The photographic career of the great Roger Fenton (1819-1869) lasted only eleven years, but one has to be thankful that 155 years ago, on this day, Fenton was able to capture what are considered to be the first photographs of a cricket match, when the Royal Artillery played the Hunsdonbury Club on the old Artillery Ground.
Let the following images serve as tribute to the great Roger Fenton.
I have to admit that I have a fascination with the group of English cricketers that toured the United States and Canada in 1859.
Over the years I’ve tried to read as many accounts about their lives as possible and, heck, I’ve also been engaged in a project to locate their gravestones around England cemeteries [I'll write more about this next time] but this time I’ll use some blog space to talk about a couple of photographs that were taken while these guys were cricketing on this side of the world.
It is well known that the 1859 English cricketers tour to Canada and the United States was big news back in the day, so it should come as no surprise that many third parties tried to capitalize on its success.
Two products that come to mind are T. H. Henna and W.H. Mason’s photograph of the cricketers aboard the Nova Scotian and Edwin Ade’s commemorative belt. Both products proved to be pretty successful and were widely reproduced and even pirated in the old country.
Before getting into the main focus of this post, lets write a bit about Hennah, Mason and the famous cricketers photograph.
Photographer Thomas Henry Hennah was born in London in 1826. By 1852, Hennah and William Henry Kent, a photographer from the Isle of Wight, purchased a license from none other than William Fox Talbot, the photography pioneer, to make portraits using the calotype process.
In 1854, the Hennah and Kent partnership established a Talbotype Portrait Gallery in William Henry Mason’s Repository of Arts at 108 King’s Road in Brighton.
Business must have been very good back then for Hennah, Kent and Mason.
According to a letter addressed to Fox Talbot in 1862, it was said that it took a waiting period of a week to 10 days for a sitting at the Hennah and Kent studio!
William Henry Goodburn Mason (1810-1879), was a well known printseller and publisher (also a cricketer!) and the proprietor of Brighton’s Repository of Arts where he exhibited engravings, lithographs, aquatints and other works of art.
Mason had already been dealing in cricket lithographs since the early 1840s and he was the publisher of what is believed to be the most popular cricket print of any age titled ‘A cricket match between the counties of Sussex and Kent, at Brighton‘.
As the great John Arlott wrote in 1980, “Despite its popularity it was almost the ruin of the unhappy Mason. During the 30 years the plate lay idle, the picture was constantly ‘pirated’, copied, misattributed and wrongly described, but it was, meanwhile, becoming the best-known of all cricket prints; and still is to be met with in cricket pavilions all over the world.”
Hennah was sent to Liverpool to photograph the cricketers aboard the Nova Scotian on the afternoon of that memorable September 7th of 1859 and less than a month after, on October 2nd, the finished product was being published by Mason in conjuction with the firm of John Wisden, one of the celebrated cricket tourists.
And just like it happened with Mason’s Sussex-Kent lithograph, the ‘England’s Twelve Champion Cricketers’ picture -as it was titled-became an instant hit and yet again, photographers across England began to reproduce and copy the image in every format available. ‘Legal’ reproductions like the one sold in Carte de Visite format by the London Stereoscopic Company and even ‘cheap’ pirated copies without any credits are still being found today.
The cricketers were celebrities so it should come as no surprise that our good old American businessmen weren’t going to try and capitalize on the opportunity just like the folks across the pond were doing already.
Newspapers, merchants, restaurateurs and even the Astor House hotel that served as the English cricketers headquarters while in New York, did their best to attract customers attention and profit from the special occasion.
Noted photographers Mathew Brady [Click here for more on Mathew Brady and an early cricket ambrotype] and Charles DeForest Fredricks started advertising photographs of the celebrated cricketing visitors while the tour was still going strong.
So besides Henna’s photograph, -taken and published in England- the pictorial archive of the 1859 All England XI is very limited, and this is why I considered this an interesting topic to write about.
According to Brady’s ad, an “Imperial Photograph” of the group was being exhibited at his Broadway gallery and copies of “a fine stereoscopic view of the cricket ground, with cricketers playing” were available for sale.
On October 15th Harper’s published a couple of engravings, one of them [shown above] after an ambrotype by Brady and portraying the “Eleven of All England”.
It’s worth noting that John Lillywhite and John ‘Foghorn’ Jackson were not pictured with the rest of the cricketers for the occasion.
Brady’s ambrotype was most likely taken outdoors between October 3rd-5th and since John Lillywhite was nursing a “bad hand” and didn’t take part on the 3 day match, he officiated as an umpire and that’s why I assume he was left out of the picture. Don’t have a theory for Jackson’s absence, though.
