Cricket 1889

MR. CHARLES ABSOLON. C ricketers are, or were, for the claim has been chiefly urged with reference to the heroes of the past, proverbially long lived. There are, indeed, several essentials to the attain­ ment of any great success on the cricket- field which contribute in no small degree to longevity. The history of the Ham- bleaon Club furnishes many in­ stances of the giants of those brave days of old who reached to what is euphoniously termed a good old age, far exceeding the allotted span of three . score years. and ten. Mr. Pvcroft, in the “ Cricket Field,” one of the very best, if not actually the best book ever written on the game, in referring to Lord Frederick Beau- clerk, mentions that he was a fre­ quent attendant at Lord’s, either as a player or as a looker-on for nearly sixty years. Lord Charles Russell, who is still hale and hearty, some­ time since contributed an article to this paper descriptive of his cricket experiences extending over sixty years. But the best of all the patriarchs of either the past or the present would find it difficult to enter into competition in the matter of a prolonged career as an active player with the worthy old sports­ man whose portrait we give with this number. Born at Wallingford in Berkshire on May 30, 1817, Mr. Charles Absolon will very shortly complete his seventy-second year. He was only thirteen or fourteen when he was taken with the other members of the team to Cowley Marsh in a coach-and-four to play for Wallingford against the Oxford Union Club, and it is interesting to know that Mr. W . Bacon, of Oxford, who represented the Union Club on that occasion, is also hale, the only member living, we believe, of that team. Mr. Absolon can thus claim a continuous career of very close on sixty years of active cricket, a dis­ tinction which, as far as our know­ ledge goes, is without parallel, and one of which he has thoroughly good reason to be proud. As a youngster he must have been very consider­ ably above the average of boy batsmen, for there are records to show that in the year following his first appearance, to which refer­ ence has already been made, he was credited with a score of 127 for Wallingford, in a match against Berwick, in Oxfordshire. Two Toge ther joined in cricket’s m an ly toil.”— B y ro n . T S i s s f f lw THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1889. PRICE 2d. his services were enlisted for the occasion, Early in the fifties Mr. Absolon had been brought to London to swell the numbers of the little village, and before they had passed away he was making for himself a name and doing useful work on behalf of a very large section of metropolitan cricketers. At the time the agitation was started among the large firms in the City, to give their employes Saturday afternoons for recreation, Mr. Absolon was cap­ tain of the cricket club connected with Nicholson’s Distillery. Yield­ ing in a great measure to his solicitations, the firm, of which Mr. W. Nicholson, the Old Harro­ vian, in his day without a superior among amateur wicket-keepers, was a member, consented to pay their work-people on the Friday, and give them a half-holiday on the Saturday afternoon, allowing them in addition the use of a van for the purposes of conveyance. The approval thus given to the Half- lloliday movement was the means of inducing other large firms in the Metropolis to adopt the same system, so that many cricketers have reason to be grateful to Mr. Absolon for the one chance allowed them weekly of enjoying the game. For the last quarter of a century, and more, there has not been a figure better known in Metropolitan cricket than the veteran whose por­ trait, we feel sure, will be welcomed by every class of C ricket reader. For many years he was a prominent member of the Master Butchers’ Club, and it was to his connection with them, wTe believe, that George Baker, who played for Kent occa­ sionally some years ago, owed his introduction to matches of any im­ portance. Mr. Absolon’s active connection with Metropolitan cricket in any prominence dates back to over thirty summers. Throughout all that period, too, he has preserved the hightst repu­ tation, not only as an enthusiastic cricketer, but withal as a keen sportsman, and one at the same time always ready to help others when necessary. In the brief limits allowed for the purposes of a biography it is not possible to give any thiug more than a mere notice of his most noticeable achievements. A steady batsman, his has always been a difficult wicket to get, and his defence lias tired out many a bowler. It is, however, his successes years later against Hagbourne he also got into three figures, so that when he came up to London he had already a considerable local reputation to accompany him. Fifty years ago, when Mr. Absolon was taken up to Lord’s to witness his first match on that famous ground, the conveniences for travelling were few, the inconveniences many. The Great Western Railway had only completed its system to Maidenhead, a distance of 23 miles, in June, 1838, and to Twyford, eight miles further on, in July of the following year. Taken by his brother to Lord’s, he was left in the charge of Mr. Dark there for the day, and, as one of the sides had not its complement,