The present-day Beverley Cricket Club can trace its history directly back to the St. Stephen's Cricket Club of the 1870s, but a connection with the original Beverley is not so easy to establish. The amalgamation of the latter with the Kent County Club meant that the Beverley as such ceased to play matches, and it seems clear that in so far as it still existed as an active cricket club it did so as St. Lawrence. Lord Harris states that "in 1870 an attempt was made to amalgamate the Beverley and St. Lawrence, but without success".^[1] In practice, however, it would appear that this is just what did happen. The continuity of ground, still often referred to as the Beverley Ground, and also, more significantly, of players points to this. Delasaux, Gillow and others who had appeared for both Clubs in the 1860s were now just St. Lawrence players. The nature of this development was not immediately and universally appreciated. Thus the Chilham Castle fixture list for 1871 still included matches against 'Beverley' on the same days and at the same venues as the St. Lawrence fixture list referred to its own matches against Chilham. Remarkably, the error was repeated in successive issues of the Kentish Gazette, and to confuse the situation further the paper even referred to a match played by the 'Beverley-St. Lawrence Club' against Faversham United in July, although the scorecard listed the team only as 'St. Lawrence'.^[2]

It is therefore misleading to suggest that the Beverley moved back to St. Stephen's after 1870, although it must be said that this whole episode in the Club's history is somewhat obscure. There had in fact been a 'St. Stephen's C.C.' for some years, but little is known about it and it does not appear to have been a club of any distinction.^[3] Indeed, in 1854 the players had attracted some unfavourable publicity over their behaviour during a match against Whitstable:

"we cannot make any remark in praise (we are sorry to say) of our St. Stephen's friends, they being all abroad, both in fielding, bowling, &c., and many showing strange tempers, we are happy to say not usual amongst cricketers, by lying down on their backs, leaving the field in the midst of play, &c."^[4]

This was hardly what was expected on the St. Lawrence ground where, for some reason, the match took place. Otherwise, the Club was largely anonymous. It was probably just another local village side.

In so far as there was a connection between the St. Stephen's Club of the post-1870 period and the Beverley, it was provided by William de Chair Baker. He certainly loaned the Club its ground, and this may well have been, more or less, the one originally used in 1835. He also became the Club's President and is said to have umpired some of the matches. However, there does not seem to have been any continuity in playing membership between the Beverley of the 1860s and St. Stephen's of the 1870s. The Kentish Gazette's first reference to a match in these years was in 1874, when the Precincts were played "on the Beverley Ground". None of the players, then or subsequently, had Beverley connections.^[5] It was probably only later, therefore, – perhaps not even until the 1890s – that a retrospective connection with the original Beverley Club was established. (The 1898 fixture card, unlike those of 1895 and 1896, has the date 1835 on the cover, implying continuity with the Bakers' foundation.)

