The Marylebone Club

PAST PATRON-H. R. H. PRINCE ALBERT.

PAST PRESIDENTS.

1826.	Charles Barnett, Esq.
1827.	H. Kingscote, Esq.
1828.	A. F. Greville, Esq.
1829.	John Barnard, Esq.
1830.	Hon. G. Ponsonby.
1831.	W. Deedes, Esq.
1832.	H. Howard, Esq.
1833.	Herbert Jenner, Esq.
1834.	Hon. H. Ashley.
1835.	Lord C. Russell.
1836.	Lord Suffield.
1837.	Viscount Grimston.
1838.	Marquis of Exeter.
1839.	Earl of Chesterfield.
1840.	Earl of Verulam.
1841.	Earl Craven.
1842.	Earl of March.
1843.	Earl of Ducie.
1844.	Sir John Bayley, Bart.
1845.	Thos. Chamberlayne, Esq.
1846.	Earl of Winterton.
1847.	Earl of Strathmore.
1848.	Earl of Leicester.
1849.	Earl of Darnley.
1850.	Lord Guernsey.
1851.	Earl Stamford & Warrington.
1852.	Viscount Dupplin.
1853.	Marquis of Worcester.
1854.	Earl Vane.
1855.	Earl of Uxbridge.
1856.	Viscount Milton.
1857.	Sir F.Bathurst, Bart.
1858.	Lord Garlies.
1859.	Earl of Coventry.
1860.	Lord Skelmersdale.
1861.	Earl Spencer.
1862.	Earl of Sefton.
1863.	Lord Suffield.
1864.	Earl of Dudley.
1865.	Lord Ebury.
1866.	Earl of Sandwich.
1867.	Earl of Verulam.
1868.	Lord Methuen.
1869.	Marquis of Lansdowne.
1870.	J.H.Scourfield, Esq., M.P.
1871.	Earl of Clarendon.
1872.	Viscount Downe.
1873.	Earl of Cadogan.
1874.	Marquis of Hamilton.

PAST TREASURERS.

F. Ladbrooke, Esq.

H. Kingscote, Esq.

R. Kynaston, Esq.

PAST HON. SECRETARIES.

B. Aislabie, Esq.

R. Kynaston, Esq.

A. Baillie, Esq.

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THE MARYLEBONE CLUB IN 1875.

Patron-H. R. H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.

President- SIR CHARLES LEGARD, Bart., M.P.

The Committee.
• Treas.- R. BURGOYNE, Esq.Sec.- R. A. FITZGERALD, Esq.
• Trustees.-Earl of Dudley, Earl of Sefton, Hon. F. Ponsonby, R. Broughton, Esq., W. Nicholson, Esq.
• Lord Harris, Hon. Spencer Ponsonby Fane, Hon. Robert Grimston, Hon. C. G. Lyttelton, A. H. Smith-Barry, Esq., M. P., J. H. Scourfield, Esq., M. P., W. H. Dyke, Esq., M. P., R. Forster, Esq., C. E. Green, Esq., J. M. Heathcote, Esq., C. Marriott, Esq., E.Rutter, Esq., Capt. Kenyon-Slaney, E. W. Sutton, Esq., and Col. Taswell.
• Auditors-G. D. Porcher, Esq., R. J. Ward, Esq., and the Rev. J. Randolph.

Assistant Secretary and Clerk to the committee-Mr. J. Murdoch.

Professional Bowlers engaged at Lord"s in 1875- Thomas Hearne, sen. (Captain), Alfred Shaw, S. Biddulph, F. Farrands, Walter Price, John West, M. Flanagan, Robert Clayton, Nixon (of Cambs), J. G. Davey, A. Rylott, F. Randon, F. Morley, F. Wyld, and Scotton ( Notts).

Ground Superintendent-Peircy Pearce (from Sussex).

Tennis Master-George Lambert (Tennis Champion).