But was this the “Imperial Photograph” of the cricketers that Brady mentioned in the newspaper advertisement as the one being exhibited in his Broadway gallery?
It could very well be the one but I can’t be sure.
By the mid 1850s Brady had been advertising a ‘new’ process to create life-size portraits from original ambrotypes with “even superior accuracy” to his already well known imperial photographs.
I couldn’t pass on posting this newspaper clipping from the October 17, 1857 issue of Harper’s Weekly.
The ‘Prince of Photographers’ revolutionized the business of photography and helped invent modern advertising with his newspaper ads and elaborate credit lines.
“PHOTOGRAPHY was born in the United States, and the sceptre has not departed from us.”
Priceless.
What about the “fine stereoscopic view of the cricket ground, with cricketers playing”?
Right now I can just remember about two images, both engravings, of the 1859 cricket match at Hoboken.
The fist one, and the one I think was made after a Brady photograph is the other engraving published by Harper’s on October 15th, 1859.
It appeared on the top-half of a double page spread [pages 664 and 665] above the earliest known Harper’s baseball woodcut.
I’m inclined to believe this is the same image after the photograph that was sold by Brady in stereoview format, but again, not sure.
I’ve asked a couple of sources, but they haven’t seen this particular stereoview, so the search has to continue.
The other image of the match was published in Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper on the same date as the Harper’s engraving, and this one, I think, is the one made after Fredrick’s photograph and also the one that ultimately made it into the advertised lithograph.
From his ad:
Mr. C.D. Fredericks [sic], Photographer, in connection with Messrs. Bien & Turner will publish on SATURDAY NEXT, 8th inst., a photo-lithograph of the ALL-ENGLAND ELEVEN, with autographs of the players and a correct view of the Cricket Ground at Hoboken, forming a most valuable picture – size 15 by 20 inches.
Copies may be obtained on and after Saturday of either of the above named parties, at 50 cents each.
Fredricks was known to provide photographs for Leslie’s Illustrated, but again, no luck while searching for this particular photo-lithograph.
Considering that Julius Bien was one of the most talented lithographic artists in New York around that time, this particular piece must have been fantastic and of similar quality to Edincott’s 1856 “All United States Eleven” lithograph [Shown here: Mr. Cuyp]
And there’s another photograph of the whole group of cricketers sitting in a studio, but I wasn’t able to find much about it other than a mention on Stephen Green’s ‘Backward Glances‘ about it being presented to MCC Museum at Lord’s in 1972 by Professor Howard Comfort on behalf of the C.C. Morris Cricket Library.
Unfortunately, Marylebone Cricket Club has no information regarding the photographer or the location of the studio where this photograph was taken.
SABR member Beth Hise, curator and author of ‘Swinging Away’ [go buy the book if you haven't already!] told me after an email contact [two if counting Tom Shieber's... Thanks Tom!] that she knew of the photograph, but guys at MCC were still cataloguing their photography collection when she was working on the book and exhibition and never came across the print from CC Morris there.
My research inquiry to C.C. Morris Library might yield some results after all. They don’t have information on the photographer/studio but they will try to remove the photograph from its old frame and see if there’s any imprint to be unearthed after all these years.
I just can’t wait.
Hopefully I’ll be able to update this post with new information in a couple of days.
Again, many questions and not many answers , but I just ran out of time, so shoot me an email or drop a comment below if you have something to share and would like to help with this research project.
Update [June 15, 2012]
Kathleen Burns from C.C. Morris Cricket Library went the extra mile and after removing the backing of the photograph, she sent the following information:
Unfortunately after removing the backing of the photograph, the photographer’s name was not available.
The following is the only writing on the back:
Parr’s Team of 1859
First English Cricketers to visit the United States.
Match played October 10th – 13th, 1859, versus Twenty-two Americans.
Englishmen won by seven wickets.
The writing on the mat is not very clear (G Sautter 4933?)
I need to search deeper but my first reaction is that the photograph was taken in a Philadelphia studio instead of a New York one.
The cricketers arrived in Philly on the midnight of October 9th and proceeded to the Girard House Hotel. (where they met Henry Chadwick)
They left the city on Saturday, October 15th.
‘G Sautter’ must have been George Sauter, a “manufacturer of Looking Glasses, Picture Frames & Passe-Partouts, Also, dealer in Paintings, Engravings, Chromos, and other works of art, 138 South Eighth Street Philadelphia”. The previous information taken from a paper label found in a non-related miniature portrait.
