How did the advent of WW1 affect Gloucestershire’s iconic sports?

Britain’s decision to declare war against Germany in August 1914 would have an impact on every aspect of life in Gloucestershire, including its iconic sports.

In 1914 W G Grace was 64 years old and in July he played his last game of cricket, scoring 69 not out for Eltham.  A month later he sent a letter to the Sportsman suggesting that the county cricket season should be closed: “it is not fitting at a time like this that able-bodied men should be playing day after day, and pleasure-seekers look on…I should like to see all first-class cricketers of suitable age set a good example, and come to the aid of their country in its hour of need.” The letter was published on 27 August, and had its desired effect.  

Records aren’t always made of vinyl

The title of this post may seem obvious to anyone with a long-standing interest in archives, history or heritage, but not everyone comes from this kind of background. If you’d asked me, two years ago, to describe a record I would probably have imagined my parents’ 33rpm albums or the few Top-40 singles I bought just before cassette tapes became widely available. If I thought about it really seriously I might have muttered something about hospital notes.

But what has this got to do with Gloucestershire Archives? Well, two things really.

‘The Howse that was so fayre’

This is the story of ‘The Howse that was so fayre’, investigated by Chipping Campden History Society over the past eighteen months. In 2013 Gloucestershire Local History Association’s annual Local History Afternoon carried the theme of ‘Gloucestershire’s Special Houses’. There was an obvious one for us, Campden House.

A [Ship’s] door to Gloucester’s past and the start of a world war…

At Gloucestershire Archives we have millions of documents concerning our county’s heritage but one of our most curious possessions is not a document but a wooden door hung on a wall!

We inherited this when we moved into our present building, the old Kingsholm Council School and what makes it special is that it comes from HMS Gloucester – a Town class light cruiser built in 1909 and the eighth warship to bear the name of our city.

As we reach the 100^th anniversary of Britain’s involvement in WW1, it is interesting to reflect that this door was involved in one of the first naval actions of that war, the chase of the German cruisers SMS¹ Goeben and SMS Breslau, which were then at large in the Mediterranean.