CRICKET and the GRACES at FRENCHAY

The first cricket pitch was laid out on Frenchay Common in about 1818, by the Wadham family, who lived at the Manor House. It must have been difficult, because at that time there was still active quarrying around the edge of the Common, and a lot more trees than there are now (thirteen of the fine oak trees came to grief in the hurricane of 16 November 1928).
     William Gilbert Grace was born on 18 July 1848, in Downend House at Downend, just a couple of miles, as the crow flies, from Frenchay Common. WG's parents, Henry Mills Grace and Martha Pocock, were married in 1831, just a few weeks after the Bristol Riots had devastated the centre of the city.

The young Mr Grace

Henry was a doctor, and Martha was the daughter of George Pocock, who ran a school close to St. Michael's Hill in Bristol, was a leading light in the local Methodist movement, and a prolific inventor. George Pocock's best remembered inventions involved huge kites, some designed to pull carriages, and one from which the brave Martha, in an armchair, was flown up over the Avon Gorge.
     WG was the eighth of nine children, and the whole family were keen cricketers, including the women, Martha's brother Alfred, and her nephews William and George, so they could, and did, often field a family team. However, as WG writes, at that time, Downend “was a small, scattered village, and tourists, when they travelled that way, rarely paid it the compliment of staying long in it.”
     There certainly was not a large enough population in Downend to form a village team, so it was natural for the Graces to look to the teams being formed around the area, from about 1840, for a game. Frenchay, being so close, and easily reached across the Frome bridge, by pony and trap, was one of the Grace venues. Frenchay Cricket Club was founded in 1846, and played on the Common until 1950, when they moved to their new ground alongside Old Filton Road at Hambrook.
     Martha would use her pony-trap as a grandstand to watch the games, which were very much social occasions. At Frenchay, the spectators would often drink the White Lion pub dry, and Francis Fox Tuckett, a patron of the Club who lived in The Old House, at the edge of the Common, would send over a bottle or two of claret for the players.
     Following his elder brother WM, who joined in 1862, WG was Captain of the Frenchay club in 1870, when he was 21, the same year he joined Gloucester County CC. He made 109 for Frenchay against Thornbury that year, and went on to captain for England both at cricket and at bowls.

FRENCHAY CRICKET CLUB, 1870
ESTABLISHED 1846
President: W. Tanner Esq. Vice-President: R. Stubbs, Esq.
Patrons:
Col. Somerset           Col. Mackenzie           Captain Belfield           F. F. Tuckett, Esq.           F. Crossman, Esq.	The Rev. F. Greenstreet      The Rev. A. G. Morris      W. E. Mirehouse, Esq.      T. Thomas, Esq.      H. Visger, Esq.      The Rev. A. B. Day
Secretary:Rev. J. Carter Treasurer: Mr. S. Piper Captain: W. G. Grace, Esq.
RULES
1.That this Club be called “THE FRENCHAY CRICKET CLUB.”

Christopher Hunt kindly e-mailed the photograph below, taken by his grandfather, of WG running off the pitch at Lords (date unknown)

We often receive enquiries about W G Grace. As you may have discovered, there is very little material available on the Web. Some correspondents have found it useful to have the following list of books, which you might find through your nearest library, local book shop, or amazon.co.uk:

Green, David, The History of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Christopher Helm : London, 1990.

Kynaston, David, W. G,’s Birthday Party, Chatto & Windus : London, 1990.

Low, Robert, W.G., Richard Cohen Books : London, 1997.

Rae, Simon, W. G. Grace: A Life, Faber and Faber : London, 1998.

Thomson, A. A., The Great Cricketer: A Biography of W. G. Grace, Hutchinson & Co (Publishers) Ltd & The Cricketer Ltd : London, 1957; 2nd edition 1968.

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