ST. STEPHEN'S v PRECINCTS, 1874

ST. STEPHEN'S

T.Ireland, b Andrews1c and b Morgan13

T.West, b Andrews0l.b.w., b Morgan2

G.Court, b Andrews0b Andrews3

T.G.Court, b James7b Morgan0

W.Banks, run out, b Andrews 10c and b Andrews1

A.Paine, run out, b Andrews3b Andrews0

S.Smith, not out5b Andrews1

W.Wills, b Andrews0b Morgan11

J.Johnson, b Andrews0not out1

J.Ratcliff, b James1c Russell, b Andrews0

H.Attwood, b James0b Andrews0

Byes 5, leg byes 49byes 10, leg bye 111

3643

PRECINCTS

M.Baker, b Ireland1b Ireland0

A.Clark, c and b Ireland0b West7

W.James, b Ireland2

H.Andrews, b Ireland19

J.Russell, c Smith, b Ireland7

S.Ford, b West10

G.Filmer, b Ireland0

A.Davies, s Banks, b West0

– Hopkins, c Banks, b West2

J.Mills, not out0b G.Court4

– Morgan, Esq. b Ireland4not out20

Byes4byes0

5131

The standard of cricket played in the 1870s and 1880s was not very high. This was hardly surprising for what was essentially village cricket on poor wickets, although St. Stephen's still managed to play the occasional match on the St. Lawrence Ground. From time to time, however, individual performances rose above this level. F.Harris, for example, made 97 not out, in a total of 154, against Sturry in 1876.^[6] Equally impressive, though less surprising, were the scores of Henry Bass, the groundsman at St. Lawrence – "a very good bat in his younger days" – who had played a few games for Kent.^[7] He made 72 out of 190 against Harbledown in 1877 (with Harris also contributing 49) as well as taking 9 wickets, and four years later, against the same opponents, he scored 96 out of 244. This last was probably the highest total in this period, matched only by the 239 against Holborn in 1883 – unusually a team effort, with Twyman making 45, Drury 44, Harris 43 and Allen 39.^[8] Bowlers found success more readily. Tom Ireland, for instance, took 7 wickets against the Precincts in 1874 and 8 wickets against Herne in the following year, while in 1883 George Twyman took 7 wickets against Elham and Thomas Easton did the same the next week against the R.H.A.^[9]

A few players appeared regularly for the Club. Most prominent were William Banks, a competent batsman, who became landlord of the Beverley Arms and Parish Clerk in 1882, Tom Ireland, a prolific wicket-taker in the 1870s, and Tom West, "a sort of batman" to William de Chair Baker, who was still captaining the side in the early 1890s when he was over sixty. Others who seem to have played frequently were Thomas Easton, who became the first captain of the Canterbury Waverley C.C. in 1879, but who nevertheless retained his connections with St. Stephen's; and F.G.Court. It would seem that the membership was far from stable, although the Club did occasionally include able cricketers such as George Twyman, a St. Lawrence player and later captain of Canterbury C.C., Bruce Blaxland, who taught at the King's School and captained St. Lawrence, and George Thorn Drury. Producing a team was often a struggle, and inevitably, therefore, the Club's existence was precarious.

By 1884, the "list of matches to be played during the present season", forwarded to the Kentish Gazette by the Club Secretary, Harry Houlden, contained just six fixtures – against Harbledown and Whitstable, home and away, and against the R.H.A. and Holborn. Five of these matches were then lost, victory being achieved only against Harbledown on the St. Lawrence Ground, thanks to 58 from E. Allen.^[10] In 1885, the St. Stephen's Club folded up altogether, with several of its players now appearing for the Canterbury C.C. (Vice-President the inevitable de Chair Baker and Captain George Twyman). Indeed, half the Canterbury side that played against Harbledown in June 1885 had appeared for St. Stephen's against the same opponents in the previous year.^[11] It would not have been surprising therefore if the demise of St. Stephen's had proved permanent.

In 1886, however, the Club obtained a new lease of life. As the Kentish Gazette reported: "at a meeting at St. Stephen's Vicarage, Canterbury, it was resolved to resuscitate the parish Cricket Club. Mr. W. de Chair Baker was elected President; the Rev. F.H.Hichens, Vice-President and Treasurer; Mr. Patrick (of S. Mary's College), Captain; Mr. W.Banks, Secretary".^[12] The Club was very firmly based in the local community, as these names make clear. Baker, of course, had long been connected with cricket in the area and still lived at Beverley House; Frederick Hichens was the Vicar of St. Stephen's; St. Mary's, a Jesuit College, had recently been established at Hales Place; and Banks was the Parish Clerk as well as the licensee of the Beverley Arms. In the longer term, however, the Club survived because it was more than just a village side. It was able to attract players from further afield and retain their loyalty. As a result, despite the occasional financial crisis, the continued existence of the Club was rarely in serious doubt.

In the period up to the First World War, several capable players formed the backbone of the Club. William Banks, Tom Ireland and Tom West continued to play until the mid-1890s, and Banks went on as Treasurer and as an umpire until 1913. Percy Miles, who had first appeared in 1884, was still playing occasionally in 1914 and was one of the leading batsman in his day. John William Banks, a son of the Treasurer, captained the team from 1895 to 1899 and opened the batting for several years, but was most successful as a bowler – leading the averages as late as 1909 and 1910. Harold Wood, who succeeded Banks as captain in 1900 and 1901, also played for some twenty years, although his batting never featured prominently in the averages. Finally, Tom Underhill played regularly for many years and made his last appearance on the field at the age of 70 in 1911.

