by A. W. Pullin
Jackson's benefit would not have yielded a princely sum if invested. It only realised £26$. The match was M.C.C. v. Notts, at Trent Bridge on July 30, 1874.
Jackson has been in no slight measure assisted by the Lancashire and Derbyshire cricketers, Frank and Walter Sugg, whose headquarters are "Frank Sugg's cricket and athletic outfitter's establishment," in Lord Street, Liverpool. But for the goodness of heart of the two brothers and other local friends, Jackson would probably have "gone under " long ago. It may be that, like many of the old-school professionals, John Jackson did not cultivate provident habits in his younger days. But this "ain't the time for sermons "; and if any one wishes to know where John Jackson is and how he is faring, the Messrs Sugg will no doubt be glad to furnish the information.
Jackson is an exception that proves the rule of birth qualification for Notts cricket. He was born at Bungay, in Suffolk, on May 21, 1833, but, inasmuch as he was taken to Notts when an infant in arms, he was considered a Notts man to all intents and purposes. There was a Jackson who played for Notts so far back as 1848, but that was not he of whom I am now writing, nor were the two in any way related.
John Jackson prefaced his career as a fir3t-class cricketer by engagements at Southwell (Notts), Newark, The Grange (Edinburgh), Ipswich, and again at Southwell. It was while fulfilling his fifth engagement as a professional cricketer at Southwell that he first played for Notts. That was in the year 1855. At the same time he joined the All-England Eleven, and played with those great missionaries of cricket for eleven years, and off and on up to 1870. When he closed his first-class career, the initiatory cause was an accident.
Jackson's record as a bowler, judged by number of wickets taken, is wonderful. In 1856 he took 169 wickets, but in 1857, two years after his appearance in Notts and All-England cricket, he captured 331 wickets; in 1858, 359 wickets, and in 1859, 346 wickets. In each of the three years last named he headed the list of English bowlers, though there were such men as Willsher, Wisden, Caffyn, Griffiths, H. H. Stephenson, and Grundy among his contemporaries. In 1860 Jackson's crop was 227 wickets, 1861, 232, and 1862, 235. These figures are tremendous, taken by themselves: even when allowance is made for the fact that the local Twenty-twos sometimes proved easy prey to the All-England bowlers, the record can still only be described as wonderful.
Jackson had an easy round-arm style, with a run of not more than three or four yards, and it is recorded of him that he "bowled like a machine, well within his strength." Of his individual efforts much could be written, but a few special performances will suffice to show his "fearful" power as a fast bowler. Thus in 1857, for the England Eleven against Twenty-two of Uppingham with three professionals (including F. Tinley), Jackson bowled six men in seven balls. There were 22 ducks in the forty-four innings! In his first match with the Eleven at Spalding against a local Twenty-two he got 10 wickets in the second innings. At Truro in 1858 he took 8 wickets in 16 balls. In 1863 against Kent at Cranbrook he got 13 wickets in two innings, caught out four men, made 100 runs, and practically defeated the Men of Kent single-handed. Of these and kindred performances Jackson can talk for hours.
"I never got 10 wickets in an innings in a first-class match," says he, "but I once did something as good. It was in North v. South at Nottingham. I got nine wickets and lamed Johnny Wisden, so that he could not bat. That was as good as ten, eh 1 When Mr V. E. Walker scored a century and got all 10 wickets for England against Surrey in 1859, I bowled at the opposite end to him. In the second innings I tried to equal his bowling feat, but could only get to 6 wickets for 21 runs.
"Is it true that every time I got a wicket I used to blow my nose? Well, that is Dick Daft's version, and I won't question it. Perhaps I did blow my nose every time. One gets into these little mannerisms, you know, unconsciously."
From this point Jackson may be allowed to ramble on, as it were, in his own way, recalling at haphazard reminiscences of his contemporaries and recollections of his own doings.
