Chapter 6 - Two Families

The two great families of Collegiate were the Wilsons, mainly in the earlier years, and the Barbers. The Wilsons were the more distinguished cricketers, but the Barbers gave a greater service to the club as well as a good measure of eccentricity. Five Wilsons sometimes played together in the late 1890s and five Barbers could well have done so in the 1930s; certainly tradition has it that in one match, for a skier, the captain shouted 'Barber' and half the side ran into each other.

The most distinguished Wilson was E. R. (Rockley), a Cambridge Blue in 1899 to 1902 and captain in 1902. At that time he was a very competent all-rounder, who made a century on his first appearance in first-class cricket and also one against Oxford, "even duller than the one made by his elder brother three years earlier". He was highly successful as a remarkably accurate and deceptive slow leg-break bowler. Though W. G. said he was "the very worst bowler I ever did see", the Old Man succumbed to him twice later on and Rockley's bowling was, in fact, not dissimilar to the Old Man's. He played a few matches for Yorkshire in 1899-1902, his first appearance being at Hull, where, on opening his cricket bag, the first item to come out was an 'article of female underwear', placed there on purpose by leg-pulling friends at a country-house match the day before. Lord Hawke looked down his nose a bit and said "Hmm, you seem to be a rather fast young man", which was in fact far from the case.

After 1902, owing to his duties as a master at Winchester, where he was a great coach of schoolboys, and to the talent available to Yorkshire, he did not play again until August 1913, when he made a hundred against Essex. He played again in August 1914 and coming back to Yorkshire in 1919, had five very successful Augusts. In 1920/21 he went to Australia as vice-captain to J. W. H. T. Douglas, but only played in one Test Match (2 for 28 and I for 8), when, apart from those who played in the very first matches, he was the oldest player to make his debut for England. He got into considerable hot water for the comments he wrote about barracking, though what he wrote would these days seem very mild and he was pushed into it by The Daily Express, who cabled to him: "Reuters report play adequately. We want comment". His poor throwing also found disfavour with the Sydney 'Hill', who used to shout: "Shall we throw it up for you, Miss Wilson?".

He remained a remarkably effective bowler in club cricket up to 1939, when he was 60. He had a very fine collection of cricket books and cricketana, some now in the museum at Lord's, and, as R. C. Robertson-Glasgow wrote, "in combined accuracy of bowling and of memory no known cricketer has equalled E. Rockley Wilson. As no other, he could drop a ball on the needful spot and his mind on the required incident". He was also a very considerable wit and 'Rockley stories', mostly exaggerated, are legion among his old acquaintances and pupils.

Apart from his very early years he only made occasional appearances for Collegiate, when great things were always expected of him. The report of a 1901 match v United included "The Victors had the assistance of E. R. Wilson, next year's Cambridge captain, but in neither department of the game was he successful, his two wickets being secured at an expensive cost, while he had about 10 minutes batting in which time he made 11". This was a bit rough, as he made 11 not out in a score of 85 for 3! In 1906 he did get 5 for 38 and made 101 not out in a match v. Shireoaks, but in his last appearance, in the 1930s, against The Froggs, on a superb Kimber wicket he found that fine player T. B. Reddick in irresistible form.

His older brother, C.EM., also played four years for Cambridge (18951898, Captain 1898) and made a century against Oxford in 1898. He was a very effective all-rounder, who was always amused to find himself reckoned a Test Match player, having been a member of Lord Hawke's team in South Africa in 1898/99, though worse players have got genuine 'caps'. He played a little for Yorkshire from 1896 to 1899. He is one of the few players who has, genuinely, bowled both right-handed and left-handed in a first-class match, for Cambridge University v. Surrey at the Oval in 1895. After a long stint of quickish right-hand in a very large Surrey total he bowled several overs of slow-left hand, an art which he had learnt in the Vicarage garden at Bolsterstone, where, as boys, his 'handicap' in bowling to Rockley was to have to do so left-handed.

The three elder brothers, R. T., C. R. and R. A., were not in the same class as their younger brothers, though R. A. might well have got a blue at Cambridge as a fastish bowler, if he had not coincided with the great Sam Woods, and C. R. took stacks of wickets for Collegiate over a period of 30 years. Rumour has it that he was once asked to play for Yorkshire, of whose committee he was a member for many years. R. T. was a highly respected President of Collegiate from 1910 to 1953. His son R. M. could have made himself a valuable member of the between-wars Council side, but for some strange reason decided that he did not like playing league cricket: he was a member of the Yorkshire Committee for several years. D. C. (son of CE.M.) nearly got a blue at Cambridge in 1938. He only came to Sheffield in 1947 and proved himself a good all-rounder for the next 15 years, helped by the fact that he had played a lot of varied high-class cricket in different parts of the country and of the world. On a combined Oxford and Cambridge cricket and football tour to Jamaica in August 1938 he got 5 for 81 against A11 Jamaica at Sabina Park.

