Cavan cricket and Arthur Sclater who died in New Zealand

Jonathan Smyth's Times Past column looks at Cavan born cricketer Arthur Sclater.

Remarking on the slow pace of the game, Robin Williams once said, ‘cricket is basically baseball on Valium.’ It remains a beloved sport in England, India, Pakistan and many other countries. However, not too many people know that cricket was first played in Ireland as far back as 1792. Cricket never sounded to me to be an overly popular sport in Ireland until the Irish Cricket Team’s success in recent times.

I remember a schoolteacher who valiantly attempted to introduce the game to his school, only to be whacked hard on the head, by a stray ball flung randomly by an accident-prone student. I learned that cricket was played at Cavan Royal School in the 19th nineteenth century, as well as towns and villages in the county. One notable team was the Tullyvin Cricket Club. This newspaper regularly reported match results. While Tullyvin’s annual Cricket Club Ball offered local entertainment.

In November 1894, the annual ball was held at Faybrook and was pronounced to be a thorough success. Invitations had circulated in Cavan and Cootehill, resulting in a large attendance and the dancing which ‘commenced at 6pm, was continued till daylight through the windows indicated a break-up was inevitable’, noting that the organisers, Messrs. James Woods, T. Foster, P. Fay, and P. McCabe had ‘every reason to be proud of the success’, achieved by their efforts.

Cricket was a big part of life at the Royal School, Cavan, with inter-county matches played and a cricket field at the school.

Nahillah House, formerly the home of the Jones and later the Cole family, is situated near Cloverhill, Co. Cavan Nahillah had a cricket field where inter-county matches were played.

Arthur Sclater

Arthur William Bassett Sclater was born on July 27, 1859, at Auburn (Aubawn), Co Cavan, Ireland. His parents were James Sclater and Louisa Fowler Sclater. They were married in Kildallon Church on Nov 26, 1846. The Sclaters were related to the Vernon family and one of them, a cousin of Arthur’s, named Edward Saunderson Vernon possessed a large estate in New Zealand. The Vernon family were landed gentry and lived at Aubawn House, Kildallon, and another branch resided at Belturbet. It appears that the Sclaters who owned land in Cavan may have been living at Aubawn at the time of Arthur’s birth. There is an account of the family in Burke’s Landed Gentry (1871) under Sclaters of Newick Park, Sussex. Arthur’s grandparents were James Henry Sclater, of Newick Park, born 1793, married to Miss Cecil Saunderson, daughter of Francis Saunderson of Castlesaunderson. The same James Henry Sclater was a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society, in England.

Arthur’s siblings were James Robert Charles Sclater, Cecil Jane Sclater, Catherine Louisa Helen Sclater, Francis Saunderson Sclater, Henry Crichton Sclater, Jane Elizabeth Rachel Sclater, John Edward Fowler Sclater and Charles Gilbert Sclater. In his Wiki-Tree history of the Sclater family, Andrew Sinclair-Thomson provides an account of Arthur’s brother Francis Saunderson Sclater, whom he tells us ‘was a distinguished English clergyman’ who was born in Brighton, Sussex.

Moving to England, Sclater’s schooling took place at Tunbridge Wells, Kent. He took a course at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. However, his skill lay on the cricket field and at six feet five inches ‘without boots’, his well-proportioned physique, they say, made an impression on the ladies. Sclater’s career lay on the sports field as a professional cricketer. He is described as being ‘a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace.’ Sclater played for the Sussex cricket team from 1879 to 1880.

In 1882, Arthur arrived in New Zealand where he met up with his cousin Edward Saunderson Vernon whom he intended to stay with during the visit. One day, he went off to do a spot of duck shooting. However, a random accident claimed the cricketer’s life when his gun caught in a hedge. On June 22, 1882, the Mount Ida Chronicle published a sad notice on the tragedy, calling ‘the fatal accident’ at Tois Tois, Fortrose, ‘a particularly painful one.’ Sclater had arrived from England to the Colony by the Manapouri S.S. During the duck shoot he was moving out from bushes when ‘a twig caught the trigger of the gun’ and accidentally killed him.

On July 14, 1882, Otago Daily Times carried a detailed account of the events surround in the accident. We are told that the death occurred near the home of Mr Rich who held part of the estate alongside Edward Saunderson Vernon’s land. On the day of the death, Mr Vernon had set out to attend business on the far side of his estate and had left Sclater with his neighbour Mr Rich. The Otago Daily Times stated that, ‘the deceased left the house in the early part of the forenoon, in the company of Miss Josephine Rich, with the intention of shooting ducks’ and then ‘about noon the deceased inquired of Miss Rich what time they had luncheon’. Her response was, ‘from 12 to 12.30pm’ and Arthur then told her to go on ahead to her house and he would follow. Sadly, it was not to be, and he was later discovered by Mr W.G. Rich and Mr W.G. Rich Jnr.

The jury at the inquest returned a verdict of accidental death. His body was found ‘lying beside a creek’ on the banks of the Tititrau river. The wound was to the head. He was just a couple of weeks from his 23rd birthday.

For more information on the Sclater pedigree see Andrew Sinclair-Thomson’s biographical and genealogical research HERE.

Cavan Cricket in 1872

On July 17, 1872, Cavan Cricket Club played ‘The Arabs’ on the Nahillah cricket field. ‘The Arabs’ were not actually Arabic but were in fact the Enniskillen Cricket Club who had chosen this as the club name. The home team was favoured on the day by twelve runs in a ‘well-contested game’.

The match report remarked on how the ‘day was all that could be desired by the lovers of the willow and induced a goodly number of spectators to the field. In the pavilion we noticed Mrs Jones and the Misses Jones’ and ‘for the county Mr Tyute got top score (Cavan’s score at end of the game was 99) … the Arabs played a splendid innings for 87.’

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