Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

dedicated to St Andrew, and true villagers were woken on his day, 30 November, with a slice of homemade fruitcake and a glass of homemade wine. Many would stay inebriated until Twelfth Night, by which time the need to make some more socks and earn some money became pressing. On 17 February, there was a celebration in a house on Cosby Road, where Florence (always known as Flo) Tompkin (née Morris), gave birth to a son, Maurice. The proud father, Percy, was a professional footballer and in that season was playing for Huddersfield Town who finished second in the second division of the Football League. Maurice was born into a sporting household. In the pavilion of Countesthorpe Cricket Club there is a picture of ‘Countesthorpe Baptists Cricket Club, 1910’. History records that in that year they were champions of the third division of the South Leicestershire League. That team includes the three Tompkin brothers, William, Arthur and Maurice’s father, Percy, several Warburtons and Tom Morris, who was to become Percy’s brother-in-law. The pleasure would have been even greater the following year, for though they were pipped into second place, they were promoted to the first division, and were therefore playing for the first time in a higher division than their rivals, known then as Countesthorpe United. Until 1906, there had only been one Countesthorpe team in the league, but as the local league developed, many new teams – often based on the church and especially chapel Sunday schools – joined. Family history and background 8 This was the Tompkin family home during the 1920s and 1930s. Picture taken in 2010.