According to the 1860 census, George G. Sauter (1837-?) was living in Philadelphia with his parents, Charles F. Sauter, who seems to have had a furniture store, and Caroline Sauter.
George gave his occupation as “manufacturer of P Partouts” with assets of $4000.
By 1870 he was married to Christina Sauter and they had a daughter Mary Sauter, aged 2, but by 1880 he was living only with his mother, and even later in 1900 he was living as a lodger and his occupation was art dealer.
To be continued…
Update [June 21, 2012]
Found some interesting things while researching the ‘Philadelphia’ photograph and Sauter.
It didn’t occurred to me that George Sauter’s business was located just a couple of blocks away from the Girard House Hotel were the cricketers stayed while in Philadelphia.
I’m including a couple of map captures showing both addresses on a 1858-1860 Philly Atlas’ map and a current 3D view from Google Maps, with point A being Sauter’s address and point B marking Girard House’s location.
The photograph could have been taken in a nearby studio, but more than a dozen were established near these two locations. Henry C. Phillips studio was located next to the Girard House Hotel and J.E. McClees’ and Wenderoth’s were on the same block. James Cremer studio was close to Sauter’s at 18 South Eight Street and John Lawrence Gihon’s studio was located just a block away from the Hotel on Chestnut avenue for what it’s worth.
I’ve been unable to find a newspaper account that mentions the cricketers’ photo session or any kind of advertisement where the photograph was made available for sale.
I did, however, find a neat newspaper clipping of the cricketers arrival at the Girard House Hotel.
As mentioned before, the group arrived in Philadelphia on the midnight of Sunday, October 9th of 1859.
Fred Lillywhite, the cricketers (Tom Hayward’s not mentioned) and 3 others (highlighted in green) in the group registered at the Hotel that midnight.
Harry Lillywhite, Fred and John’s brother, traveled with the group from New York, and although he didn’t play in Philadelphia, he did take the field in Rochester later on October 21.
More on Harry can be read here: http://thenewyorkclipper.com/my-name-is/
William Ellis, an english-born canadian engineer and cricket player, also stayed at the Girard House.
He took part of the match played at Montreal on September 24-27 between the All Englanders and the Twenty-Two of Lower Canada and served as an umpire on the Philadelphia match.
Ellis was born near London, England in 1826 and traveled to Canada in 1853. Records show he was already playing cricket in Canada by 1856. In 1864 he was elected mayor of Prescott. By 1875, he was the President of the Prescott Cricket Club in Ontario.
The third person traveling with the cricketers was G.P. Baker.
Godfrey Phipps Baker was born August 25, 1822 in England.
Although some sources call him the ‘Father of cricket in Ottawa’, it was his father, George William Baker, the one who founded the Bytown Cricket Club in 1849, after arriving in Canada in 1832.
G.P. Baker accompanied the cricketers since they arrived in Montreal and was mentioned by Fred Lillywhite on various occasions on his tour book.
Here are some of the lines that Fred Lillywhite wrote about Baker:
“… a gentlemen to whose kindness and attention the cricketers owe a large debt of gratitude.”
“A more enthusiastic and true lover of the noble game of cricket never existed.”
Baker [picture shown at right] was was postmaster of the City of Ottawa for more than 25 years and was an active cricket player with the local club.
He died March 16, 1882.
The last name that got my attention was H. Sharp of New York.
Let me write a couple of lines on Henry E. Sharp, even though he deserves more than a full blog post just for him.
Sharp, a glass stainer by trade and then President of the New York Cricket Club had been an active and enthusiastic cricketer for many years.
Tom Melville wrote in ‘The Tented Field’ that he was probably the best recipient of the title of ‘Father of American Cricket.’ Couldn’t agree more.
In 1856 he tried to organize the first American vs English match, but unfortunately the affair was not successful.
He took the field on the Hoboken match and officiated as umpire in Philadelphia, where and according to some, one of his rulings marked international cricket’s first controversy.
Sharp inexplicably called a wide when English player Robert Carpenter was caught.
Jones Wister claimed that it had cost Americans the match when “the umpire declined to rectify his palpable error.”
Since I can’t stop writing about baseball, Sharp, who was also Wilkes’ Spirit of the Times cricket correspondent at some point in life, wrote that Jim Creighton’s fatal injury had occurred during a St. George’s vs Willow match.
Sharp was known for being -in the words of Melville- “Open minded and sympathetic towards baseball.”
