Lives in Cricket No 42 - Frank and George Mann

24 The Great War: 1914 to 1918 hours on Sundays were even shorter and restricted to a mere two hours between 7.00 pm and 9.00 pm. Then the Government began reducing the strength of the beer itself while raising tax levels and excise duty which had increased by 600% when the War ended in 1918. The ability actually to deliver the beer to public houses was severely affected when most of the company’s shire horses, Sir Edward Mann’s pride and joy, were conscripted by the government and shipped to France to play their part in the transportation of ammunition, weapons and other vital reinforcements to the front line. Alternative methods to continue the delivery of the casks from the brewery to the public houses had to be found, including the use of hand-drawn wagons and motor vehicles when fuel was available. Keeping the company operating as normal was a struggle for those directors not serving in the armed forces, with retirement not an option, and the strain was too much for the 74-year-old chairman Alexander Crossman, who died in 1916. His son, Percy, took his place on the board of directors and Sir Edward Mann was elected chairman, a position he held for the next 28 years, playing a leading role in the post-war growth of Mann, Crossman and Paulin to become the third largest brewery in Britain. The Winchmore Hill Cricket Club had been suspended in 1915 and 1916 but there were regular concerts held to raise funds for the voluntary hospital. There was some cricket played in 1917 and 1918 but cricket began in earnest in the summer of 1919 with two teams playing on Saturdays. Membership increased rapidly and in 1920 there were four teams playing on Saturday and a team playing midweek. In 1921 Edward John Mann brought an MCC eleven to play the club in the first of the annual matches played over the next ten years. Eight of those matches ended as high-scoring draws, but the club won in 1926 and 1931 and their only defeat was in 1930. In order to provide better dressing-room accommodation for the increased membership a new pavilion was erected in the winter of 1920/21. 13 The Mann family connection with the club would continue throughout the twentieth century. 13 Substantially extended in 1974, and subsequently much altered, it remains in use today.