Two of the best players to join in the 1880s were William Fricker and Lewis Roalfe, who had been contemporaries at the Cathedral Choir School. Fricker only played for a few seasons, but he was the leading batsman in 1891 with an impressive average of 49.8. Roalfe was a remarkable bowler. In 1887, he took 67 wickets, in 1888, he took 69 and in 1889, he took a further 46. By 1891, he was even advertising his services in the press as "Ground Bowler (Claremont and Osborne House Schools, Margate) for cricket matches Fridays and Saturdays".^[13] He left the district in 1897 to become coach at King's College School, Wimbledon. When he returned to live at Tankerton in 1906 – as "the well-known cricketer, hockey-player, and writer" – he became captain of the re-formed Herne Bay C.C., and took over 200 wickets in a season for them on more than one occasion.^[14] A third player of real ability who began playing at about the same time was Lt. C.A.Colley of the Buffs. He had a particularly good season in 1896, scoring an undefeated century, as well as a 76 not out and a 73, and two years later, against the Conservative Club on the St. Lawrence Ground, he made the highest score for the Club in the nineteenth century: "the bowling was treated in the most contemptuous manner by Colley, who played brilliantly all round the wicket, and at the call of time to such good effect that he had obtained 130 not out in about an hour". Service in the Boer War then brought his cricketing career in Canterbury to a close.^[15]

CANTERBURY CONSERVATIVE CLUB v ST.STEPHEN'S, 1898

CANTERBURY CONSERVATIVE CLUB

W.Goodban, b Colley29

S.W.Slatter, b Lowe16

A.F.Featherstone, b Lowe12

H.Clarke, b Colley1

F.W.Holness, b Lowe19

A.Sugden, c Miles, b Colley0

A.Cattle, c Underhill, b Colley7

P.Webb, b Lowe4

C.Alder, not out12

– Lloyd, run out1

– Reynolds, b Lowe0

Byes 14, wides 418

119

ST.STEPHEN'S

H.M.Wood, b Featherstone0

D.Higgins, b Webb1

– Lowe, b Featherstone38

C.Colley, not out130

T.Underhill, b Featherstone0

– Divers, b Goodban0

O.Baldock, not out6

Extras6

Total for 5 wickets181

Colley's departure coincided with the arrival of another notable player, Charles Belbin. His "magnificent bowling at lightning pace" was seen to particularly devastating effect at Littlebourne in 1901.

BEVERLEY v LITTLEBOURNE, 1901

BEVERLEY

H.M.Wood, c Blake, b H.Scoot5

L.Kemp, b H.Scoot82

A.Webb, c de Trafford, b Smith28

Ruston, run out15

C.H.Belbin, c Morris, b Smith19

P.E.Miles, b H.Scoot2

A.Wood, c Holman, b Morris9

F.P.Gilmore, not out1

J.Idiens, L.Callow, W.Gard did not bat

Extras10

171 - 7

LITTLEBOURNE

J.W.Clark, b Belbin1

H.Holman, b Webb2

H.Scoot, b Webb3

W.Scoot, c Wood b Webb1

A.Smith, b Belbin1

R.Blake, c Callow, b Belbin20

Dr. Morris, b Belbin3

F.Smith, b Belbin0

G.Tomlin, not out2

H.E. de Trafford, b Belbin2

J.P.Duthoit, b Belbin0

35

"So deadly was he that hardly anyone was found to stand against him. He did the hat-trick, breaking one of the stumps and knocking the top half 32 yards from the stumps. At one portion of the game he took six wickets for one run in 11 balls."^[16]

At the end of the season, he had taken 89 wickets at just under 6 apiece, with a best performance of 9 for 6 in 7 overs against the unfortunate Sandwich School. He was also a successful batsman, scoring a century in 1911 and topping the averages on several occasions. He captained the side from 1904 to 1907 and again in 1913, and he was a mainstay of the Beverley until his job as an Inland Revenue officer took him away from the district.^[17]

