The Earliest North Lincolnshire Cricket Clubs

The coming of the Railway by means of the Brigg/Grimsby Branch Line of the ‘Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway’ and the ‘Trent, Ancholme and Grimsby’ railway between 1846 and the mid 1860’s created an increase in travel between the coastal town of Grimsby and a growing industrial district now known as Scunthorpe. This created jobs in these towns which in the case of the Scunthorpe area was accelerated more so by the discovery of Ironstone in the area in 1865. Railway development was essential for the development of the game of cricket in Northern Lincolnshire. It allowed clubs to travel further for a strong competitive game. It is no coincidence that the strongest clubs were based on the railway lines.

Prior to this, Cricket, supposedly invented in the late 16th century, was relatively slow to reach the north of Lincolnshire. In the era of the landed gentry playing their neighbors, the game was confined to Kent or Hampshire. Stamford and Bourne had a cricket club by the late 18th century and Grantham in the first quarter of the 19th century. In 1822 Louth formed their cricket club, declaring themselves as the ‘Lincolnshire Cricket Club’. A few clubs however did begin to surface around this time and so we are able to use various articles from the period newspapers and the workings of local historians and journalists to learn about life at cricket clubs in our area in the early 19th century.

 

Here, I have taken the working of Dr Frank Henthorn, the former headmaster of Brigg Grammar School and noted local historian as well as my own findings to give a brief glimpse of the earliest North Lincolnshire Cricket Clubs, all of which seem to be based around Brigg.

 

Little in the way of organised games seemed to have existed in the early part of the century, even in the schools, largely because of the lack of playing fields and equipment. Even Brigg Grammar School field was then used by the headmaster for his sheep and cattle: the land was, indeed, intended to produce part of his income. In any case organised football as known today did not then exist. Cricket was a different matter, and it was owing to the fact that it was a reasonably disciplined sport that Sir Henry Nelthorpe allowed his park at Scawby to be used by a combined Scawby and Brigg Cricket club.

 

This club was established in 1824. Admission to membership was by ballot and the payment of 10 shillings, the subscription was five shillings a year. Games (or 'Meetings') took place on Friday, the wickets being pitched at noon. Every member had to attend every meeting, and failure to do so meant a forfeit of a shilling. Annual meetings were at Brigg. Such were some of the rules, there was only one by-law: 'If a Match shall be played, the Eleven Players shall be elected by the Club'. Honorary members formed a good proportion of the club. Sir Henry Nelthorpe, Captain Grantham, Joseph Goodwin, John Nicholson, and four parsons were some of those named on an early printed sheet.  Amongst the ordinary members were J. Goodwin, H. Grantham, Lieutenant Nicholson, J. Nicholson, C. Rudkin.

 

A match was played in Scawby Park at the end of July 1826 against Louth; families from Brigg and roundabout attended; a 'handsome cold collation was provided, for them and the players’ and Sir Henry supplied some of his choicest fruit. The club lost two matches against Louth that year. The gentlemen of Louth played a game in 1844 against Scawby and Brigg, the Louth eleven coming from the Louth club and their opponents from the separate clubs of Scawby and Brigg.  How long the Brigg club had been 'separate' is not known. It may have had a continuous existence from the 1840s as in August 1842 the Stamford Mercury reported that “Broughton Cricket Club, consisting of messrs Smart, Snell, Newby, Bucknall, Chapman, Roberts, Kennington, Hart, Hair, Hill, Hostead, Bannister and others, played a match in the field of the Brocklesby Ox Inn (see below), Brigg in first rate style. They were witnessed by a large concourse of spectators who came from every part of the neighbourhood to spend a few days at Brigg Fair. The general opinion was that the Broughton Cricket Club would soon be able to compete with Kent or any other crack club in the land.” The reader should bare in mind that Fuller Pilch (“The greatest batsmen ever known before WG Grace.”) was the Kent captain at the time. Perhaps that tells you how good the Broughton side were, or how good the local correspondents imagination was.

 

From the late 1840s the railways came, firstly to Kirton in Lindsey and Brigg in 1847, and later to Scunthorpe and Frodingham in the 1850s and 60s. Thereafter the teams of Frodingham and Brigg Town were the leading clubs in the area, pitting themselves against Grimsby Worsley and teams from already industrial Hull. With travel still light the surrounding villages best players travelled to Brigg for their higher quality cricket. The remainder just played 'Married' vs 'Single' amongst their own villagers until the 1860's where more clubs across the area started to arrange fixtures with neighbouring villages . Scawby will still of played matches amongst the local estates, perhaps with the Earl of Yarborough on the Brocklesby Park Estate.