The 88th ANNIVERSARY MEETING of the Members of the MARYLEBONE CLUB was held at Lord's Ground at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 5th, the EARL of CADOGAN, the President, in the Chair. His lordship opened the proceedings, and called upon the Secretary to read the Annual Report, whereupon the Secretary read the following (taken from Bell's Life, of May 8th.)

The Annual Report which the Committee have to submit to the Members, will testify to the continued financial prosperity of the Marylebone Club.

The list of members has been increased to 1,866, and the receipts from matches amounted to £3,625 2s. 6d., as against £3,012 11s. 6d. in the previous year.

The increase of price of admission at the Public Schools Match tended to lessen the number of visitors, but the good order which to some extent is due to this measure, coupled with the fact that no objection to it was raised by the regular visitors to Lord's Ground, encourages the Committee to maintain the increased price (2s. 6d. each person) this season.

The new embankment was found to be very acceptable to members and their friends; the seats will be reserved for members and friends introduced by them as last year. Reserved seats for members will also be provided at the University and Public Schools Matches in the northwest corner of the ground. Tickets will be issued for these seats in due course, and they will be allotted only to those members who have not applied for a carriage ticket. In order to meet the increased demands of tennis players and others interested in the game, it has been found necessary to make considerable improvements in the dedans and dressing rooms attached to the tennis court.

Visitors to the court will now be seated in comfort, and the members will find all their wants supplied by the additional dressing and serving rooms.

The two billiard rooms have been converted into one, and a balcony has been thrown out from it. It is intended to report the interesting games of billiards, which gave great satisfaction last season.

George Lambert, the tennis marker, who is temporarily incapacitated by illness, will occupy rooms above the billiard room, and an additional room will also be obtained for the Assistant Secretary within the building.

Mr. Heathcote still holds the Tennis Challenge Prize, and Mr. G. B. Crawley is the holder of the silver prize.

It will only remain now to enlarge the Racquet Court Dressing Room, which will be undertaken next autumn, by which time the Club will have secured the portion of ground necessary to extend the premises.

P. Pearce, who came to Lord's Ground with a high reputation from the Sussex County Club, has succeeded Jordan as Ground Superintendent, and under his care the remaining portion of the ground has been raised and levelled.

The great work of raising and re-levelling the whole area of Lord's Ground is at length accomplished.

The Committee now approach a less satisfactory aspect, and one scarcely worthy of the reputation of the Marylebone Club.

It is much to be lamented that the playing strength of the Club does not appear to have advanced in due proportion to the increased roll of members.

The members are earnestly reminded that something more is required of them than pecuniary support, in order to maintain the Marylebone Club at the head of the cricketing world.

It will scarcely be credited that on several occasions last season matches were either abandoned or otherwise injured, both by the non-appearance of members who had engaged to play, and by the reluctance of others to take part at all.

This has happened for the first time in the history of the Club, when numbering nearly 1,900 members.

The Committee appeal with confidence to the members, and especially to those who take a most active part in the game, to assist them in the direction and carrying out of the Club programme. They cannot insist too strongly on the injury done to the Club and to cricket itself by the indifference of members to engagements, or by their reluctance to take part in the best matches of the season. The difficulties of the Secretary, the Committee also regret, lie not only in his want of success in enlisting the services of members in behalf of the Club, but the season at Lord's is repeatedly injured by the inconsiderate clashing of fixtures on the part of the counties. No legitimate expense is grudged by the M.C.C., and the claims of the professional players have been met in the most liberal spirit. The Marylebone Club, representing as it does all parts of the cricketing world, has strong claims upon the professionals. It has founded a fund for the benefit of all deserving cricketers, independently of engagements in the Club service. The ground players are seldom refused permission to play for their counties, even to the detriment of a Club match; it is not too much to expect in return that the players not holding engagements under the Club should respect the time-honoured matches at Lords Ground. The Whit Monday match at Lord's in 1875 will, as usual, be the North v. the South, for the benefit of the M.C.C. Fund. The northern side can scarcely be said to be well represented when the best players of Yorkshire and Notts have entered into engagements to play elsewhere.

