History of Bucks CCC

for his native Suffolk - he was born in Framlingham. Finally, when his teaching career ended with running a preparatory school in Exeter, he played some matches for Devon. Bird lived on until 1965, one of the last links with Bucks’ very earliest days in the Minor Counties Championship. To the end of the 1904 season Bucks had played 78 county matches and had won 29 of them with only 16 defeats, but the pendulum now swung as losses comfortably outnumbered victories. It was an inauspicious moment for a new captain to take over as WF Lowndes of Chesham did for the 1908 season. However, his predecessor had been able to play only very infrequently, the time was ripe for a change and all were agreed that the County Club was fortunate to have such a spirited enthusiast willing to take on the job. The Lowndes family had a distinguished history. A forebear of William Lowndes had been Secretary to the Treasury under William and Mary and had commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to build Winslow Hall in 1700. The family later accumulated substantial estates in the Chesham area, where they owned The Bury, the principal residence in the town, now offices occupied by solicitors. William Lowndes himself had been born William Frith, but on the death of his mother’s bachelor brother in 1905 he had inherited The Bury and in 1906 he took the family’s coat of arms and extended his name by Royal Licence to William Frederick Lowndes Frith-Lowndes. As his uncle had been before him, he was a man of great influence in the town and a considerable benefactor, rebuilding slum cottages and subsequently giving Lowndes Park to the town. No sooner was he installed at The Bury than Lowndes found himself sucked into all manner of activities in and around the town. He sat as a Justice of the Peace, he virtually formed the local Conservative Association, very soon he would be a County Councillor and, when subscription lists were opened for local causes, his name was at the head of the donors. With professed interest in a wide range of sports – hunting, golf, lawn tennis and rackets as well as cricket – it was no surprise that he should be elected president and captain of the Chesham Cricket Club at the first opportunity. He immediately promised improvements to the ground, which suffered from the football club using it in the winter. Within a couple of years he had had a fence erected with a wire across the top to ‘deter free galleryites’. Lowndes also promised the club a major attraction for his first season in charge: he would assemble a strong team to meet an Eleven brought down by WG Grace. At the age of 37, William Lowndes came to the captaincy with limited credentials as a cricketer. He had not previously appeared for the county, but he had played in a couple matches for London County at the turn of the century and, the summer before taking over as Bucks captain, he had distinguished himself by making 49 in each innings in what was becoming an annual encounter against WG Grace’s team. Moreover, he had captained Chesham with gusto and, invariably describing him as ‘The Squire’, the Bucks Examiner was able to report moments of success with the bat. As captain of the county, Lowndes now turned out regularly and, with the help of a fine 139 not out against Berkshire at Reading in the final match, he ended his first season as top run-maker, an achievement that was a tacit reflection on how few of his team played with any regularity. In every way it was a difficult first year for Lowndes. A new secretary, Dr Bertram Abrahams from Amersham, had just taken over from Herbert Bull. The previous 33 The years of struggle