Lives in Cricket No 51 - Rev ES Carter

In July 1908 after Carter had left York, he was on the platform sitting directly alongside Hawke on the ground at Headingley, Leeds, in front of a large crowd of spectators, when the significant testimonial proceeds of £1824 (worth in 2018 about £182,400) were passed onto his lordship. The noble lord now had another reason to give thanks to his supportive friend, and that sum of course was far, far more than any ordinary professional player could ever hope to earn over a whole career as a cricketer. But comparisons can be made with the benefits of exceptional players – say Wilfred Rhodes’ £2202 in 1911 and George Hirst’s £3703 in 1904, and it can be further compared with the purse given to Edmund Carter (see below) when he left St Michael-le-Belfrey. Carter in those Edwardian years kept up a further connection with Lord Hawke. In those times Hawke had developed a habit of, each September, inviting the entire Yorkshire team to his home in Wighill Park. His friend Edmund Carter was often the only retired Yorkshire cricketer, professional or amateur, to be also invited, and would support the Yorkshire president in entertaining the team. Whereas in 1898 the Yorkshire Evening Post would report that ‘croquet and other pastimes would be indulged in’, this became ‘tennis, croquet and billiards’ in 1904, and by 1910 ‘also motoring and shooting’. Carter was once reported as being there in a capacity of chaplain to the Yorkshire team, and one of his duties was to judge which player could speak the best Yorkshire or regional dialects. The appointment as chaplain was probably one of Lord Hawke’s personal actions, without prior approval of any committee. Hawke was fond of his own authority as in the manner by which he bestowed Yorkshire caps to players without anyone else having a say. Lord Hawke in his Recollections wrote: “I never had my “pros” to Wighill without the Canon being one of the party, and he greatly added to the liveliness of the day, promoting and sharing in all the fun. Invariably he used to sing: ‘Where is Another Sweet as Myself ’ and ‘Norah, Darling.’ Those were the two songs that the players loved, and he always Old Ebor, Hawke, Thwing 96