Time to stop writing and resume the search for more clues on the whereabouts of the Hoboken photographs and the identity of the Philadelphia photographer…
A couple of days ago I received an email from noted cricket historian Tom Melville regarding my last post on Henry Chadwick, Byron Wharton and the Wright brothers.
Tom differs from my observation that the woodcut that George Wright mentioned in his letter to Chadwick was the one published by Harper’s in 1858.
Lets revisit what George wrote to Chadwick back in 1896:
“In reference to the old Harlem Club, I only have a dim recollection. See. I was only 8 years old. I can remember the cricket ground at the old Red House, one at Mount Morris and one at about 116th street and second avenue, or where the Harlem Gas House now stands. I can remember Godwin, the president of the Harlem Cricket Club. Well, he was a short, stout man, the same build as ‘Papa’ Richards, of the old New York Cricket Club. Those were the jolly old days at Fox Hill, Hoboken, N.J.
I have a wood-cut picture of the old grounds at this place, showing a match between the United States and Canada. It was here I spent most of my boyhood days. Oh that I were a boy again! I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you again before long.”
Wright said that he had a woodcut of the old grounds, but from what place?
He had mentioned three different cricket ground locations in Harlem and then the Fox Hill grounds in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Tom thinks Wright’s woodcut must have depicted a scene of the US vs Canada match of 1853. Here’s his reasoning including some interesting information on the old Red House cricket grounds:
The Red House cricket ground in Harlem was the major cricket venue in New York during the 1840s and was the site of most, if not all, the USA vs Canada matches during that decade. But during the 1850s the Red House ground was eclipsed by the Elysian Fields in Hoboken as New York’s premier cricket ground.
The USA vs Canada match of 1853 (the series was renewed at that time after a hiatus of six years) was held at Red House but no more international matches, I believe, were ever held there again.
It’s this 1853 match, I think, that Wright is referring to since the 1858 match in your illustration is clearly indicated as being played in Hoboken.
A nice engraving of an 1853 cricket match at the Red House ground can be found in the New York Illustrated News of June 25, 1853, p. 408.
Below is the engraving Tom mentions, but clearly this one doesn’t show a US vs Canada match scene as it depicts a New York vs St. George’s match. The Flag of England or the St. George’s Cross is clearly visible. The old Royal Union or Union Jack flag that represented Canada during that time isn’t present in the woodcut and I assume the St. George’s Cricket Club used the red-crossed flag as its emblem.
Now that we’re talking about flags, I thought this ‘incident’ was worth mentioning. It happened during the 1854 US cricketers visit to Canada.
Lets move on.
I was only able to find another woodcut of the Harlem cricket grounds. A c. 1853 engraving which Tom believes was published in Graeme’s Magazine.
This one doesn’t seem to show a scene of an International Match but another local match. It is titled ‘Cricket Match Lately Played at Harlem, N.Y.’
Update [May 19, 2012]
John Thorn [see comments section] tells us the engraving shown above was published in Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion on October 4, 1851.
After another email exchange with Tom discussing both Harlem engravings, he thinks that the engraving of the 1853 USA-Canada match at Red House that Wright mentions might just be lost (or not located yet) or that maybe George Wright may, indeed, be referring to one of the Red House engravings shown but mistakenly thought they depicted a USA vs Canada, rather than a local match.
Excellent points but I’m still not convinced.
George Wright was just 49 years old when he wrote that letter to Chadwick and not suffering from early dementia. I still think he was referring to the Hoboken grounds in it and that it was the 1858 Harper’s woodcut.
Melville, the veteran cricket historian thinks it’s 1853 and this amateur thinks it’s 1858.
Do I stand a chance? Probably not.
Update: Looks like we must add another woodcut to the list!
Tom Shieber, Senior Curator at the Baseball Hall of Fame, sent the following via email and now I’m leaning towards this one being the one that George Wright wrote about.
Could George Wright be referring to the Frank Leslie’s woodcut of October 4, 1856. Here’s a scan of the one I own:
The caption at bottom reads: “Great Cricket Match Between the United States and Canada, at Hoboken, N.J., September 11 and 12. United States Victorious! Ambrotyped by Brady, While the Game Was in Progress.”
Points in favor of this as George’s woodcut:
- It shows a US vs. Canada match.
- The game is taking place at Hoboken, the last location Wright referred to before stating “I have a wood-cut picture of the old grounds at this place.”
- George would have been nine years old at the time … very close to his recollection of eight.
