Arthur Haygarth

MR. Arthur Haygarth.--By the death of Mr. Arthur Haygarth at his London residence on the 1st of May, at the age of seventy-seven, there passed away a famous cricketer, whose name will always be gratefully recalled as long as the game continues to be played. Although a very capable exponent of the game which he loved so much, he will always be chiefly known to fame as the compiler of the Cricket Scores and Biographies. In 1842, while still at Harrow School, he commenced his labour of love, being but sixteen years of age at the time, and it says much for his enthusiasm for his work that to the day of his death his interest in the subject remained as great as ever. When he began to collect facts concerning the history of cricket and the chief players, it was merely as an amusement, and with no idea of his notes ever being published. In 1852, however, Mr. F. P. Miller, the captain of the famous Surrey team of which Caffyn, H. H. Stephenson, Lockyer, Mortlock, Griffith, and Cæsar were the leading lights, asked Mr. Haygarth to lend him his manuscript with a view to publication. To this the latter readily consented, but Vol. I. did not appear until ten years later. In 1873, the M. C. C. invited Mr. Haygarth to continue his work, with the result that the last ten volumes of the magnum opus have been published through the instrumentality of the premier club. Altogether the work consists of fourteen volumes, every line of which was penned by Mr. Haygarth, the statement inserted at the commencement of the first volume that the Lillywhites assisted in the compilation being altogether inaccurate, and inserted merely to suit their own ends. It would be impossible to overestimate the value of Mr. Haygarth's labours, while to state that his death has left a gap which it will be impossible to fill is a fact of which every student of the game is fully conscious. For a period of over sixty years he worked loyally at his self-imposed task, never losing heart when meeting with a rebuff, nor becoming weary in seeking out unexplored fields that promised to contain any records or novelties connected with the game. With reference to his great work, Mr. Haygarth wrote: There is certainly one great mistake, or rather oversight. Which I made during the 50 years and upwards in which I was engaged on the Cricket Scores and Biographies, and it is this -- I preserved too many matches of an inferior calabre by far. If I had not done this the fourteen volumes already published would have reached a date much further than they do now, namely, to the end of 1878.

The last volume issued was the fourteenth, in 1894, the M. C. C. declining to continue publication owing to the fact that it was not a success financially. This action on the part of the Club caused Mr. Haygarth much distress, but did not result in his enthusiasm for the game lessening in the slightest degree. A short time before his death Mr. Haygarth said to the writer of this memoir, I can truly affirm that if, when I began the collection, I had known the trouble and expense I have been put to for so many years, I should never have undertaken the work. I am wise too late. He was a voluminous writer and frequently contributed articles and paragraphs to Cricket under the nom de plume of An Old Harrovian.

for M. C. C. and Ground against Sussex, at Lord's, in 1860, when he and the late J. Grundy bowled unchanged throughout the match.

MR. Arthur Haygarth, who was buried at Brompton on the 5th of May, was the youngest of three brothers, the others being the Rev. Canon Henry William Haygarth, who died on December 31st last, aged eighty-one, having been vicar of Wimbledon since 1859, and Colonel Francis Haygarth, late adjutant of the Scots Fusilier Guards, who was most severely wounded at the battle of the Alma, and who survives. Mr. Arthur Haygarth was the only one of the brothers who participated in the game. Three cousins, however, earned distinction on the cricket field, Mr. J. W. Haygarth playing for Winchester in 1858, 1859, 1860 and 1861 (being captain the last two years), and for Oxford in 1862, 1863, and 1864; Mr. Frederick being in the Winchester elevens of 1864, 1865 and 1866; and Mr. E. B. appearing for Lancing College in 1868, 1869, and 1870. The three last-named were brothers, of whom a fourth, Mr. G. A. Haygarth, was also a good player, although not known to fame.