The great rift, the Club nearly closes down:
The struggle to recover: The pavilion burnt
down (1898): A New Pavilion: The Coronation Tea Party

In 1889 the Club suffered the most serious crisis in its history and almost went out of existence. The reasons for this are not easy to discover. The season began normally enough with the Annual Ball and as usual this was a grand and fashionable event, attended by most of the well-known families of the district. The leading cricketers were there: John Shuter, W B Friend, C E Horner, W H Spottiswoode, and many others. The Public Hall at Bexleyheath, which as usual was where the Ball was held, was decorated with flags and banners in the Club colours, with a large flag with the letters 'BCC' as the centrepiece. A lavish supper was provided and dancing went on until the early hours.
It seemed a very happy re-union at the start of the season. But something went badly wrong, for no matches followed and in June an emergency meeting was arranged42 "to form a new cricket club, under new management and new rules owing to the collapse of the Bexley Cricket Club, which has been in existence for many years". What had caused the collapse is not clear. Certainly a number of the best players were no longer available; John Shuter was very busy as captain of Surrey, Tom Ashdown had died, L A Shuter, W C Jackson and W B Friend had moved out of the neighbourhood and R J H Arbuthnot was still in India, but in the normal course of events these departures could have been accommodated without bringing the Club to its knees. Probably there were other factors and the reference to "new management and a new set of rules" suggests that there was dissatisfaction with the old ways of running the Club. Whatever the reasons, a new Secretary (W Jesse) and a new Treasurer (J Flower) were elected and new rules adopted.
There was another serious problem. The organisers of the meeting had understood that Mr B W Kelsey, who now held the tenancy of the ground, had agreed to make it available to the Club at a rent of £15 for the season. However, at the meeting it was announced that he had written declining to grant the Club the use of the ground, preferring to keep it for his own purposes. There was dismay at this news, but Mr J A Potter spoke out strongly at the meeting urging members to stick together, if necessary looking for a different ground. The meeting agreed and happily it was not necessary to find a new ground as an arrangement was reached with Mr Kelsey in mid-July for the use of the ground, including a practice pitch.
A couple of weeks later a match took place at the ground against Belmont House School (Past & Present). Bexley won and the reporter wrote "This was the first match of the newly formed Bexley Cricket Club and we congratulate them on their victory. Several members of the team showed good form and with practice they ought to give a good account of themselves". The team list for the match includes only one name "Kelsey" - probably E B Kelsey - recognisable from earlier years. None of the star players, who had been such a force until the previous season, was in the team. What had gone wrong?
There was a strange - and probably related-incident towards the end of the season. A match took place at Bickley Park, in which the Bexley team contained most of the missing stars: John and LA Shuter, W B Friend, W H Spottiswoode and W C Jackson reinforced by several well-known guest players, of whom the most famous was Lord Harris, captain of England and Kent and the leading power in Kent cricket for many years. The match was reported in the local paper, but in the next issue the following terse announcement appeared:
"Bexley Cricket Club v Bickley Park - we are requested to state that this match, as reported to us last week, was played by Bexley Wanderers and not by the Bexley Cricket Club."
- Bexley Heath Observer, 7 September 1889
It would be interesting to know who requested this notice to be printed. Did the star players wish to dissociate themselves from the people now running the Club, or did the 'new' Club wish to dissociate itself from the former players? We may never know. It is probably significant that, with the exception of the President, all the Club's officers in 1889 were new. There are no known reports of Walter Jesse (Secretary) and James Flower (Treasurer) being involved in the Club in earlier years, although Mr Flower in particular was later to become prominent in village activities. Did the 'locals' take over from their illustrious, and possibly autocratic, forerunners?
It is clear that a rift occurred in the Club, with some ill-feeling. But it is strange that there is no significant discussion of it in the local paper, which was in the habit of reporting the most trivial local gossip; for example, whenever the Vicar had a cold it
was deferentially reported in the paper, so it is odd that there should be no explanation of a matter which must have been of great interest to many people.