All excellent points and in response to Tom (Shieber)… I’d literally kill to see the original Brady ambrotype!
Update [April 27, 2102]
Couldn’t stop and went on to search for more now that Mathew Brady was added to the discussion.
No original ambrotype picture but here’s part of the New York Herald account of the match with a small bit on Brady and the photograph that led to Shieber’s woodcut.
It’s worth noting that this must have been one of Brady’s first ambrotypes as he is credited with introducing and advertising the process in the US on that same year.
Tom Melville wrote back and raised another question:
The engraving of the 1856 USA vs Canada match COULD be the one Wright refers to but we still have the problem of it being played at Hoboken, not Harlem. It’s hard to believe Wright mistakenly thought either the 1856 or 1858 engravings depicted Red House since the they clearly state the location is Hoboken.
Did the Clipper or any other period publication carry an illustration of the 1853 USA vs Canada match?
Even though I’m almost completely sold on the 1856 woodcut being the one owned by Wright, I think there’s still a slim chance of finding an 1853 Red House engraving showing the US vs Canada match.
Leslie’s started operating in 1852 while the Clipper began in 1853 for what it’s worth.
While researching the life of -yet another- antebellum cricketer, I came across a neat account in one of Henry Chadwick’s columns involving the main subject of my research, cricketer William Byron Wharton and brothers Harry and George Wright.
Chadwick had just begun writing a series of articles about Harry Wright shortly after his passing in 1895 and Byron Wharton had some reminiscences about the young Wright brothers and Harry’s cricket debut.
Here’s part of the ‘Chadwick Chats’ column that appeared on the November 9, 1895 edition of the Sporting Life.
I met the veteran cricketer, Byron Wharton in Brooklyn last week, and in a chat over old times he told me of the occasion of Harry Wright’s first appearance in a cricket match, which occurred in 1855. Byron said that Harry’s father then resided in the Harlem district, and that Harry used to practice cricket with the old Harlem Cricket Club, of which Mr. Godwin was president and young Wharton vice president.
Byron used to take little eight-year-old George Wright fishing with him. On the occasion of a match game, when the Harlems were short-handed, Byron suggested that they put in Harry Wright to fill the vacant position. Old Tommy [sic] Wright, on being asked if Harry would do, said: “Well. Harry’s a good fielder, but he’s naught at bat.” and so Harry was put in, played his first match and made a good record.
What a wonderful difference between the country Harlem of those days and the city Harlem of the present day. Little did Harry dream that such an outcome of his professional start in 1868 would follow as the glorious days of Polo Ground history.
Henry Chadwick, William Byron Wharton and Harry Wright together later in life.
Chadwick then printed the following:
I received the following letter from George Wright last week about this Harlem incident:
“In reference to the old Harlem Club, I only have a dim recollection. See. I was only 8 years old. I can remember the cricket ground at the old Red House, one at Mount Morris and one at about 116th street and second avenue, or where the Harlem Gas House now stands. I can remember Godwin, the president of the Harlem Cricket Club. Well, he was a short, stout man, the same build as ‘Papa’ Richards, of the old New York Cricket Club. Those were the jolly old days at Fox Hill, Hoboken, N.J.
I have a wood-cut picture of the old grounds at this place, showing a match between the United States and Canada. It was here I spent most of my boyhood days. Oh that I were a boy again! I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you again before long.”
No mention of Byron Wharton from George Wright, but I’m sure this must have been the wood-cut he was referring to in his letter to Henry Chadwick.
Hopefully I’ll be posting more about the life of William Byron Wharton by next week.
Finding a link between Byron Wharton, Chadwick and the Wrights was great, but finding a relative and telling her that her great-great grandfather was one of the best cricketers in the US during civil war times was even greater. This is what researching is all about.
Another ‘Spalding Collection’ photo needs to be properly identified by the New York Public Library staff.
The carte de visite photograph of the ‘Unidentified Cricket Player’ or image 55913 depicts none other than John Lillywhite.
The son of Frederick William Lillywhite, also known as “Old Lilly”, the nonpareil cricket bowler, was born on November 10, 1826 in Sussex.
John was an admirable batsman and a fine bowler. He played primarily for Sussex and was one of the 12 players who took part in cricket’s first-ever overseas tour when a team led by George Parr visited the United States in 1859.
Like his father, John was a short, square and strongly-built man and for a few seasons, one of the very best in England. His career lasted from 1847 to 1873.
