial meeting in1891, and the Annual General Meetings in 1894 and 1895, should have been held not in Aylesbury, as they were in 1892 and 1893, but in Central London. The first season’s programme of matches began on 23 July at Oxford, where Bucks, without the services of their captain, lost by eight wickets. There was a return match against Oxfordshire at High Wycombe and home and away matches were played against Bedfordshire, with the home game taking place at Ascott, where the traditional hospitality of Mr Leopold de Rothschild ensured that they were all offered lunch. It was a disappointing first season for Bucks, whose record was two draws and two losses, but there was more cause for cheer the following year with wins away to Wiltshire and Bedfordshire offset by defeat to the former at Chalfont Park and a loss to MCC at Lord’s. By 1893 there was a more co-ordinated approach to arranging fixtures with counties sending delegates to Lord’s and the secretary, George Ward, and Francis Higgins were deputed to attend for Bucks. The time for a formalised competition for the second-class counties, as they were then called, was drawing near.1895 is often quoted as the year that heralded the beginning of cricket’s ‘Golden Age’. It was a year in which the shape of the first-class game was undergoing radical change with the admission of Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire to the County Championship. The minor counties, too, were on the move. At the start of the season the magazine Cricket had reported in its issue of 18 April on the inception of a championship for those without first-class status. This was the result of an initiative by the honorary secretary of Worcestershire, PH Foley, whose venture was supported by Bedfordshire, Durham, Norfolk, Oxfordshire and Staffordshire. At first the Bucks committee adopted a cautious approach to the new championship. An invitation to play matches against the Isle of Wight had already been turned down on grounds of cost and, despite improving performances on the field of play, there was reluctance to commit to the eight matches that were mandatory for counties wishing to take part. An anomalous situation arose whereby, although the results obtained by Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire against Bucks in 1895 counted towards those counties’ performance in the Championship, Bucks itself was excluded from the table. However, for modern record-keeping purposes, those who played for Bucks have been deemed to have begun county careers when selected for these matches and their runs and wickets are included in career statistics. 20 The Bucks County Club starts up again