To return briefly to the match against Bickley Park; despite the galaxy of stars, including the two Test players and several county players, Bexley lost, being dismissed for a mere 38. Lord Harris made only 5, John Shuter only 8; Bickley scored 138 in reply.
In the autumn, at the AGM, Walter Jesse said "We hope you will receive the report for 1889 with satisfaction, commencing as you will know with difficulties and late in the season. May we venture to hope that members of the old Bexley Cricket Club who still reside in Bexley or the neighbourhood may help us in the coming season". In fact only four matches had been played that year. Membership, including non-playing members, had fallen to 59, but despite the references to a 'new' Club there was a thread of continuity in membership, particularly through the Kelsey family. There was continuity also, of course, in the use of the same ground and it seems reasonable to consider that the Club remained in existence without a break, despite the traumatic rift.
Before leaving the 1889 season we should note two changes in the Laws which had major effects on the way the game was played. The first was the decision to increase the number of balls in an over from four to five. The second was the decision to allow captains to declare their innings closed. The first county captain to take advantage of the latter change was John Shuter, as the Surrey captain. He declared against Gloucestershire and his enterprise enabled his side to win the match, a victory which helped them to win the County Championship again that year. (Until this change in the Laws teams had been obliged to throw away their wickets if they wanted to terminate their innings quickly.)
The following season saw Bexley return to a full programme of fixtures. But they were against local clubs such as Sidcup, Bexleyheath and Dartford Albion, instead of MCC, Surrey Club and Ground, Incogniti, West Kent and other widely known clubs.
By the end of the 1890 season membership had risen to over 100, of whom 30 were playing members, each person paying a maximum subscription of 5 shillings [25pJ. And a tower and spire had been added to St John's Church, to form an attractive landmark
to the north of the ground. Members seeing it today may reflect that it dates from the time of the great rift in the Club's affairs.
The revival continued in 1891, with membership rising rapidly to 140. The playing results were very good, 13 matches being won against 5 lost. Nevertheless it is clear that Bexley had become essentially a village club, playing local opposition, with few hints of the prominence it had achieved in the 1870s and 80s before the upheaval.
The trials and tribulations of those running the Club are indicated by reports of two special meetings held in 1892. At the first it was reported with relief that the Club's debt of £30 from the previous year had been cleared as a result of a concert held in the National Schools. This was apparently greatly enjoyed, with the captain, Timothy Boucher and other members singing solos, performing on musical instruments or giving recitations. The Club relied on such money raising activities to balance the books most years after the departure of many affluent members of the Shuter years.
The second meeting was called to find replacements for Boucher as captain and F D Clapham - who had succeeded Walter Jesse - as Hon Secretary. Boucher gave 'pressure of business' as the reason for relinquishing the captaincy, but one wonders whether the thought of having to sing again might have been too much for him. Certainly modern captains might think twice before standing for office if they knew they would be expected to perform at a Club concert! Boucher was replaced, at his suggestion, by W Porter. Mr Clapham offered his resignation on the grounds that "his medical adviser had forbidden him to do any writing". This might be thought to be a compelling reason for relinquishing the secretaryship, but the meeting managed to talk him out of it by offering him an assistant.
The chosen Assistant Secretary was Mr. H E Baynes. Presumably he did all the necessary writing, and on the field of play he distinguished himself. that season by scoring a whirlwind 116 in I½ hours, his innings containing only 16 singles. This was the first century by a Bexley player for some years. Also in 1892, it was possible to field
a 2nd XI on a few occasions, apparently for the first time.
The 1893 season was bedevilled by fixture cancellations, no fewer than eight matches being called off. On three occasions Bexley were unable to raise a team and on another three the opposition cried off for the same reason. On another day the opposition received a hoax telegram - signed "Baynes" - saying that the match was off, and on yet another occasion, in August, the match was cancelled out of respect for the Vicar, Rev J M Fuller, who had died a few days before. When-the teams did manage to play, they won 7, lost 8 and drew 5.