John went into business as a supplier of cricket goods, and his business was the precursor of the modern Lillywhites store, which, until a few years ago, was the most revered of sports shops, a national institution that prided itself on being the place that catered for all sports, no matter how obscure. Not only was Lillywhites the royal family’s favorite sports retailer, it was also respected for its skilled tailoring. George VI’s (You know, Colin Firth) coronation slippers were made by hand at the store!
He died in 1874 at the age of 47.
Here’s John seated on board of ship Nova Scotian at Liverpool on September 7, 1859, just before the start of the English Cricketers’ trip to Canada and the US.
And a more seasoned John Lillywhite (shown right) around 1870, still sporting his usual chinstrap beard. The Newgate Fringe beard style, as it was known back then, had been in vogue in the UK starting in the 1850s. The collar of beard worn under the chin, so called because it occupies the position of the rope when men are about to be hanged. It got its name after an infamous 1600s executioner by the name of Jack Ketch. It was also known as the Tyburn Collar.
If you’re wondering about that decorated backdrop used in the studio of McLean, Melhuish & Haes, here’s Frederick Reynolds (shown left) posing with the same one. Like it or not, English photographers were well ahead of their American counterparts in every aspect of commercial photography back in the day.
It’s worth noting that Frank Harry, a brother of John, had emigrated to the US around 1856 as a professional cricketer and umpire. He was associated with the St. George’s Cricket Club and it was there that he met Harry Wright and brother George, their father Sam and also Henry Chadwick. Frank Harry played against his brother John Lillywhite in the 1859 match at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken.
After living in England for some years, he re-emigrated to America in 1887 to produce lawn tennis balls for the Wright & Ditson company and later to establish a number of sports shops in affluent areas of New York, Bermuda and Florida.
So while we wait for our friends at the New York Public Library to restore Lillywhite’s identity after more than 90 years of anonymously resting in a storage box at their Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street branch, let me remind blog readers (are there any?) that John Lillywhite played some baseball back in 1859. He manned third base in a pick-up match at Rochester, but even though there was no detailed account of the game, it was said that the English cricketers played remarkably well. I bet they did.
Update: Here’s John Wisden posing with same same decorated backdrop used in Lillywhite’s and Reynolds Photographs.
If you have other similar examples, please send them via email [here] or add a comment below.
I’ll make sure to update this post with any new findings.
While perusing through Tom Melville’s book when writing the previous post on ‘Cuyp‘, I came across the name of Phineas Moses, an antebellum cricketer who according to Melville’s notes, was the founder of Cincinnati’s first Synagogue.
Interesting and obscure enough for me to find out more about his life.
Phineas Moses, was born in Gosport, England on December 17, 1798.
Phineas must have been a 16 year old when, according to his own words, he saw Napoleon as a prisoner at Plymouth, when British forces forced him into exile in the Island of St. Helena.
In 1822, Moses, now a 23 year old merchant, left his native land for America. He sailed from Portsmouth and arrived in Philadelphia on September 30th aboard the Ship ‘Crisis’, and shortly after, he settled in Cincinnati, where two of his five brothers had already established.
Phineas entered into a partnership with his brother Solomon in the dry-goods line of business, under the firm name of “S. & P. Moses,” at 185 Main Street.
In 1824, he and a small group of Orthodox Jews of English origin, organized the first Hebrew congregation in Cincinnati under the name of Kaal Kodesh, B’nai Israel, the oldest congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains.
There were only twelve persons present at the first meeting for worship. By 2008, there were around 12,000 Jewish households in Greater Cincinnati.
During the period from 1824 to 1835, the B’nai Israel congregation worshiped in small rented rooms. When the decision was made to build a synagogue, appeals for funds were sent out to other cities in the east and even to England. Money was secured for a temple on Broadway between Fifth and Sixth and the new building, the first synagogue in Ohio, was dedicated on September 9, 1836.
Phineas married Eleanor Block of Richmond, Virginia on May 4, 1829. It was just the third marriage ceremony recorded in the books of the Ohio Valley community.
By 1841 the Moses Brothers partnership was dissolved. He remained in the mercantile trade for at least ten more years before getting into the brokerage and banking business.
According to Melville, who has kindly been responding to my questions lately, there were reports of three cricket clubs playing in Cincinnati by 1845: The Western, Queen City and Union.
No Phineas or Elkin in a Spirit report of a game between the first two clubs in September of 1845.
In a rematch between the two clubs, also in September, Phineas, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, was playing for the Queen City club.
An 1846 account on the Spirit (on left) shows Phineas, and brother Elkin, playing for the Union Cricket Club in a match against the Queen City Club of Cincinnati, in what is probably one of the oldest records of the sport in the city.
