Cricket Witness No 4 - Women at the WIcket

77 Workplace and Working-Class Women’s Cricket Composition of the WCA in Britain, 1927-1938 1927 1930 1933 1936 1938 Educational Institutions 74% 64% 56% 50% 48% Private-Members Clubs 20% 26% 33% 35% 35% Workplaces and Leagues 6% 10% 11% 15% 17% Source: WCA, Reports and Annual General Meetings (1927-1938). Percentages are rounded to the nearest integer. No data exists for 1939. It was not only through businesses that working-class women and girls played cricket under the WCA. Active efforts were made to encourage cricket for poorer girls prior to the outbreak of war in 1939, but many schools with a considerable number of working-class pupils had already introduced cricket before this. State-funded education was provided only until the age of 14 between 1918 and 1944 and only 14% of children received formal schooling beyond this age. Despite an expansion of state secondary education after the First World War, these schools also charged fees unaffordable for most working-class families. Chances for poorer girls improved with the introduction of the Free Place system in 1907 which offered less affluent pupils an opportunity to continue studying. Sport was well-established and integral to the curriculum of fee-paying schools, but it was not until 1908 that physical training was taken seriously in state schools. Thereafter, there was a bettering of sporting provisions for girls, but its development was slow. 10 The Association’s portrayal as an organisation of high fee-paying public girls’ schools, and unquestionably there were many like Roedean and Wycombe Abbey, obscures the fact most associated schools were state- owned and contained a high number of pupils on scholarships. A case study of schools in Kent where cricket was compulsory demonstrates this point. Board of Education inspections found that roughly 40% of pupils attending Gravesend County School for Girls between the wars received free or subsidised education, and this figure was even higher at neighbouring Tonbridge County School for Girls. 11 While it’s true cricket was beyond the reach of most working-class girls in this period, the game was not only played by the wealthy. Working-class girls were integrated into the WCA infrastructure from the start. Half of the 28 initial schools that founded the Association, or joined within one year like Tonbridge and Gravesend, were state schools. Gravesend hosted a county match in July 1934 between Kent and Surrey, which saw many of the school’s pupils attending to watch former student Doris Dann play for Kent. Kent was a particular stronghold of women’s cricket, but this strength was a result of proactive engagement by the Kent County Association. The county provided regular evening coaching sessions at Tonbridge for local schools between 1934 and 1939, and invited girls to attend winter nets in London too. Surrey and Middlesex County Associations also organised coaching sessions for local pupils, and the WCA’s Executive Committee issued grants of £5 in 1938 to counties willing