"Old Fuller Pilch used to stand umpire in some of our matches, and I remember once appealing to him for leg-beforewicket. 'Bowl them out,' was his scornful retort, the only answer he would give. On another occasion—I think it was at Canterbury—Ned Stephenson appealed against Tom Hayward, who was then only just coming out as a batsman. Pilch gave him 'not out,' and coolly turning round to Stephenson, remarked, 'I want to see this youngster bat.' But perhaps the most curious bit of umpiring—-except an incident when we were in Philadelphia, where Carpenter was given out caught off a wide ball!—was on the Mote Park ground, Maidstone. Hillyer was the umpire. In playing back at the ball I overbalanced myself and actually sat on the wicket, knocking the bails off, of course. There was an appeal for hit wicket, but old Hillyer would not give me out. 'Nay, I don't think he did it intentional,' was his reply! I was much obliged to him: had I been the bowler I don't know what I should have said.
"In contrast to this sort of umpiring, there was a decision which affected George Freeman and gave him an opportunity of showing his good sportsmanship. We were playing at Batley on the occasion of the Batley feast. George played a ball very hard from me on to his foot, and it bounced up and was caught by the wicket-keeper. I appealed, and Freeman was given out. George at once said, 'Quite right; a very good decision.'
"Alfred Mynn and Box were once the victims of an awkward yet amusing incident at Stamford. I was playing for the local Twenty-two against the All-England Eleven. Box was standing short-leg, and Mr Mynn at middle-wicket. The ball was hit high up between the two on the on-side. Both ran for it, and Box's forehead came into violent contact with Alfred Mynn's mouth. The force of the collision sent Box staggering to the ground three or four yards away, while all we could hear from Mr Mynn was 'Where's my teef; bub-bub-bub, where's my teef 1'
"This incident calls to mind another. I once played against a Twenty-two of Clydesdale, Glasgow. A gentleman named M'Intosh fielded middle-wicket to Tinley's bowling, and Ike Hodgson hit a ball very hard to him. The ball went through his hands, hit him on the forehead, and glanced away to longfield, where it was caught by Alfred Clark. There is thus, you see, an advantage in having a thick head.
"Yet another of these amusing incidents. I once played at Sheffield on the Hyde Park ground. Daft was standing at cover-point and Tinley at point. Daft threw in the ball as hard as he could to the wicket-keeper, but Tinley's head was in the way, and the ball bounced off his cranium to the boundary for 4! Tinley developed a bald spot on the top of his head in the place where the hair used to grow, and we always used to say it was caused by this 'hit' for 4.
"Did you ever see an umpire asleep at a match? Often, you say? Yes, but I don't mean that way; I mean actually taking forty winks while the game is in progress 1 Well, old Buttress once fell asleep in a match at Rochdale, and the ball being struck hard towards him, hit him full in the stomach. With a start he exclaimed, 'Well, I'm blessed! I must have been asleep.'
"Another of our umpires went to sleep under different circumstances. It was Joe Guy, of Notts. We had to go from Leicester to Hereford, and Guy was to stand as umpire. When we reached Hereford there was no Guy. The next day he turned up. It transpired that he had fallen asleep in the train at Birmingham, and that the carriage had been shunted into a siding, where he awoke and found himself the next morning!
"George Tarrant must also have been asleep, figuratively speaking, once. He had been playing in London, and was engaged to go from there to Harecastle, Captain Lawton's place, near Macclesfield. Instead of going there he went to Horncastle, in Lincolnshire. He arrived at that place on the Sunday evening, strolled about, saw no bills of the match, and wondered what was amiss. Then he went to a local publichouse and asked if there was not to be a cricket match in the town the following day. No; they had heard nothing about it. He thereupon went to Nottingham and ascertained at Sam Parr's that it was at Harecastle where the match would take place. The result was that he reached his proper destination at four o'clock on the evening of the day that the match
commenced.
"Once we were playing at Oldham, and Shotton came out to field for Tom Hayward, who was ill. Chris. Tinley was bowling slows, and Ike Hodgson hit the ball hard and high. Shotton ran for it, when I said, 'I have it.' In trying for the catch I heard some one rush up pit-pat, and felt him knock against my elbow. It was Shotton. As the result the catch was missed, but I picked the ball up, threw it to the wicketkeeper, and Hodgson was run out. Ike had been standing mid-way on the wicket watching our performance, and when he saw that, though he had been given a life, he had also lost his wicket, he blurted out in disgust, 'Well, I was a fool, standing looking on there like that!'