Quoting Tom, “Evidently there was revolving membership in these clubs.”
“Cricket activity seemed to dry up in Cincinnati after 1846, revived briefly in 1850, and then reappeared on a more permanent basis beginning in 1857. Some players from the 1840s teams were still playing in the 1850s but not, so far as I know, the Moses brothers.”
This must have been one of the last matches in which Phineas, then a 48 year old, took part.
If looking for obscure cricket accounts in 1820s Gosport/Portsmouth -where young Phineas must have learned his cricket- wasn’t easy, the same could be said about finding cricket reports in 1840s US west.
After a long and successful business career, Phineas Moses died on June 20, 1895 at the age of 96. He is buried in Walnut Hills Cemetery in Cincinnati.
Did I wrote that Phineas was a member of the Cincinnati Chess Club since its foundation?
Enough.
Zichrono Livracha.
Issuing photographic admission tickets for Cricket testimonial matches must have been in vogue during the fall of 1863.
It’s been maybe 10 years since I last discussed with friends and fellow collectors about the novelty photographic photo-tickets that were issued for the Wright and friends series of benefit matches.
Since a game of baseball had been planned to be played for the occasion (a pick-up game was indeed played), the names of long-forgotten cricketers like Hammond and Crossley were now being discussed by baseball card collectors.
Wonder if they knew that 4 years earlier William Hammond had already played a game of baseball when the All England cricketers toured the United States in 1859. Heck, many of these guys played both cricket and baseball at some point during their lives.
Baseball cards or cricket tickets? I don’t really care and it’s not the main focus of this post.
Just to set the record straight and move forward, for someone interested in the history of baseball, cricket and photography like myself, these items have everything I’m looking for. Interesting subjects and an early marketing method to promote an event with the help of photography.
Lets move on.
Not even a couple of weeks had passed since the Crossley, Hammond and the Wrights benefit and the Clipper was already announcing yet another ‘Grand Match’, this time a testimonial for Mr. Cuyp.
And guess what, the Clipper suggested that a set of photo tickets should be issued for the Cuyp testimonial match as more tickets could ‘undoubtedly’ be sold this way.
The proposed idea was to issue two sets of tickets -with a photograph of Cuyp on one side- with prices of 25 cents and 1 dollar, with the later entitling the holder to a seat at the dinner table at the club house.
Pretty much the same plan adopted for the Wrights benefit.
I think I can remember reading how many tickets were issued and sold for the Wrights’ match, and if not mistaken, it didn’t prove to be a good plan. The absence of nearly half of the players initially named to take part on it led to a very slim spectator attendance. According to the Clipper, this was bound to happen. It wasn’t the first time players had broken their promises of taking part in these kind of matches and spectators knew that.
But even after seeing these results, Cuyp’s testimonial match had to be organized.
As pointed out by newspaper accounts, fortune had frowned upon the celebrated cricketer and a mark of esteem should be bestowed on him.
The original plan was for a match between two elevens, one of them, captained by Cuyp, out of the leading players from clubs of New York, Brooklyn and Newark and the second one with players selected by him.
The New York Evening Express later announced a match of eleven first class English cricketers (excluding of professionals) against sixteen amateurs, mostly Base Ball players of Brooklyn and New York.
The match ended up being played on October 14 and 15 on the St. George grounds at Hoboken. Eleven English players and Sixteen Americans had to set for a draw as time played out.
As expected, not more than half of the players named to take place in the proceedings put an appearance on the occasion. On the Americans side, little to none cricket experience with some of them handling a cricket bat for the first time.
Interestingly, the match turned out to be a well played one given the circumstances. Since both sides were shorthanded at the time of commencing the game, the assistance of professionals became necessary and Harry Wright was appointed as captain of the American side and Crossley and Hammond as aides to the Englishmen.
Attendance of spectators was limited to a dozen the first day and about fifty on the second. Thanks to Cuyp’s friends, the proceeds turned out to be worthy for the occasion. According to the Clipper, the pecuniary result would have been much better with more judicious management while arranging and carrying out the programme of the affaire.
The Cuyp Photo-tickets plan apparently never materialized.
But now you’re probably wondering who this Cuyp guy was, right?
Cuyp’s real name was James Faustin Cuppaidge.
Born in Ireland around 1815 (1812, 1815 or 1819 by some accounts)
According to a small newspaper note, Cuppaidge was one of the famous Eight Brothers of Westmeath, who, combined, challenged any eight brothers in Ireland to play cricket.
