1837-1873 The lost history of Beddington cricket

Previously written histories of Beddington CC have considered the early history to be lost. Logically if this history was lost, how would you know it was there in the first place? Our history begins in 1837 the coronation year of Queen Victoria when a cricket match was played on Chislehurst Common between West Kent CC and Carshalton CC. This would have been a suitable occasion for two Knights of the Realm, Sir Herbert Jenner and Sir Henry Bridges to renew old acquaintances and rivalries between each other at public school and universities, both gentlemen being knighted by George III in 1813.

Dinner was served after the game at the Tiger’s Head, Chislehurst Common, and the headquarters of the West Kent Club (Est. 1822). In 1850 Herbert Jenner came to live in Carshalton as a local government officer and joined the Carshalton CC with his son Herbert Jenner Jnr. The Jenner’s lived at The Limes, Culvers Avenue, a stone’s throw away from the Old Red Lion, Hackbridge. Herbert Jenner’s work as a barrister at Doctors Commons, London, kept him away from first class cricket with Kent. In August 1858 Herbert Jenner played his last game for Carshalton CC against West Kent CC and returned with his family to the Manor House on Sidcup Green. There is no history of Herbert Jenner or West Kent playing against Beddington Cricket Club. The Carshalton CC disbanded in 1860 due to unpaid debt at their headquarters, 'The Greyhound Inn' on Carshalton Ponds, due possibly to the Carew Bankruptcy of 1859. The Carews of Beddington being members of the Carshalton Club, West Kent dropped the fixture with Carshalton in favour of Addington in August 1860.

The first cricket match recorded of Beddington was found in the East Surrey Advertiser of 1857, when Waddon and Beddington played West Croydon. The match was played in a field adjoining the Hare and Hounds Inn, Waddon. It was a well contested affair amongst amateurs who knew well how to play a good old fashioned English game of cricket. The game resulted in a win for Waddon and Beddington by two runs over two innings. Thirty eight people sat down to dinner at the Hare and Hounds after which some excellent songs were sung. 1857 the year of the Carew Estate Act at Beddington when it was decided due to unpaid debts that the Carew Estate would be split into lots and sold.

 1857 Croydon v. Waddon & Beddington. This match took place at Waddon, on Thursday last, between eleven of Waddon and Beddington and eleven of West Croydon, and was a well contested affair, amongst amateurs who know well how to play a good old fashioned English game at cricket, but who, perhaps, knew better how to play a good part at a good dinner afterwards, at which Mr Attwood Bignell efficiently presided. The match was played in a field adjoining the Hare and Hounds Inn, Waddon, to which house they adjourned after the game, and a dinner which in old times might have immortalised the landlord, being provided; it will be quite superfluous to tell any but those who have not the pleasure of being acquainted with them, that they, with one exception enjoyed themselves. Thirty-eight sat down to dinner, after which some excellent songs were sung, and although there were no professional singers among them, the quality of the singing was more appropriate to a good old English game of Cricket and a good old English dinner. We regret that we were not favoured with the score in time for publication or it would have been given in full; the subjoined are the totals: Croydon, first innings, 72; second ditto, 44; total, 116. Beddington and Waddon, first innings, 7; second ditto, 68, total, 118. (East Surrey Advertiser).

The Morning Post 1857 recorded a cricket match played by Carshalton CC against St Nicholas College at Shoreham, Sussex. Playing in the Carshalton side are the Reynolds family the former owners of the Carshalton House Estate, Captain Carew and his son R Carew of the Beddington estate, plus Denby, Morley, and Vernon, who later played for a Carshalton team at Hackbridge House, against an unqualified England XI in 1861. The Shoreham game took place on Whit Monday with the following result, St Nicholas College 81 runs, and Carshalton CC 68 runs. This Carshalton side being almost identical to the team that played in the last game against West Kent CC at Chislehurst.

Herbert Jenner had returned to Sidcup, Manor.
Phillip Norman the West Kent historian played in this last game against Carshalton CC in 1859.

At Beddington in 1859 Sir Henry Bridges wife Frances died, Rev Alexander Bridges had returned from St Mark's Horsham to Beddington House, Bridges Lane with his young family. Alexander the eldest surviving son was given the patronage of the Beddington Church Fields by his father who had purchased the fields from a Mr Raincock of Woodcote who had in turn acquired them from the Carews. In a two day auction from the 22nd June 1859 the Carew estate came to the market. The whole of the Beddington Deer Park, the Carew Manor House, farm and paddock, were purchased by Joseph Atkins Borsley of Grove Park, Chiswick, a land speculator acting on behalf of William the Duke of Devonshire. Some 3000 acres of land came on the market, not all of which were sold on the auction date. All of this pressure in the parish may have led to the untimely death of the Rev James Hamilton at the age of 49 years during the Easter of 1860. Another victim of the Carew bankruptcy seems to have been the Carshalton Cricket Club who disbanded due to unpaid debts at the Greyhound on the ponds, many of their wealthy members had already flown the nest including the Carews who were now living in Boulogne, France. The West Kent fixture with Carshalton CC was never played again. Atkins Borsley continued his land speculation in Beddington purchasing land in1880 along Croydon Road to The Grove, Carshalton, ending 20 years of speculation in Beddington and Carshalton.