In the 1930s the Barbers and their cousins, the Doncasters, could have fielded a side of 10 members and one occasional player. The batting would have been formidable, but the bowling, though lacking nothing in variety with left-hand under-arm (L.C.), leg breaks off the 'wrong' foot (P.G.) and leg breaks and googlies or, '** seam up'ards', according to Alan Shackleton, (Mark), would have depended on the steadiness of B.H. The fielding would have been dubious, the catching erratic and the wicket-keeping erroneous, though P.G. was known to keep wicket and in a Council match at Brodsworth was assaulted by a stout lady with an umbrella, who thought that his toe had nudged off a bail for the crucial last wicket, a ploy, incidentally, well above his capability. R. S. also kept wicket occasionally and once stumped four batsmen off Cyril Outram without the ball ever touching his hands. There is no doubt whatever that a more argumentative side is hard to imagine.

Things always seemed to happen to Collegiate at Brodsworth. Three times the side were robbed of money they had been stupid enough to leave in the dressing room, twice by boys, who got in through a window, and once by a true professional, who persuaded both sides that he was something to do with the other, took what was around and also the proceeds of a sweepstake he had organised on the St. Leger. On another occasion J. C. Marshall was given out caught at the wicket, when it was clear to all except the umpire that the ball had brushed the seat of his trousers. Fred Baines, the delightful Brodsworth captain, asked the umpire to change his decision, which he did. In the pub afterwards Baines said: "Well, we don't want that sort of thing against you. If it 'ad been 'ickleton it 'Id 'ave been different". An umpire, who had officiated often at Lincoln for Collegiate, acted very differently when asked by L. C. Barber to change his decision. He took off his white coat, flung it on the ground, walked off and was never seen again.

Hugh played twice for Yorkshire in 1899, but A.T., who played for Oxford in 1927-29 and captained Yorkshire in 1930, was much the most distinguished Barber as a player. Without doubt the most outstanding member of the family was L.C. (Jim). With his cousin, Basil Doncaster, he became joint Secretary in 1910, a post in which he remained, on his own from 1915, until 1926. He was much involved in the starting of cricket at Abbeydale Park after the First War and with the decision to join the Yorkshire Council for 1922. There was some anxiety about whether Collegiate would be accepted into the Council, because the ground was in Derbyshire, but Jim Barber stated that it was possible to hit a ball into Yorkshire from the ground. He later said privately that he thought that he might just do it, if he went to the entrance on Abbeydale Road South and hit a ball along the road; if the ball got past the slope down into Dore and Totley Station, it might with luck just reach the boundary point, where the Limb Brook runs under the road. This point, incidentally, is 20 yards past the house where J. C. Marshall, who got a cricket blue at Oxford and also a Rugby cap for Scotland, was born: he was sent away from the Headingley nets because he was not, by those 20 yards, born in Yorkshire.

As well as arranging an ever-extending fixture list of non-league matches, Jim organised the boys' coaching, managed for 20 years and, for some time, captained the Devon Tour, ran various mid-week matches and almost all the evening matches between the wars. He firmly believed that Collegiate should be the leading amateur club in South Yorkshire, but realised clearly that it would only attract and keep happy the best local amateur players, if it provided the best possible Saturday afternoon cricket, and that meant the Yorkshire Council. At the same time the club should provide adequate cricket for all types and ages of cricketers, including mid-week, evening, village and, later on, Sunday matches. Much of Collegiate's growth and success was due to his foresight and hard work.

As a player he was a most determined batsman, who was the first Collegiate player to make a century at Abbeydale Park and made two centuries in the Council at the age of 50. Between the years 1922 and 1937 he made 3,790 runs in the Council at an average of 22.70, while in the same period Basil Doncaster, whose bat many bowlers thought was all edge, made 3,300 at 22.14. As a bowler L.C. surprised many batsmen by bowling lefthand under-arm, often quite fast. Some of his victims complainted that, with the sight screen in the old days on the bank at Abbeydale, the ball never got on to the screen at all. He was a combative but endearing character both on and off the field, much of whose behaviour reminds one of the great W.G., though two men could hardly be more dissimilar in physical appearance.

His son Mark was not only also Secretary for many years, in which time he did sterling work during the difficult war years and the far from easy 'revival' years after the war, but inherited much of his father's qualities of combativeness and charm. He was a batsman of much determination, who could surprise both friend and foe on occasion with the power of his stroke play, none more than Tommy Mitchell, the star of the Hickleton Main attack, off whom Mark took a fine century at Abbeydale. The wicket was, admittedly, one of George Kimber's very best, prepared with even more than usual care, because the previous year Tommy had made some remark which Kimber didn't appreciate and Kimber was heard to say: "That Mr. Mitchell, sir, I'll fix him". Mark's batting may have been helped by the early coaching of J. E. Elms, who in 1925 wrote to his father: "I shall be pleased to do all I can to help make a cricketer of him and also teach him not to go after the ball outside the off stump like his father and Mr. Basil (Doncaster) does". Jim's other son, J.C., was a fine forcing left-handed opening bat, whose league career was sadly shortened by illness, but who, to the delight of his many friends, recovered to become a long-serving stalwart of the 'B' side. B.H. and P.G. were both admirable cricketers and served Collegiate loyally for many years as both players and officials. Both were members of the Yorkshire Committee, B.H. being now a Vice-President.