The Committee trust that they will have no occasion to abandon that liberal policy which for several seasons has characterised the relations of the Club with all classes of cricketers.

The expenses of matches in 1874 amounted to £1,872 6s. 3d. The benefit fund now amounts to £802 1s. 1d.

It is with great regret that the Committee have to announce a vacancy in the office of Auditor.

The death of R. Kynaston, Esq., demands more than a passing notice. He held for many years the office of Hon. Secretary to the M.C.C., subsequently that of Treasurer, and finally, as Auditor, and gave to the last his undivided attention to the welfare and interests of the M.C.C.

The Committee wish to place on the Club records their sense of his long services in the cause of cricket, and of his devoted attachment to Lord's Ground.

They have pleasure in recommending the Rev. J. Randolph, an old member of the Club, to fill the vacancy thus occasioned.

Forty members have resigned, and nine deaths are reported, since the last Anniversary Meeting.

The Committee report with satisfaction that the regulations in respect of carriage tickets at the University and School matches met with much heartier appreciation last season.

In conclusion, the Committee leave with confidence the results of the past year to the friendly consideration of the members. The purchase debt has been considerably reduced, the list of members is rapidly increasing; financially, the position of the Club is secure. The fortunes of cricket have been long in the hands of the Marylebone Club; they must not be allowed to languish in the field through a want of active support from the members themselves.

Discussion upon the report being invited by the Chair, Mr. Willoughby rose to make his annual onslaught on the accounts. The learned gentleman severely criticised the items of expenditure on the Embankment and the Tavern, expressing his belief that the members had not received much additional convenience. After various other strictures, he drew attention to the match list, which he derided as rubbishy; the members could play in better matches elsewhere. As to the professional players, it was also easy to explain their reluctance to play at Lord's, where they are worse treated and less liberally paid than on any other ground. He objected strongly to the introduction of the new game of lawn tennis at Lord's Ground, and concluded with a few words of advice to the Secretary, that if he wished to persuade the members to take a more active part in the game, a little more politeness on his part would conduce to that desired object.

The Hon. R. STEWARTobjected to the encroachment upon the ground at the grand matches of spectators and carriages, and suggested that no carriages should be admitted at all. He also drew attention to the large increase of members, and submitted that the Club was now large enough, and he would be glad to see the numbers limited, and a power of selection given to the Committee, so as not to exclude any players of the day.

Mr. HEATHCOTE rose to reply with some warmth to the severe strictures passed by Mr. Willoughby on the report, especially as to that portion of the attack directed to the expenditure on the Tennis Court. He maintained, in allusion to the illness of George Lambert, and the money voted for him, that the Club should be not only just but generous to its servants. Lambert was a most deserving man, and entitled to the aid that had been given to him. As to the introduction of lawn tennis, as he had personally undertaken, with the Sub-committee, to revise the rules, he could only say that he considered the game an excellent introduction to and substitute for tennis proper. It was an athletic game, and likely to be popular; and as a kindred game to cricket, as an open air pursuit, he was strongly in favour of a portion of the ground being set apart for it, on such conditions and restrictions as the Committee thought proper.

Mr.BURGOYNE replied to the objection raised against the expenditure on refreshments, and explained that, as regards the police, who rendered such valuable services to the Club, the sum expended on their refreshment was in no way commensurate with the value of their services. The same remark would apply to the Schools. The Committee consider that no expense should fall upon those who, by their attachment to Lord's Ground, help to maintain the influence of the Club.

The SECRETARY declined to reply seriatim to Mr. Willoughby, but he could not rest under the imputation of want of courtesy to the members, or of being considered a party to any illiberal treatment of the players. If, in the heat of the day, he had ever offended a member, he was heartily sorry for it; but he at once disclaimed any intention to be uncourteous, and he trusted that the members would believe him to be only actuated by zeal in their behalf. As to the players, much as he regretted the clashing of fixtures, he firmly maintained that there was no cause of complaint on either side as to terms. The players were not only well treated but well paid for their services, and as a body of men he had nothing to complain of them; in fact, he believed, if they could be in two places at the same time, they would be at Lord's as willingly as elsewhere.

