Cricket 1914

O c t o b e r , 19 14 . THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 459 £be Morlb of Crieftet. 81, TEMPLE CHAMBERS, TEMPLE AVENUE, EMBANKMENT. LONDON, E.C. N O T I C E . The n e x t issue o f t h is p a p e r w ill be d a te d N o v em b e r 7, a n d we t r u s t t o c o n t in u e th e u s u a l w in te r n um b e r s . Pavilion Gossip. (By J- N. P.) O race of tireless fighters, flushed with a youth renewed, Right well the wars of Freedom befit the Sea-King’s brood. H f . n r y N ew bo lt . “ T h e contemptible little British A rm y,” said the pinchbeck Napoleon, the modern A ttila, the twentieth century Nero— the man who has never learned, for all the English blood th at is in him, to play the game ! A n d behold the “ contemptible little British A rm y ” growing under his eyes into a m ighty force, growing, while the little nucleus upon which it is rallied holds the van— the manhood of England and Scotland, Ireland and Wales, stirred b y the call of the trumpet to follow their fathers th at were before them in the w ay of war. A million— ay, and another million at the back of that, so only that restrictions of age and height and the like are made less narrow ! We cannot all be specimens of manhood that Sandow would admire ; but most of us could do some­ thing a t a pinch in the firing-line, and most of us are willing. T h a t cricketers as a body are willing has been abun­ dantly shown. B ut a staunch cricketer and a good patriot sounds a note of warning in our ears. “ Yours is a cricket paper ; let’s have more cricket and less W ar,” he says. " We get the W ar elsewhere ; it’s a relief to read of some­ thing else now and then.” B u t difficult to write about anything else, m y friend. When one’s heart and brain are full of the War, cricket must necessarily be a minor consideration. Y e t are there plenty of links between the great game and the greatest game o f all— " the lordliest game on earth ” as Kipling called it. I f Dut the necessary material were forthcoming, we should be only too pleased to print in these pages lists of cricketers (county or club) whom the call to arms has found ready and willing. B u t such information only reaches us in scrappy and disjointed form. That cricketers have responded largely and readily, however, is certain. K n o w le a n d D o r r id g e have done nobly. From this one club (not one of the biggest in the Midlands) fifteen men volunteered. The fifteen are L. Ratcliffe, M. J. Clutterbuck, Stanley Ibbotson, Eric Cashmore, A . F. Whitfield, Wilfred Hughes, C. T. Hutchings, N. D . Impey, J. E . Harrison, Harold Bower, J. Balkw ill, W . K . Hudson, P. L . Patterson, C. L . Hughes, and B . A. Peace. Good luck to them ! W it h the A rtists’ Rifles (28th County of London B atta­ lion) march C. C. Page, C. T. A . Wilkinson, C. D. M clver, G. L. Hebden, S. G. Etheridge, C. C. G. W right, John Howell, T. G. Grinter, J. Keble Guy, and J. E . Green­ wood— good cricketers all. No doubt the battalion includes m any more cricketers. R. S a le , H. G. Garnett, and M. K . Foster are stated b y the Standard to be w ith the O.T.C. Battalion camped at Epsom. E. W . Dillon and A. P. Day, on the same authority, are w ith the Public School Brigade. M r . W . C. B rid g em a n , M.P. for the Oswestry Division of Shropshire, a Cambridge cricket blue of over a quarter of a century ago, has enlisted in the National Reserve. E ig h t of the Hants County professional staff, including Mead, Kennedy, Newman, Remnant, Livsey, and Evans, have joined the 5th Hants Territorials. Parsons, of War­ wickshire, has enlisted in the Yeomanry ; several of his comrades, Jeeves among them, have joined the Birmingham City Battalion. In Sussex the new Southdown Battalion has a strong contingent of cricketers and footballers, enlisted b y the zeal of A rthur Millward. T h e Globe states that C. B. F ry, A. Jaques, H. A. H. Smith, and A. C. P. Arnold have all been accepted for active service. W i l l readers in every district where this paper circulates help us w ith reliable lists of the cricketers who have answered the call, giving wherever possible the corps joined ? W h e t h e r the Cricketers’ Battalion will materialise seems doubtful. Mr. F . H. Bacon, of Hampshire, was the first to suggest the scheme, as was pointed out in our issue of August 15. The W ar Office was not at first disposed to view it favourably, we understand, and for a time nothing was done, though when the Hampshire pros, enlisted th ey did so with a proviso that they were to be transferred to the Cricketers’ Battalion should one be formed. T h e n Alderman R. B. Chambers, of Derbyshire (upon whom much work has been thrown b y the absence of Mr. W . T. Taylor, the Derbyshire secretary, who early answered the call), saw the scheme referred to in our pages, and took it up w ith enthusiasm. I t was largely owing to him th at Mr. F . E. Lacey sent out, on behalf of the M.C.C., the following circular letter to the secretaries of first and second class counties :— Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, W. September 8, 1914. Dear Sir,— Having been asked to co-operate in forming a Cricketers’ Corps, I took steps to ascertain the views of the authorities on the proposal, and learnt th a t Lord Kitchener would give his encouragement provided th at a battalion of a t least one thousand could be formed. In th at event a definite proposal should be submitted to the W ar Office in writing, when, if possible, means would be found to carry the proposal into effect. The object of forming a corps of this description is to enhance the esprit de corps and to enable men w ith a common bond of interest to serve together. The project would no doubt materialise if each county club would recruit within its sphere of influence. A fter this has been done the names, addresses, and ages of those willing to serve could be sent to me, and I would formulate a scheme for the consideration of a meeting of the representatives of the counties to be held at Lord’s. If approved the scheme could then be presented to the W ar Office.— Yours faithfully, F. E . L A C E Y , Sec., M.C.C. O n e th o u s a n d men at th at date was rather a tall order, for already cricketers had rallied to the flag in their thou­ sands, and of course the first and second class county