Belbin's major rival as the Club's leading cricketer was Lawrence Kemp, an Old Langtonian who made his debut in the mid-1890s. In his first few seasons he was fairly successful with the ball – he even topped the averages in 1899 – but his main achievements were as an opening batsman. In 1904, he made 142 not out in a total of 213 against Chartham Asylum – a particularly remarkable innings in that three of the first five batsmen (including Belbin) made ducks and the next highest score was 18. He went on to captain the side in 1911, and appeared in the centenary match of 1935 as the oldest playing member.^[18]

Perhaps the most important recruit for the revived Club, however, was a very modest cricketer in every sense – Alfred 'Uncle' Divers. Another ex-chorister (with his 'capital bass' he often performed at concerts in aid of the Club and was later choirmaster at St. Dunstan's Church), he worked for a wholesale grocery firm and first played for St. Stephen's in 1887. His personal achievements on the field were not particularly distinguished, although on one remarkable occasion in 1910 he took 9 wickets for 20 runs and caught the tenth as Mount's were dismissed for 38.^[19] He captained the Saturday side for ten years before the War, and his self-effacing approach perhaps accounts for the fact that he only bowled in that one match in 1910. His main contribution to the Club came off the field. After being Assistant Secretary for several years, he became Secretary in 1900 and held the post until 1940. As he continued to be Treasurer (a post that had for a long time been combined with that of Secretary) until 1946, he was associated with the Club in an official capacity for some fifty years. When he died in that year, he had been a member for very nearly sixty years.

In the later 1890s, these players saw several significant developments in the Club's history. In 1896, after years of campaigning, "the extension of the early closing movement was inaugurated in Canterbury on Thursday, when almost the whole of the tradespeople closed their establishments at one o'clock".^[20] The pattern of cricket fixtures changed immediately, and this was particularly important for St. Stephen's, whose members included several shopkeepers. Whereas in 1895 most of the matches (ten out of sixteen) were played on Saturday afternoons (generally starting at 4 o'clock), in 1896, the majority (ten out of fifteen) were now played on Thursdays (starting at 2 o'clock). This left just three matches on Saturdays (now starting at 5 o'clock) and two all-day games on Bank Holiday Mondays. The pattern of regular match days that was to prevail for many years was thus established, with the Thursday team as the senior side.

At about the same time, the Club moved to yet another new ground – probably that in front of St. Stephen's Church.^[21] After the death of William de Chair Baker in 1888, the Club had continued to play on the Bakers' land, and at the annual dinners his widow was regularly thanked for "placing a field at the disposal of the Club".^[22] However, with her departure, a new site had to be found, and it was provided by the President and local vicar, Frederick Hichens. Inevitably this involved considerable work to make it playable, but the Secretary was soon able to report that "improvements on a large scale had already been commenced, so that for next season he could safely promise them they would have a very good pitch". This optimistic assertion was accompanied, unsurprisingly, by an appeal for funds.^[23]

Finally, in 1899, it was announced that

"the St. Stephen's starts this season under the well-known title of the Beverley Club. The old Beverley Club, known in all cricket circles, was founded by the late Mr. W. de Chair Baker and his brother in 1835, the latter [former?] being president of the St. Stephen's Club for some years. The members of the latter deemed it expedient to revert to the old title, so as to perpetuate the name of the Club and its founder which holds so historical a position in the annals of Kent cricket".^[24]

The piety of this change is perhaps more impressive than its sense of history, though the St. Stephen's Club could claim to be a step-child of the 'old Beverley'. At all events the revival of the name did achieve its aim, not least through the interest that Alfred Divers and others later took in the history of the original Club.

