Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

86 Incredible Success of the All-England Eleven There were no bona fide Notts County matches in 1850, though the Gentlemen of Nottinghamshire, based at Southwell, remained active. Both Nottingham Commercial and Notts Amateur Cricket Clubs played home matches at Trent Bridge during the season and these games are the only ones reported as taking place on that ground. John Chapman’s name does not feature in a single Nottingham-based match − he may have moved to Gainsborough in 1850 − though his brother William Chapman appears once. On 11 April 1851 the Nottingham Review reported: ‘The following two matches have been made between Mr Houghton, proprietor of Kennington Oval and Mr Clark, the celebrated slow bowler: July 3, North v South; July 17, Surrey v Nottinghamshire.’ From this notice it seemed that Clarke would be playing for Nottinghamshire during the coming season – his first appearance for the county since 1845, a gap of five years. However his fixtures for the All-England Eleven were to prove punishing, to say the least. He had arranged no fewer than 34 matches, the first on 5 May, the final one ending on 15 October, but still leaving spaces for the principal eleven-a-side matches arranged by MCC. The programme commenced with 13 fixtures end to end – in other words two three-day matches each week. When MCC matches were added, the major cricketers such as Clarke, Caffyn, Wisden and Parr, were scheduled to play in 43 or 44 matches, the only break being three days off in early August. William Caffyn comments in his reminiscences: ‘I must acknowledge that I was heartily glad when the season of 1851 came to a close; indeed we all were, and looked forward with pleasure to a well-earned winter’s rest.’ The first break for Clarke occurred much earlier, on 26, 27 and 28 May, when the All-England Eleven opposed XXII of Gainsborough. Opening the batting for Gainsborough was none other than his stepson, John Chapman. The 1851 census for Gainsborough shows that John Chapman, a veterinary surgeon aged 36, lived in Spittal Terrace, Gainsborough, with his wife, Jane, aged 32, and children, John aged 10, Mary 8, Henry 6, Charles 4, William 3, Edward 1, together with Mary Clarke aged 62, described as a widow and late innkeeper, plus two servants. Looking at the birthplaces of John Chapman’s children, William was born in West Bridgford in 1847/48, presumably at the Trent Bridge Inn, whilst Edward was born in Gainsborough in 1849/50. All the earlier children were born in St Mary’s Parish in Nottingham. This provides evidence that John Chapman and family had lived in Nottingham, but moved back to the Trent Bridge Inn shortly after William Clarke left for London. The birth of Edward, in either 1849 or 1850, confirms the earlier suggestion that John Chapman had indeed left the Trent Bridge Inn for Gainsborough in the 1849/50 period. The other revealing point contained in the census entry is that Mary Clarke describes herself as a ‘widow’ which, as we have said, is odd when her husband is the best known cricketer in the British Isles and touring the whole of England during 1851. I believe it is safe to assume that William Clarke’s absence from the All-England Eleven v Gainsborough was purely diplomatic – the next match he missed was in mid-September