Dr. GAYE made some remarks about the permission being refused or granted to charitable bodies for festivities at Lord's Ground. He had applied to the Secretary for permission for a band of Clown Cricketers to play at Lord's on behalf of a Charitable corporation, but had received an answer which he thought was scarcely polite; and he would like to know, through the Chair, what was the rule of the Committee as to permission for such entertainments.

The Marquis of HAMILTON explained that the Committee could not grant permission to any such entertainments at Lord's Ground.

The SECRETARY also stated that though some not far distant day he hoped to see the gates of Lord's Ground open for the benefit of our great hospitals or other bodies, it was impossible at present to do so, and that in case of Dr. Gaye's application, he was really serious in considering that the Clown Cricketers were a burlesque upon cricket that could not be tolerated at Lord's Ground.

The report was then put from the Chair, and carried nem con. By the adoption of the report the following gentlemen take their seats at the Council Board, viz., Lord Harris, Hon. S. P. Fane, C.B., Col. Taswell, and Capt. Kenyon-Slaney. The Rev. J. Randolph succeeds to the vacant office of Auditor, in addition to G. D. Porcher and R. J. Ward, Esqs.

The Ballot was then declared, and the twelve candidates were found to be duly elected.

The meeting separated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman. Sir C. Legard, Bart, moved, and T. Burgoyne, Esq., seconded, that a vote of confidence in the Secretary be passed. This was carried. The Secretary replied in grateful terms for the renewed expression of confidence, which he hoped never to forfeit.

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THE DINNER.

Dinner was served at 7.30. The Chair was taken by the Marquis of Hamilton, the President, supported by the Earl of Londesborough, Sir C. Legard, Bart., and others. The dinner and decorations of the table gave great satisfaction to the members, and the meeting was numerous and influential.

After dinner, the President gave The Queen, The Prince of Wales, as Patron of M.C.C., The Princess of Wales, and The Royal Family, to each of which toasts he applied appropriate remarks, and, it is needless to say, they were received with enthusiasm.

The PRESIDENT then gave the toast of the evening, Cricket, and Success to M.C.C. In the course of a lengthy speech his lordship alluded to the principal points of the annual report, more especially to the difficulties of the Secretary in getting up sides; it was incumbent upon the members to support the executive, it was a duty due to the Club as head of the cricketing world. Example was superior to precept. Cricket looked to Lord's as a parent watchful over her children. The Club did not depend upon fashion, nor should Lord's Ground be regarded as a luxury or lounge, but rather as the palladium of the national game. Cricket had passed through a trying epoch, but it was now established as a thorough English game. Foreigners might compete with success in the hunting field, but none had yet been found able or willing to wield the willow. The Schools of England looked to Lord's for guidance. The Universities carried on the lessons learned here. The death of Mr. Kynaston had been alluded to in the report, and he could not give to the members a more striking instance of undivided attachment to the old Club than that presented by the long services in its behalf of that esteemed gentleman. His lordship regretted that his term of office had come to an end, but he had great pleasure in recommending as his successor Sir Charles Legard, who was distinguished equally as a politician, a sportsman, and a Yorkshire squire.

His lordship vacated the chair amidst loud cheering, and it was taken by Sir C. Legard, who in reply thanked the meeting for their cordial greeting. There were occasions when words failed to express the feelings of the heart-this was one of them. When he looked at the long roll of illustrious predecessors his heart failed him. He would endeavour to do his best to follow in their steps. He must express his entire dissent from the remarks made by a member before dinner. He believed there were no grounds for the imputations conveyed, and that the Club would be as great in the future as it had been in the past; he felt deeply sensible of their kind reception, and trusted to merit at the expiration of his term of office a similar token of esteem. The new President resumed his seat amidst prolonged cheers.

