As a welcome to the start of the new decade and to turn thoughts towards the coming Spring and Summer with the multifarious activities I thought that sporting activities in a fairly wide sense could form the basis for the Note in the first of the 2010 Newsletters. Many Friends will know that we have famous cricketers and the name of Lillywhite will spring instantly to mind, however there are another three Highgate names associated with the game.
Following these we can turn to more energetic sports and begin with boxing, followed by an athlete of quite remarkable prowess and then the sport at which the British seem to excel in modern times, namely swimming.

OSBALDSON, George (1786-1866). He was the earliest of the three and he had wide interests and achievements in a range of sporting activities. He certainly had an unusual childhood, the one boy with four sisters from parents with ecclesiastical, academic and political families in the south of England but due to a condition in his grandfathers Will the family lived near Scarborough. When his father died the estate was left in trust for six-year old George but his mother squandered much of it. George went to school in Ealing before Eton College where sport was his sole interest. He went to Brasenose College, Oxford where he matriculated but the precedence of sport over study meant that he left in 1807 without a degree. What must have been his considerable wealth qualified him to be commissioned as lieutenant-colonel of the 5th regiment North Riding local militia in 1809 for two years. Family connections opened the way for him to be elected as whig MP for East Retford, Lincolnshire for six years from 1812, although he rarely attended parliament. He also enjoyed the appointment as high sheriff for Yorkshire in 1829. Osbaldson’s obsession was to be the best at competitive sports; he was skilled at billiards, cricket, shooting, rowing, tennis, horse-racing, carriage-racing and fox-hunting. He was associated with several well-known hunts but he appears to have antagonised all ranks of society by his self-centered, arrogant attitudes. He first played cricket at Lord’s in 1808 and both bowled and batted for the All England team. He was a famous shot but a wry note mentions that the bore of his gun was 1 1/2 inches! While he weighed 11 stone he was only 5 feet 6 inches tall with a powerful build that must have helped him as a jockey in horse races and steeplechases as well as various carriage races. He also bred horses at his new seat at Ebberston Hall, Scarborough where he desperately prospected for coal, hoping to solve his financial problems. In 1831 he rode and won an endurance horse race against time, covering 200 miles in ten hours for a bet of 1000 guineas. He rode his last race in 1855. He had been forced to sell his estates to clear large debts mainly due to gambling on horses. In July 1851 he married a widow and they lived in her houses in Regent’s Park, London. He died virtually penniless at his home in Grove Road, St John’s Wood, London in August 1866. He would seem to have been quite a colourful character!

LILLYWHITE; (Frederick) William (1792-1854). He was born near Goodwood in Sussex, the elder child of a brickfield-field manager in the Duke of Richmond’s service. H in turn established himself as a bricklayer and brick-maker and then shortly after 1822 settled in Hove, Sussex as manager of a brick-making gang. He was over thirty before he made a serious mark, playing his first game at Lord’s in June 1827. It wasn’t long before he gained the reputation as the Nonpareil Bowler, a model of consistency for twenty years. The round-arm method of bowling he used was not legalised by the MCC until 1828 but he was the first eminent and distinctive bowler of this type and heavily involved in the process which led to its acceptance. His slow deliveries masked sharpness off the pitch and he was noted for his uncommon accuracy of line and length. It is said that he bowled less than a dozen wide balls during his long career. In 245 major matches, often in partnership with Jem Broadbridge who was another round-arm bowler, he had collected a total of 1570 wickets. His best summer was 1844 when he took 115 wickets and his best single achievement was at Lord’s in 1837 when he took ten wickets for the Players against a Gentlemen’s team of eighteen. Although less accomplished as a batsman he ended his career with 2350 runs in major matches. Lillywhite became landlord of the Royal Sovereign inn, Brighton where he laid out a cricket ground next to it, he played seventy matches for Sussex as well as a handful for Middlesex, Surrey and Hampshire. In the seasons 1851-3 he was coach at Winchester School. A further source of income was the cricket outfitters store which he opened in Islington. His three sons also became noted in the game. James Lillywhite senior (1825-1882), an occasional Sussex cricketer and coach at Cheltenham College was instrumental in founding the popular Lillywhite store of London in 1863, the longest established sports emporium in the country. Other Lillywhite’s also made notable contributions to the game. @Lilly’ himself was only 5 feet 4 inches tall but stocky and with a ruddy countenance that together with his tall hat, black braces and stiff collar made his rustic presence part of the cricketing scene. It is sad to record that he died of cholera at his home in Islington in 1854. The MCC erected a monument above his grave, simply inscribed “Lillywhite”, for perhaps in death as in life, only amateurs were allowed the use of initials.

