Cricket 1889

“ T oge th er jo ined in cricket’s m an ly to il.”— B y r o n . K e ^ f o r T r & f f l b r o a i THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, .1889. PRICE 2d. H A R R Y JU P P OF DORK ING . By F. G. D o r k in g , beyond the living memory of any present inhabitant, always boasted at least one, and generally more cricketers of the Jupp family, whose name for generations has been, and probably is still, found in the town score book. The subject of this sketch was born at Dorking on November 19, 1841, and I knew him from the age of nineteen until his death. My first acquaintance with him was in August, 1860, when I rented a cottage on Brookham Green, a charming hamlet of Betch- worth, dose to the Mole under the lee of Boxhill. The attraction of the place to me was that there was a village green, a river, and beau­ tiful scenery, and the place was purely a rustic and agricultural dis­ trict, where my children could run wild in the woods and meadows, and I could play cricket and fish. The cricket brought me in contact with Jupp. We had very good cricketers scattered about at Brock- liam, Buckland, Betchworth, Holm- wood, and Brockham Green was our battle-field, and under the name of the “ Brockham Eleven ” we made a good team, and with the aid of a little poaching could play pretty strong. So when Jupp’s services were available, for five shillings and his railway fare and dinner, includ­ ing a lift in a cart for some miles to the station, he was recruited for Brockham, when a few months under nineteen, and was taken over to Horsham, whose eleven had not been beaten that year. In the match between Horsham and Brock­ ham in 1860, the young recruit did wonders, going in first and scoring 78 against very good bowling; bowl­ ing very well and effectively, and long-stopping to Arthur Batchelor, a very quick bowler, when his own over was done; in fact, his services contributed much to winning the match, which was won by Brock- liam in a single innings. In the following week a strong eleven of Epsom came to Brockham, and Jupp was again retained and did equally well. Mr. Burrup, the Hon. Sec. of the Surrey Club, came from London on purpose to see him play, bringing with him Mr. Napper of Dorking, and Jupp was engaged at the Oval in the year 1861, partly as a brick­ layer, that being his trade, and partly as a cricketer, as he was appointed professional to the Kennington Club, then a very strong club and the only club who had leave to play on the Oval. He was on the ground on and after 1861 at the. Oval, and, but for the jealousy of old players, would have been in the Surrey eleven all through 1862. He played the last match at the Oval in that year; in fact, public clamour was so great that the managers could not help playing him. It occurred thus : In a match Cambridgeshire v. Surrey in 1862, Jupp was fielding for Dan Hayward of Cambridge, who was injured. Julius Caesar made a tremendous hit, a skier to long-on, and the ball mounted very high, and did what a ball sometimes will do when against the wind, and hung in the air, so to say, before falling. Jupp, who was fielding long-off at the Gas Works corner, started as the ball was hit, ran across the ground for a very considerable distance and held it. A few days later he played the first time for Surrey against the North at the Oval, scoring 11 not out and a single. In 1863 he became a regular member of the County eleven, and with his friend Tom Humphrey, a Mitcham lad, a year older than himself, became notorious as “ the two Surrey boys.” They generally went in together first, and made very many long innings, especially at Sheffield in 1864 v. Yorkshire, when they scored over 150 runs before they were parted, and Mr. Mason, a good Yorkshire sportsman, who offered five pounds each if they made 100 runs before they were parted, increased it to ten pounds if they reached the 150 runs, which they did, Jupp being first out when 159 were made, and Mr. Mason paid like a man. It is impossible to enumerate a tithe of Jupp’s per­ formances between his first appear­ ance in the County eleven in 1862 and his benefit in 1881. Just as a sample of his lasting powers I will take a score or two in 1863, the first year of his regular retainer for the County, and 1873, ten years later on. 1863.—v. Kent, 17 (not out), and 74 (not out). 1873.—v. Sussex, 94; v. Gloucester, 83; v. Yorkshire, 23 and 54; v. Notts, 53 and 51 (not out); v. Kent, 76 and 20; v. Cam­ bridge University, 39; for South v. North, 50; and in a similar match at Canterbury, 80. He played thirty times in Gentlemen and Players at Lord’s and the Oval, and went twice to Australia. In 1876 a gold watch and chain and a purse of sovereigns were presented to him at the Oval. In 1881 he took his benefit at the Oval, which was a bumper. Jupp was a reserved man and those wno did not know him thought he was somewhat sulky, which was very far from his character. No one, perhaps, knew him better than myself, as through­ out his life he always came to me for any advice as I knew him when a boy, and he said I was his god­ father ; and I can honestly state that I never knew him “ sponge ” or do any shabby trick in my life; I always found him truthful and straightfor­ ward. For some time he kept the “ Sun,” the taphouse to the brewery at Dorking, and was famous for selling the best beer. Afterwards he migrated to the Salisbury neighbourhood, and eventually kept the Sun Hotel, Weston, near Southampton, after his second marriage; it was an excellent and profitable house, which unfortunately he had to leave owing to his wife’s health. He lost his second wife