Lives in Cricket No 17 - Fuller Pilch

Chapter Sixteen The growing influence of the Beverley Club By now there were indications that Town Malling was being overtaken as the most important club in the county as the increasing influence of country-house sponsored clubs was changing the face of Kent cricket. In 1835 the Beverley Club had been formed by the Reverend John Baker and his brother William de Chair Baker, to play on St. Stephen’s Field, part of the family estate behind their house ‘Beverley’, near Hackington, a small village on the outskirts of Canterbury. The club’s matches became great social occasions and the hospitality of the Bakers was famous throughout Kent. Country-house cricket was growing in popularity with the owners of estates all over the county. It was a good way to entertain friends, neighbours, tenants and nearby villagers. Amateur cricketers would come for the good food and fine wine, some of them eligible young bachelors and suitable company for unmarried daughters. To raise the standard of the cricket to be played over two or three days, famous professionals were paid top rates and housed at local inns. Over the next few years the Beverley Club established itself as a team of some importance, and was often referred to as the ‘Canterbury Club’ while enjoying regular fixtures with the teams from Adishum, Aikham, Aluph, Ash, Boughton, Dover, Faversham, Ickham, Leeds, Minster, Preston, Sandwich and Sittingbourne. But the annual matches with Chilston, a team sponsored by James Stoddard Douglas at his estate in Chilston Park, became the highlights of the season. To many, Beverley represented East Kent and Chilston West Kent, and the Kentish Gazette reported matches attracting ‘between three and four thousand spectators … many of them elegantly dressed ladies’. In 1839 Douglas had hired Alfred Mynn to play for Chilston in both games against Beverley, who themselves engaged the services of two top-class players, William Clifford and Nicholas Felix. Thousands turned out to watch the first game at Beverley; the Gazette reported that ‘several booths were erected, and the whole neighbourhood leading from the city presented the appearance of a fair.’ The rivalry intensified in 1840, with both clubs seeking to strengthen their teams even further and their ‘Grand Cricket Match’, at Chilston Park on 16 and 17 July, was advertised as being between ‘eight gentlemen of the Chilston Club, with three players, and nine gentlemen of Beverley, with two players.’ Not surprisingly, Fuller Pilch, described as ‘the best batsman that has ever yet appeared’, was one of the professionals engaged by Chilston who again featured Alfred Mynn, plus Stearman and Wenman. They were not strong enough to defeat a Beverley 67