Lives in Cricket No 51 - Rev ES Carter

Chapter five First-class matches for Yorkshire and two others Up to 1876 Carter’s only first-class matches had been for Oxford University and Victoria. The Victoria match had been in March 1869, when Carter was 24. He had not played a first-class match in England since playing for Oxford University against Southgate in June 1868. Since then much of Carter’s social cricket had been with the Gentlemen of Yorkshire and Ealing Cricket Club but he also played in that English eight-year gap for, amongst others, Old Oxonians, Free Foresters, Castle Howard, a United North of England eleven, Hillingdon, Scarborough, and Malton. By 1876 Carter had become well known to Lord Londesborough through their mutual connections with the Gentlemen of Yorkshire Cricket Club, Carter as a player and Londesborough as a sponsor and supporter. Lord Londesborough was also a Vice- President of the highly fashionable Prince’s Club to the north of Sloane Square in London, that had been formed in 1870. From 1874 Londesborough started to arrange and finance Yorkshire matches with Middlesex at both Prince’s and Scarborough. He used former Yorkshire captain Roger Iddison to help select the Yorkshire teams, so that the Yorkshire County Committee were not directly involved in selection. It was in that way that way that Edmund Carter became a Yorkshire county player, and later himself became involved in selection of players for the end of season matches at Scarborough in the weeks often described as Lord Londesborough’s cricket weeks. Later, of course, the terminology changed to the ‘Scarborough Cricket Festival’. 1: versus Middlesex at Prince’s Ground, May 1876 Whilst still with a family address at Ealing, in late May 1876 it must have been a delight to Carter to be invited to play for Yorkshire in their first county match of the season against Middlesex at the Prince’s Ground. The writer has not found any details for any cricket played by Carter earlier in 1876. Another member of their side, playing at the age of 41 his first county game for two years was the now veteran Roger Iddison who was 70