The accounts for 1893 provide interesting insights into the way the Club was run and are reproduced below:

The reference to the purchase of a horse and its sale at the end of the season is a reminder that the age of motorised mowers and rollers had not yet arrived. Large equipment, such as the main mowing machine was horse drawn, with the animal's hoofs being fitted with special leather over-shoes to prevent damage to the turf. The following year the Club did rather better, buying the horse for £5 and selling it for £6.
The Club employed a ground man for the duration of the season, as in other years, even when the financial position was difficult. The ground man's cricketing skill was taken into account in making the appointment, the Secretary often being specifically authorised to employ a ground man/bowler, to assist at practice and to bowl in matches. It is perhaps surprising that in these Victorian times, when the amateur spirit was pre-eminent, Bexley and other local clubs were happily including a professional in their teams.
When the Rev J M Fuller died, Mr J A Potter was elected President. Vicars of Bexley had been Presidents for the last 30 years at least and possibly for very much longer and so a tradition was broken. But the connection with the Potter family was to become extremely important and thirty years later Mr Potter's generosity in purchasing the ground when it seemed likely to be sold off was vital to the Club's survival.
At this time an innovation was introduced under which individual ladies connected with the Club made themselves responsible for providing the team teas for certain matches.

The players paid nothing for this service. This admirable arrangement became the tradition and players did not have to pay for their teas or lunches until after the Second World War. The meals were often served by the housemaids of the ladies involved, dressed formally in black and white uniforms.
At the 1895 AGM, C E Horner was elected captain. It will be remembered that he had been Surrey's leading bowler in the 1880s. He was brought back to lend his 'name' and experience to the team; at the meeting one member gleefully commented that their neighbours would quake when they knew Mr. Horner was captain. But the results were disappointing. Out of 21 matches played only 4 were won, there being 14 defeats and three draws. At the next AGM, Charles Horner said, rather sadly, "Mr. Hatch [Hon Sec] used to meet me on the railway platform sometimes and tell me he had got a good team for me that day; if he had said it was the best team he could get, that would have been truer. The bowling was very fair, the fielding pretty good, but the batting was very weak". Horner relinquished the captaincy at the end of the season.
In this year (1896) a Mid-Kent cricket league was formed. It consisted of 5 teams, each of whom played the others twice. Neutral umpires were appointed and the match reports were sent to Kent County Cricket Club to draw their attention to promising players. The venture lasted a few years but did not thrive and league cricket had to wait for over seventy years before it became popular with the leading clubs in Kent.
Several group photographs of the cricketers and supporters, taken about this time, in front of the old pavilion, are still in existence. Three are reproduced here. The pavilion was situated on the opposite side of the ground to the present position, roughly at 'square-leg'.
Several of the players are to be seen wearing blazers. Brightly coloured blazers, often striped, became increasingly popular with cricketers, to the point where no serious cricketer would have been without one. Until about 1950 it would have been thought very bad manners to sit down to lunch or tea at a match without a blazer, even on the hottest days. The Bexley blazers had stripes in red, light blue and black(The only known surviving blazer was kindly presented to the Club by Mr FT C Johnson) the Club caps had rings in the same colours. There were also silk cravats in the Club colours and ties of various designs.
The earliest known photograph of a match in progress was taken about this time. It is reproduced here. Although it is undated there are enough visual clues to date it to within a year of 1897. When closely examined the original photograph shows a fair sprinkling of spectators, including ladies in long skirts holding parasols. It looks very relaxed and peaceful, but even watching cricket could have its perils. On one occasion four young ladies watching the cricket from their waggonette had a narrow escape from serious injury when a passing steam train startled the horse, which at once bolted and careered off down the road and under the railway arch. Farm implements were stacked on either side and there was barely room for the carriage to get through, but fortunately it did and as the land on the other side had recently been ploughed the horse found it heavy going and soon pulled up. The young ladies apparently were none the worse for their ordeal and no doubt were suitably consoled by the young gentlemen of the Club.