"W. G.'s father once figured in an incident at the Downs, Bristol, which caused a good deal of merriment among us at the time. Mr Grace, senior, was on the wicket, and Julius Caesar, going up to inspect the pitch, bawled out, 'Here, you fellah, get off that wicket.' 'Who are you calling a fellah?' was the prompt retort. 'You, of course.' More, compliments were exchanged before the two came to know each other's identity, when matters were quietly smoothed over. That was a match in which the local sportsmen provided the players with a liberal allowance of champagne. Hinkly, in going to the wicket, could only reach it by taking a circuitous route. Willsher and I, however, bowled straight enough, as the local twenty-two found out.
"I wonder if Richard Daft remembers once trying to bowl underhand slows to George Anderson? It was in a match at Eastwell for Melton Mowbray. George Anderson in the first over hit two balls in succession into an adjoining wheat-field, each ball being lost. Daft did not take another over.
"Then does George Anderson remember this? He was playing at Hungerford, and hitting a ball very hard to squareleg, it struck a gentleman's carriage and smashed a panel. The gentleman was so enraged that he actually threatened to take proceedings against George for damaging his carriage!
"You were lucky to get in a good hit to leg off George Freeman. I remember once at Peterborough making quite a sensational stroke to square-leg. Freeman, Tom Hearne, and Buttress were playing for the local twenty-two, and I hit a ball from Freeman into the tent on the square-leg boundary. The distance was measured and found to be 103 yards 1 foot.
"I was talking a few minutes since about umpires. A York man of my acquaintance would be hard to beat for a mixture of simplicity and cheek. He officiated in a match at Hull, and when I appealed to him for something at the wicket he replied, 'Not out; and I'll bet you a crown we win.' I didn't take the bet, and he didn't stand as umpire any longer. He was the father of a well-known York cricketer who played for his native county.
"Mention of Hull reminds me that Job Greenwood had an alarming experience there. They used to allow 'lunies' from a local asylum to roll the ground. On the occasion I speak of one of the imbeciles was seized with a sudden frenzy, and taking the iron cross handle out of the roller he hit Job a terrific blow on the head with it, nearly killing him. I believe lunatics have not been allowed to roll wickets at Hull since.
"We old cricketers made but a very poor living by our occupation, and sometimes we had to stick up for our rights. I remember once going from Uppingham to London. Some of our fellows had an agreement to play for -Q4 or £$ under a hundred miles, and ^5 or £6 over that distance. I had made no agreement. At the close of the match old Mr Dark, who used to almost run Lord's ground, offered me £4. 'What's that for?' I asked. '^4 for playing,' he replied. 'Keep it until it's ^5,' I retorted, and left it. I had to go up to Lord's soon after for the Gentlemen v. Players' match, and then said I wanted ^10, including the ^5 owing to me. Mr Dark gave me three packages. 'There's a mistake here,' I said, on glancing at their contents. 'There is no mistake,' he curtly replied. I took the packages away, and on examining them found they contained in all ^43. Of course I took the money back. Mr Dark saw his error, paid me my full fee, and for some years afterwards always gave me a bat.
"Of course, you will know I went with the first English team to Canada and the States in 1859, and with George Parr's team to America and Australia in 1864. We did not lose a match on either the American or the Australian trip, but we ought to have been beaten in Sydney. Chris. Tinley had to go in last when it required 1 to tie and 2 to win. He hit a ball straight into a fielder's hands, but the man dropped it and a run was scored for the stroke. During this tour E. M. Grace and I played an eleven of Castlemaine ourselves and defeated them, too.
"My career with Notts closed in 1866 owing to an injury I received in the match with Yorkshire at Trent Bridge. I was fielding at very long slip, and in running after the ball I fell and ruptured a blood-vessel in my leg. I was laid up twenty weeks after it, but got well. I think I ought to have been played again for my county, and that I should have been had it not been for the fact that I was not strictly Notts born, though as other cases have passed muster I don't see why mine should not. My last match with the All-England Eleven was at Sleaford in 1870. After I had done playing for the Eleven of England I was engaged at Burnley for two seasons, and my average was 30 runs. I was engaged at Dingle C.C. for three years, and by Lord Massareene in Ireland one season; George Roper, Richmond, Yorkshire, two seasons; and 1877 Cambridge University and Norfolk County at Norwich; also three years at Birkenhead GrammarSchool.