Unfortunately Rev A H Bridges was unable to secure the vacant Rectorship left by James Hamilton at St Mary's, Beddington, when the office was passed to Rev William Marsh an ageing gentleman of 80 years. Local cricket at this time had moved to Hackbridge House, Mr Barrett had started a boys military school at Carshalton House with cricket, football, and boxing high on the list of learning activities. In Beddington, Catherine Marsh the daughter of the now Rector, resolved to make a counter attraction to the woes of Derby Day debts, by organising an afternoon game of cricket in the Church Fields as a counter attraction. She wrote a letter to the Millworkers of Beddington inviting them to the game, followed by tea and a musical evening in the Rectory Grounds. An acceptance letter came from all men with only two exceptions, and as long as she lived in Beddington she kept up her rival Derby Day parties. This is the very first history of cricket in Beddington Park in the Southern Church fields on Croydon Road. (Circa 1861)

The earliest history of cricket in the Beddington parish

Cricket has been played in the Beddington Parish since 1835 at Beddington Corner and secondly by Waddon and Beddington where Tradesmen’s games were played against Croydon in a field behind the Hare and Hounds Inn at Waddon as early as 1850. Through our research at Croydon Archives we now understand that these two clubs united in 1863 to form the Beddington United C.C. at Beddington Corner. In September 1862 Waddon and Beddington played a wind-up match against Croydon at the Hare and Hounds. By 1863 Nathaniel Bridges, Lord of the Manor of Wallington had purchased the recreation ground at Beddington Corner in the Carew Land sales.

The Beddington Corner Cricket Club had been asked by Nathaniel Bridges to pay £105 per annum for the use of the ground, this resulted in the unification of the Beddington clubs and by the start of the 1863 season the Beddington Corner Club had changed their name to Beddington United, a trend set by many other clubs during this period in order to share the cost of maintenance and ground rent. Local journalists at this time referred to the Beddington United side as the Beddington Cricket Club, and at other times as Beddington Corner, Beddington Lane and Beddington & Waddon, but all played on the only recreation ground in the Parish of Beddington. It was during the period from 1850 to 1859, that the West Kent and Cambridge cricketer Herbert Jenner lived at the 'Limes' Culvers Avenue and played cricket with his son for Carshalton Cricket Club.

The Beddington Parish recreation ground was part of a 100-acre field of Mitcham Common land given to the Carews by the Justices of Henry VIII in a land swap of 1538. By 1819 nine acres of this field had been enclosed under a parliament authority agreement for the long-term use as a cricket ground. This land originally part of Mitcham Common had been in dispute for 300 years and had caused long term friction between the neighbouring parishes, not resolved until 1882 in a court case at the Croydon Assizes. In 1869 due to parish boundary changes the recreation ground had become part of the Wallington Parish when Nathaniel Bridges built Holy Trinity Church in Manor Road, Wallington. The Beddington Parish had lost their only recreation ground at Beddington Corner.

In 1868 the railway had reached Hackbridge and in 1870 the astute Rev Alexander H Bridges who would have been aware of the situation regarding the recreation ground at Beddington Corner purchased the rest of Beddington Park from land speculator Atkins Borsley in order to preserve the park for future generations to enjoy. Restoration work on St Mary's Church being his number one priority, had been completed by July 1869. Work on the recreation ground, purchased in 1863 and the draining of the northern fields began in Beddington Park by altering the course of the Wandle River from east to west and culverting the many streams to a central lake in the park. A new carriage way was laid by James Southerton (The Man of Three Counties) across the river at the Terracotta Bridge, (constructed by Rev AHB, his initials etched into the central arch), to the new recreation ground in the northern fields. The first game was played on Canon Bridges’ private ground in June 1873, the thatched pavilions not yet constructed.

The Beddington Cricket Ground consisted of two grounds, both laid out by Southerton: one for the private use of Canon Bridges and the second for the use of the village teams. This situation lasted until 1879 when the private ground became The Beddington Archery and Tennis Club and all cricket was transferred to the Beddington Village Ground with the lesser Thatched Pavilion not having the luxury of running water and toilets provided at Canon Bridges’ private ground. The Canon, unlike Nathaniel Bridges of Wallington, allowed the village teams to play on this ground free of charge, his gardeners maintaining the grounds and pavilions until his death in 1890. Thomas Bentham who wrote the History of Beddington in 1923, fifty years after the start of cricket at Beddington Park recalls Mr John Henry Bridges the only son of Canon Bridges, a Winchester and Oxford man like his father was a cricketer of considerable ability and reputation and got together such clubs as Izingari, Old Wykehamists, Uppington Rovers, Orleans Club, and Old Harrovians. It was on this ground that the famous cricketer Mr Robert Henderson, who played for Surrey, received his education in cricket (Sutton Archives). The Henderson family arrived at Beddington in 1876 and lived in the Carew Cottages, Beddington Park, and Thomas Henderson the father was employed as a mechanical engineer for the Lambeth Female Orphanage at Carew Manor. The Henderson's played at Hackbridge House CC until 1880 when they joined the Beddington CC.