He arrived in the US on July 12, 1834 aboard the ship Ajax.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Scorsese’s ‘Gangs of New York’ when reading the Five Points news accounts from that day’s issue of the New York Evening Post. Mobs, riots and fires everywhere. Total madness.
This map shows the riots and attacks on Black New Yorkers starting on July 9th: http://www.nydivided.org/PDF/RiotMap.pdf
Considering how tough the living conditions must have been in Ireland back then, the chaotic New York shouldn’t have been a problem for young James.
By 1838 he was working as an accountant and lawyer at 20 Chambers Street.
One has to wonder if Cuppaidge came to the United States to get a Law degree. NYU law school was founded in 1835 but I haven’t been able to find any link of Cuppaidge and NYU or any other University for that matter.
In late 1843 he was already involved with other cricketers in the city and became a member of the New York Cricket Club since its formation in 1844. On that same year, a newspaper ad shows Cuppaidge working with mortgage loans and listed as an Attorney at Law.
On May 1845 he was admitted as an Attorney of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
It was around this time that Cuppaidge started using ‘Cuyp’ as an assumed name in some cricket matches.
William Rotch Wister, the pioneer Philadelphia cricketer wrote this in 1904:
…Marsh, under the name of Barker, and Cuppaidge, under the name of Cuyp, bowled well. These two players had adopted the bad fashion of playing under assumed names. The standing of the game was injured by such subterfuges and the fashion was not followed in Philadelphia. As cricket is a respectable game, it is no discredit to the most respectable to play in it.
But why was Cuppaidge hiding his name?
Was it maybe to conceal the fact, that he, a busy lawyer, should have been following his clients’ interests rather than, for example, representing the New York Cricket Club in a second class match?
Cuppaidge must have been busy during those years. During 1850 he was exchanging correspondence with the former 12th Governor of New York and by then US Senator, William Henry Seward.
I don’t know what was being discussed, but I plan to contact the University of Rochester (they hold W.H. Seward papers) and try to find out.
Cuyp was again on the field when the Eleven of Canada visited New York in 1853. By then he was already established as one of the best cricketers in the United Sates.
In 1854 he was part of the US team that went to Toronto, Canada and ended up losing.
It was in 1856 when Cuyp established himself as one of the best bowlers in the country. He showed a fine display against the Canada team that played in Hoboken on September of that year.
He went again on tour to Canada in 1857. The US lost and it was the last time he played for the United States Eleven.
Cuppaidge was nearly retired in 1859 but he did play after that. In 1860 he joined the East New York Cricket Club and served as the Vice President of the organization.
In 1862 he faced the St. George Club with James Creighton and George Wright. Must have been one of his last matches, not to mention for Creighton, who died just two months after that game.
He was living in Brooklyn at 130 Sackett Street according to Civil War draft records in 1863.
Cuyp did some appearances after that as an umpire and not much about his life is known after 1865.
He died in New York on July 10, 1871. Unmarried and most probably penniless.
Later accounts by journalist Thomas Picton help understand why was Cuppaidge hiding as Cuyp:
Conspicuous among the players was the celebrated round-hand bowler, “Cuyp,” a name assumed to cover his profession, for his devotion to the game cost Cuppaidge, as a lawyer, numerous clients, discovering to their sorrow, that their attorney, in his anxiety to make countless maiden overs upon a turfed field, had allowed their cases to run to the bottom of a Court Calendar. But “Cuyp,” off the cricket ground, was a slow-going individual, a well-read and persevering student and quiet gentleman, little inclined to wrangle even in a law court.
A curious fellow was Cuyp, for many years the overhand bowler of the New York, in which department he was the superior to Groom, the crack bowler of the St. George and the inferior to no man on the continent. The beauty of Cuyp’s delivery was its extreme accuracy. Having once obtained the pitch, he would bowl from morning to night with a like pace and dead upon wicket. Unlike other overhand bowlers, Cuyp walked deliberately up to the bowling crease and delivered his ball with apparent ease. It came with an unexpected velocity and certainty in length which threw the batsman unaccustomed to his style entirely off his guard.
But like every other device, the players in course of time grew accustomed by practice to Cuyp’s excellent, yet monotonous manner, and he was supplanted by other bowlers better versed in the knack of varying their deliveries. Finally he withdrew from practice of the game and concentrated his intellect upon that of the law.
If you’ve come this far and wonder how Cuyp looked like… Here’s him with the rest of the All United States Eleven in 1856. (Fourth from right)
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