In 1896 there was much discussion in the village as to whether a Public Library should be built. At a public meeting Mr J A Potter (President) and Mr Robert Cooper (a future President) to their credit spoke strongly in favour of the idea. The proposal was carried and the eventual result was the building of the present library on Bourne Road.
A considerable amount of building was going on in the neighbourhood towards the turn of the century. Apart from St John's Church, already mentioned, there was the Congregational (now United Reformed) Church (1891), houses on Salisbury Road and
on the eastern side of Selborne Road (as Manor Way was then called) about 1896. The Freemantle Hall - which was used for many concerts and General Meetings of the Club
- was opened in 1894. But the only building carried out closer to the ground than the
railway was the small terrace of farm cottages, built about 1900. Clearly, although the railway embankment, built in 1866, must have seemed an intrusion on the rural peace of the area at the time, it has had the effect of deterring building any closer to the cricket ground, thus protecting its secluded atmosphere.
1898 was a very eventful year. From a playing point of view it was very successful, 14 of the 18 matches being won. But disaster struck on the night of Monday 30 August .1898; the pavilion was burnt down. No one was injured but the building was completely destroyed, together with equipment and records. The cause of the fire was never established. Fortunately, the pavilion was insured (by the ubiquitous Mr E B Kelsey) and the sum of £26 was received in compensation.
The destruction of the pavilion put a strain on the Club's funds. Subscriptions had to be raised to £1.1.0 [£1.05] for gentlemen playing members, 10s6d [52p] for non-playing and 5s [25p] for working men playing members. Plans for a new pavilion were discussed over the winter of 1898/99 and at a general meeting held early in the new season the committee reported having received estimates for a new building, measuring 24 feet by 17 feet, from four London firms. In the discussion Mr J Piggott, a wealthy local businessman and a pillar of the Baptist Church - and a future President - urged the Club to go ahead more boldly, declaring that he had never known a cricket club with so many members with worse accommodation; now that the old 'shanty' had been burnt down the opportunity should be taken of providing better accommodation. Mr E B Kelsey immediately promised £20 and others at the meeting said they would contribute, so that £50 was pledged there and then. Thereafter fund raising proceeded slowly, however, and the pavilion design chosen was a rather stark affair with a corrugated iron roof. This cautious approach was no doubt due to a wish to avoid a big overdraft, there being the further expense of replacing essential equipment before the season began. The new pavilion was in use by mid-1899.
It was sited at the north-west corner of the ground, where the present pavilion stands. Members had complained that the old pavilion faced the prevailing winds, so the opportunity was taken of siting the new pavilion with its back to the wind. The accompanying photograph is believed to have been taken shortly after the pav1hon was built.

In 1901 Percy Newton was elected 1st XI Captain, an office he held until 1907. This period of seven consecutive years is the longest continuous captaincy m the Club’s history. He was a useful wicket-keeper but not a prolific run-scorer, often preferring to go in late in the batting order.

The Club had its embarrassing moments. In a match at Welling one of the Bexley batsmen was given out lbw, but he disputed the decision and demanded that the umpire be changed. The demand was refused by the Welling captain and the Bexley team shortly afterwards stormed out of the ground, with their score at 8 runs for 4 wickets. It has to be added that Bexley had arrived without an umpire or scorer so it was a bit of a cheek to criticise the umpiring!
In 1902 there was an event which caused much excitement throughout the land and in the Empire. This was the coronation of King Edward VII. In Bexley it was arranged that the cricket ground (with the middle covered for protection) should be the scene of a great gala. There was to be a brass band, fireworks, races, a baby competition and many side shows. And on top of all this, teas were to be provided for all the 650 local school children (at 6d [2½p] per head) and high teas for 200 old folk (at 2s [10p] per head). But then came a nightmare for the organisers! It was announced, barely two days before the event,that the King was seriously ill and the coronation would have to be postponed in consequence. In many districts the planned celebrations were cancelled, but in Bexley after much heart searching it was decided to carry on, on a reduced scale. The children were all assembled at the National Schools in Bourne Road and marched up the High Street, where, facing the alms-houses they sang the National Anthem with much fervour. And then it was down to the cricket ground for the teas!

No doubt the organisers took into account the vast amount of food which would have been wasted in these days, before deep-freezers, if the teas had been cancelled. And the King recovered and was duly crowned some time later.