Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

12 Chapter Two Moving On The move to Goudhurst appears to have progressed Edgar’s cricket further as, according to Haygarth, he played regularly for the ‘Boy Eleven’ against local village teams, although contemporary newspapers are silent in this regard. However, in order to attract the notice of the county’s cricketing establishment, he would need to move closer to one of its two major centres, Maidstone or Canterbury. Willsher’s arrival in Goudhurst coincided with the shifting of the county team’s activities from West Malling to the Beverley Club’s ground in Canterbury in 1841, but high-class club cricket in and around Maidstone was set to flourish over the next decade, so either location would provide him with the opportunities he needed. Whether or not it was to further Edgar’s (and his brothers’) ambitions, the family did move, plumping for Maidstone. By the next census, in 1851, Edgar was living at 52 Maginford, on the outskirts of Mote Park, with his mother, brother William, sister Charlotte and nephew John Lipscombe. William was working as a farmer’s bailiff, and Edgar as a farm assistant, but he would not be helping out at home for much longer, and ten years later he was recorded for the first time as a professional cricketer. Haygarth says that the family moved to Maidstone in 1845, and this is about right, for in 1847 he finally received attention from the local press for his performances for a new club just two miles east of the town centre. On 31 May 1847, at the age of 18, Edgar made his debut on the public stage, playing for Bearsted against Aylesford on Bearsted Green. 1 Although he scored only four and three, he bowled seven victims in the match, and may have taken more wickets that went unrecorded, as catches were still credited only to the fielder in some scorecards of the time. Bearsted, after a disastrous first innings of 20, rallied sufficiently to win by 36 runs. It was a family affair, as, in addition to a haul of seven wickets, brother William made a match-turning 42 not out, as he and Walter Mynn took the game away from Aylesford in the second innings. It was a most 1 Maidstone Journal , 1 June 1847.