Mr. SCOURFIELD proposed The Health of the retiring President, the Marquis of Hamilton.

Let others laud the rising sun,

I'll sing of him whose race is run.

He remembered his lordship's father as a boy, who then gave earnest of the man we rejoice to honour as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; as a proof of his love for the game still existing, he could state on authority that His Excellency had commenced cricket in earnest this year, having engaged a bowler for private practice. The son had shown himself worthy of the father, by precept if not by example. He concluded by proposing his lordship's health, which was received with every mark of cordial greeting.

The Marquis of HAMILTON replied in suitable terms.

Mr. W. DENISON, M.P., proposed Mr. Burgoyne, The Treasurer, and said it should be a matter of congratulation to the members that any gentleman could be found capable of grasping the figures that appear in the printed accounts.

The TREASURER, who was warmly received, was understood to say that he was ready with an explanation if required of every item in the accounts. He had always maintained that the affairs of the Club, if conducted with honesty and good management, must prosper; and though the system had not attained to perfection, yet on the whole, the management deserved well of the members.

The Earl of LONDESBOROUGH, in an eulogistic speech, proposed The Secretary, and expressed his belief that his arduous duties had not betrayed him into any acts of want of courtesy that might not easily be explained by the pressure upon his time and abilities, not to mention temper. The office was trying, and due allowance should be made to anybody that undertook it.

The SECRETARY, who was well received on rising, in returning thanks for the reception his name had met with, observed that he did not court popularity so much as support from the members; he was not satisfied with, though very sensible of, the outward appreciation of the members. But he was ambitious of maintaining cricket as he found it at Lord's Ground twelve years ago. He felt it his duty to tell the members that he could not continue to hold office unless he was supported in the carrying out of the Club programme. The minor arrangements of the ground on grand match days could be performed equally well by any member; matters of detail were easy to master, but if the Secretary found his influence was on the decline, and that he could no longer induce members to take part in the matches, it was clearly his duty to resign in favour of some better man who could. He was confident that any warmth of expression that had fallen from him would be pardoned by the members; he felt strongly on the point, it was not a personal question; it affected the position of the Club itself. He was willing to devote his time and energies to the service of the Club, and he would only ask in return a little indulgence to the growing infirmities of temper which were not peculiar to himself, and for a more ready support by the active members in the field. He was very grateful for the many kind words that had been spoken to-day, and if he had given offence to anybody, he could only repeat that he had erred out of zeal for the interests of the Club.

Mr. SCOURFIELD proposed The Tennis Prize Winners, coupled with Mr. Heathcote and Mr. Crawley . He remarked upon the proud position held by Mr. Heathcote as Champion Tennis Player of the day, and hoped that Lord's might long continue to boast of him as Champion of Tennis.

Mr. HEATHCOTE replied in an excellent speech. After alluding to the recent improvements in the Tennis Court, he proceeded to explain the action of the Sub-Committee on the new game of lawn tennis. He considered this an excellent substitute for and introduction to tennis proper. Rules had been drawn up for use at Lord's Ground. The rules, as laid down by the Sub-Committee, he could submit with confidence to the country.

Dr. JONES proposed the Committee in an eloquent speech, describing them as the soul, as he and others were the body, of the Club; and concluded by coupling the toast with the youngest members of the Committee, who combined youthful influence with mature experience of the noble game, Lord Harris.

Lord HARRIS delivered a characteristic speech, and in reply to an observation that fell from the Secretary, that there was something wrong at present in cricket, he could answer, feelingly, that there was too much cricket. He could appreciate the difficulties of the Secretary, as he had to contend with the same in his own County of Kent. The players could be secured, but the amateurs belonged to too many Clubs, and it was greatly to be deplored, as esprit de corps suffered in consequence.

The meeting separated at midnight, after passing an unanimous vote of thanks to Mr. Crick for the excellent entertainment provided for them.

(The above is taken from Bell's Life.)

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