THOMS Robert Arthur ( 1825-1903).While still part of the ‘National Game of England’ this name is probably unknown to most Friends. He was one of the great English umpires, a very necessary and vital part of the game. He had been a useful batsman and an outstanding fielder and only became an umpire for Middlesex in 1864. In 1889 he was chosen to stand in the first “Test” against Australia and was thereafter always readily accepted by Australian teams. There is a great deal more that could be written about this sportsman.

BASEBE Charles John (1818-1880). This name has a link to the national game in that being an artist he has many cricket portraits hanging at Lords

If we now turn to the pugilistic art of boxing it will come as no surprise to see the name SAYERS Thomas (1826-1865). His presence and his story are so well-known that there seems little point in repeating the many facets of his life and professional achievements, the latter culminating in his most famous fight with John Heenan in April 1860 lasting over two hours. He was only ever beaten once in 1853 after sixty-one rounds over slightly more than two hours.

BRUNTON Harry. (1825/6-1886) will not be a name known to many Friends but he also was a bare-fisted boxer. His fight with W. Cain in 1850 which he eventually lost went to 138 rounds. He was Tom Sayers’ second for the latter’s last five fights, and had the great misfortune in the fifth one to be knocked down by Heenan who was by then blinded and had mistakenly imagined he was hitting Sayers. Brunton subsequently became the proprietor of the “George and Dragon”, Barbican during 1854 to1867 and of the Nags Head, Wood Green from then until his death.

HAYES William. (1827-1859) was a pugalist with a remarkable record and phenominal endurance, in 1849 he beat Madden in a bout lasting 185 rounds lasting over six hours, in 1853 he beat Jack Jones in 72 rounds over three hours and in 1857 he lost to J. Travers at the end of 78 rounds that took just under four hours

Let us now consider other sporting personalities and start with athletics and then swimming.

FOWLER-DIXON John Edwin (1850-1943). This Highgate resident’s interest in athletics began as a journalist and founder of the Athletic News Agency. He achieved the record for the forty miles run in 4 hours 46 minutes and 54 seconds at Birmingham at the end of December 1884 and this record still stood in 1950. In 1885 he did hold the record for fifty miles amateur running at 6 hours 18 minutes and 26 seconds beating his own record in the previous year by 2 minutes and 21 seconds. He was not only a runner for he had the fifty miles amateur walking record of 8 hours 54 minutes and 40 seconds in 1877 and the 100 miles amateur walking record in the same year. With these achievements it is perhaps not surprising that he became President of the London Athletic Club in 1912 and he was also Vice-President of the West London Lacrosse Club and a member of other athletic institutions. He was Life Vice-President of the Amateur Athletic Association and assisted in its formation at Oxford in 1880. There was also an international aspect to his achievements when he became one of the British judges at the Olympian Games in Athens in 1906, Stockholm in 1912, Antwerp in 1920 and Paris four years after that. His journalistic interests produced Athletes and the War as well as verses, short stories and articles on amateur sports and pastimes.

HENRY William (1861-1928). This philanthropist, who was born William Henry Nawrocki, of Polish descent in London, was instrumental in founding the Life Saving Society and no doubt there are many who are filled with gratitude for having been rescued from hazardous experiences. He played water polo for Englandadopted the surname Henry by deed poll in 1896. He was a leading swimmer in his day and became aware of the large numbers (5,000 pa) being drowned each year because of the absence of safety awareness. When he failed to interest either the Amatuer Swimming Association or the Royal Humane Society, he together with six other swimmers founded the Swimmers Life Saving Society in London. This with Edward VII’s blessing became the Royal Life Saving Society in 1904. In 1994 there were 60 branches throughout the world and is the largest organisation of its kind. Many of the early activities of the Society took place in Highgate ponds

PROSSER ( -1923) This is another name that will not be familiar to many but it is a suitable name with which to conclude this note in that he embraced a wide range of sporting connections for he was concerned with sports goods.