"Four years after I had retired, I played with George Parr's team at Sheffield against a local eighteen. In the first innings I did not bowl, but got 10 runs; in the second innings I went on at Morley's end and took 10 wickets. That did not look as if I was unfit to play for Notts."
Jackson's nose is awry, not from blowing it after taking wickets, as he confesses he used to do, but from a blow on it at the nets at Cambridge. "The Rev. A. R. Ward, then and for years treasurer of the 'Varsity, brought me some brandy to rub it with. I drank the brandy and went into the pavilion for hot water."
Jackson was a participant in a famous single-wicket match, played on the Trent Bridge ground on July 4, 1862. The players were all "cracks," yet the scores worked out as follows:—
CAMBRIDGE.
Hayward, c and b Jackson .... 1
Tarrant, b Jackson . .... 0
Carpenter, b Jackson .... 0
1
NOTTINGHAM.
Jackson, b Tarrant ..... 1
R. Daft, c and b Carpenter . . . .11
A. Clark, c and b Tarrant ... .0
12
Regarding this match Jackson says, "I really ought to have won the match single-handed. As you will see, I bowled two of the wickets and caught and bowled the other. I went in first to bat, and hit a ball for 2 runs, but in making the runs I did not knock the bail off at the other end, so the score did not count. Then I drove one from Tarrant on the off-side for a single, which made the match a tie. Tarrant bowled me at that stage, and Dick Daft made the winning hit.
"People are strict now, and rightly so, about county qualification. I wonder what they would think if a county was given three men for a match. That happened on one famous occasion, I being one of the given men, and Parr and Caffyn the other two. It was England v. Kent at Lord's (July 5, 1858), and the match was all over in one day. England got us out for 33 and 41, and won by 10 wickets. I think I did my share, though, for in England's first innings I took 9 wickets for 27 runs. In our second innings H. H. Stephenson did the hat trick with the last three balls, the victims being myself, Mr B. Norton, and W. Baker.
"It is not given to every one to take part twice in a tie match. I had the experience against the Free Foresters at Nottingham, and Bishops Stortford in Herts. There was a remarkable coincidence in the two ties. In the Foresters' match a no-ball was called, but was not heard, and therefore not scored. At Bishops Stortford a wide ball was called, and this, too, was neither heard nor scored.
"Mention of a wide reminds me again of the singular incident that occurred at Philadelphia in October 1859. During the match the umpire called ' Wide,' and then gave Carpenter caught out off the same delivery. The umpire required some convincing that he was wrong, but in the end Carpenter was allowed to continue his inni
ngs. In this same match I took 8 wickets, and in the first innings sent down 236 balls for 37 runs.1
"A reporter of the 'New York Herald' had a painful experience at one of our matches on that tour. I made a big hit to square-leg, and the ball caught the unlucky gentleman in the eye. He saw more stars than he was able to report."
1 This was a case of bluffing the umpire. That official was right in his second decision, if wrong on the first.—AUTHOR.
IRELAND has not produced many first - class cricketers —probably for the reason that the opportunities for their development are restricted. Among the small band known to cricketing fame, the Rev. Canon M'Cormick ranks an easy first. "Joe" M'Cormick — the familiarity of the cricket-field needs no apology though reproduced in print — was not actually born in Ireland, but his Hibernian descent is obvious, and as a matter of fact his cricket associations with the Green Isle were as close as his name suggests.
A few biographical details may fittingly precede our Talk. Canon M'Cormick, now vicar of St Augustine's, Highbury, London, was born at Liverpool in the year 1834, his father being Mr William M'Cormick, at one time M.P. for Londonderry. He spent part of his youthful days with a private tutor at Bingley, the "Throstle Nest" of West Yorkshire. Graduating at Cambridge, he was ordained in 1858, and took his first curacy at St Peter's, Regent Square, London. From there he was appointed to the living of Dunmore, East Waterford; and in 1863 he became the vicar of St Peter's, New Cross, London, where he was largely instrumental in erecting a very handsome church at a cost of ^12,000. In the spring of 1875 the rev. gentleman was appointed to the vicarage of Holy Trinity, Hull, where he remained until 1894, and he then left to take up his present charge at Highbury. While at Hull he was appointed Rural Dean, and made a Canon of York, and a further proof of the esteem in which his services for the Church are held was forthcoming in his appointment in 1890 as Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen.