Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

35 Very few New Forest Club matches were published in the local papers in the 1830s and this may account for the fact that William Clarke’s name rarely features in local club games at this time. Two years later on 5 October 1835 in the Nottingham Observer the following notice was printed: On Tuesday last members of the New Forest Club held their concluding field-day meeting for the season, on the Nottingham Ground, but the sports of the day were brought to a speedy conclusion by the unfavourable state of the weather. The party then adjourned to Mr William Clarke’s, the Bell Inn, Nottingham, where an excellent dinner was provided, and Mr Clarke invited to join them. After the cloth was drawn, the chairman (the President of the club) presented to Mr Clarke an excellent silver snuff-box: it was wrought very beautifully and the following inscription was engraved on the lid: ‘Presented to Mr Wm. Clarke by the members of the New Forest Club, as a memorial of esteem for his kind services in the practice of the game of Cricket, and as umpire on many occasions. September 1835.’ Mr Clarke returned thanks in a suitable address, and the social board closed the day’s amusement. Onward and Upward