Lives in Cricket No 34 - Frank Mitchell

64 The fields of peace and war: in England and South Africa, 1899 and 1900 Test cricket for him. Yorkshire were pleased, and their followers would have looked forward to more success for Mitchell in 1900. But those only concerned with cricket were to be disappointed. On the African veldt troubles were occurring for British forces, and Frank Mitchell would soon be joining those troops. He would not play another game of first-class cricket for eighteen months. At war with the Boers in 1900 At the end of the 1899 season, and in normal circumstances, Frank Mitchell would have been content with the role of a young sporting gentleman. There were many other keen sportsmen in a similar position. However a dark cloud was beginning to settle over Britain’s imperial role in Southern Africa. The many and complex reasons for the conflict between English speaking people in the Cape and beyond on the one hand, and white Afrikaners on the other, need not be explored here. That conflict which arose in late 1899 and which became known as the Boer War was an imperial adventure which got out of hand, and which ultimately caused lasting damage to British reputation. At first it was felt in military and government circles that the regular army could easily deal with and quash the aspirations of the Afrikaners for sturdy independence, free from British influence. When armed conflict did start in October 1899 there was no doubt in the public eye as to which side would prevail. However a series of defeats by Boer forces over British army units in mid-December 1899, in the week then known as Black Week, changed public opinion and forced the Government into a need to send out more troops to the Cape. The difficulty was that there were no more regular battalions available, and the clamour to establish a volunteer force became irresistible. So in late December 1899 posters appeared all over the country calling for volunteers to join the forces and to fight in South Africa with their regular counterparts. The two most famous and glamorous units were the City Imperial Yeomanry, and the Imperial Yeomanry. Many of the new recruits for the Yeomanry were well known social and political figures. The essential qualification was to be physically fit and to be a good rider and marksman. Frank Mitchell was admirably qualified. He had, above all, his experience in the Cambridge University Rifle Volunteer Corps to equip him for a Yeomanry role. On the day of the call for volunteers he was with a shooting party at Irnham near Grantham. He made all speed to Doncaster and enlisted as a trooper in the Yorkshire Dragoons commanded by the Earl of Scarbrough. The Earl had become a patron of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1894 and may have already been known to Mitchell. Later the Earl was to become Director-General of Britain’s territorial forces in World War I with the rank of Major-General. Some basic training took place at Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield where the horses were stabled – often paid for by wealthy benefactors. The Yorkshire Dragoons were given the formal title of 9 th Company (Yorkshire Hussars) and swiftly integrated into the Third Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry, along with the Sherwood Rangers and other companies from Yorkshire and Nottingham.