Bats, baronets and Battle
A social history of cricket and cricketers from an East Sussex town
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Yet not everything was ‘right’ and stable with the world and certainly not with Britain – we have already seen how society was changing with the suffragette campaign for the vote for women. Government faced pressure elsewhere – trouble in Ulster, industrial unrest and instability in Europe as the ‘big powers’ manoeuvred for war, each one spurred on by its own nationalist sentiment. But we have the benefit of hindsight, something that contemporaries did not have and we know that everything was to change utterly with the outbreak of global conflict in 1914. The world, Britain, Sussex and Battle itself was fundamentally altered by the four years that followed. On a smaller scale, cricket was changed irrevocably. The part of cricket in Battle, and of cricketers from this area mirrors those changes. Even before the ‘Golden Age’ grew beyond its infancy, such change could be seen. The grip of the Webster family on Abbey and the town of Battle had begun to slip. Country-house cricket, in Battle and far beyond, held less sway. The game was developing and not necessarily in a way that everyone appreciated with the advance of professionalism. Honest amateurs continued to be viewed by many as the epitome of what the game was truly about, but even the most famous, or infamous, of these could be the most awful cheat. Stories about WG Grace are legion but his cricketing record, and the longevity of his playing career, is hard to dispute. However, he was reckoned by some to have been a rather mediocre doctor (that was his ‘official’ profession) – one current member of Battle CC has possession of a relative’s death certificate signed by him and added, when describing this document, that, ‘At least he could tell whether someone was dead or not.’
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Bats, baronets and Battle is more than just about cricket. This is a history full of colourful characters – eccentric baronets with a fondness for gambling, forthright women who wished to take their role and the game beyond an excuse to wear a pretty dress, and brothers from local villages who played the sport at the highest levels home and abroad. If Sussex was the ‘cradle’ for the earliest of cricket, the villages around Battle were there at the game’s birth. From Georgian times and the murky world of 18th century politics, Tim Dudgeon traces Battle cricket’s role from its role in 18th century Georgian gambling though the fear of 19th century rural unrest and the dawn of the professional game to the tragic impact of two world wars and into the modern era. The story he uncovers is an intriguing one that has local people and communities at its heart, but throws light on their links with events and forces that have shaped our world today.
About the Author
Tim Dudgeon was educated at Campbell College in Belfast and Essex and Cambridge Universities. Now a history teacher by profession and a resident of Battle, he spends summer Saturdays playing cricket. Better known for his batting, he also occasionally bowls a unpredictable assortment of seamers, leg-breaks and long hops.