All these changes obviously added to the attraction of the new Beverley, and a period of expansion ensued. In 1901, the fixture list was extended and matches were arranged for an 'A' team.^[25] The following year, it was decided to organize fixtures for a Saturday team on a regular basis – "to suit members unable to get away from business on Thursdays".^[26] (The 1900 fixture card had simply announced that "Saturday afternoon or Evening matches will be arranged as the Season goes on".) For a while, therefore, the Club was clearly popular and successful. "The ground at St. Stephen's is in good order, the 'pitch' having been enlarged during the winter; and should the Club's friends in the City honour them with their presence at their matches, they doubtless will be repaid by the cricket seen, and also by the beautiful position and surroundings of the ground" enthused the Kentish Gazette's cricket correspondent in 1902.^[27] By 1905, the Club had over fifty members and seemed to be flourishing.^[28]

The decline and revival of the St. Stephen's/Beverley Club is easier to understand in the context of the changing pattern of leisure in general and cricket in particular in this period. Later Victorian and Edwardian Canterbury saw a rapid growth in opportunities to participate in sport. The Canterbury Swimming Bath in Whitehall Road opened in 1876, while the County Pavilion at that time offered "Lawn Tennis Courts, Skating Rink, Bowling Green, Promenade, etc."^[29] By the 1890s, rifle shooting, golf, football, rugby, goal running, tennis, hockey and bicycling were all popular and quite well organized.^[30] Facilities were then improved still further by, amongst others, the Victoria Recreation Ground (1907), the Canterbury Bowling Green (1907) and even the Canterbury Roller Skating Rink (1909). Cricket, of course, retained its preeminence, as the amount of space devoted to it in the local press makes clear, but it is also worth pointing out that in St. Stephen's itself the Bat-Trap Club which met at the Beverley Arms had more members than the Cricket Club!^[31]

The growing interest in cricket is particularly apparent in the proliferation of clubs in Canterbury. Whereas the Beverley and St. Lawrence Clubs of the mid-century had catered primarily for the leisured classes, the new clubs reflected the increased opportunities for recreation among other sections of the community. Many members of the Canterbury C.C., for example, were "connected with the bankers' and solicitors' establishments in the city", while the Working Men's Club included cricket among its various activities and met on the St. Lawrence ground with de Chair Baker's permission.^[32] Other clubs to emerge included the Canterbury Waverly (1879, captained by Thomas Easton), district clubs such as St. Gregory's (c.1879), and sides organized by the Foresters, the Oddfellows or the Conservative Club, by firms such as Messrs. Bligh's, and by the City Police and the Postmen. Thus by 1888, 'Dover Road', engaging in a correspondence on the standard of cricket in the city, could claim that there were "over twenty cricket clubs in Canterbury".^[33]

Unlike the old Beverley, the Club at St. Stephen's had little connection with the local gentry, despite the active patronage of de Chair Baker and Col. Trueman, and the occasional appearance by members of the Trueman family. There was still some 'country house' cricket in the area. In 1889, for example, 'Oakwell' (C.Trueman's XI) played 'Street End' (W.White's XI) on the St. Stephen's ground, with John Baker White of Street End, a relative of the Beverley's founders, as an interested spectator.^[34] That a social gulf existed between these players and those from the local club was even referred to explicitly in a curious report on a match between the St. Stephen's Juniors and C.F.H.Trueman's XI, also in 1899. "The fact of class and class being brought together in such a manner occasionally cannot fail to be productive of much good, and many is the lesson read in this way, which in no other would be so eloquent." The victory of Trueman's team was attributed to the fact that they "played well together and illustrated to their opponents the great value of combination, smartness, and order in the field".^[35] Thus despite the frequent contemporary assertions that cricket brought the classes together, it could clearly also reflect – and even accentuate – social divisions.

In so far as a social label is relevant and applicable, the new Beverley would seem to have been a 'lower middle class' club. The members' subscription suggests this. It was 3s.6d. in 1901, and 5s. by 1904, according to the first fixture card to mention it, and it remained at that level until 1923. By contrast, membership of the St. Lawrence C.C. cost 1 guinea (half a guinea to members of the Kent C.C.C.), similar to the £1 for the Beverley back in 1862.^[36] Members were recruited particularly from amongst Canterbury's shopkeepers. Alfred Divers worked for a wholesale grocers, alongside Tom Underhill, and he was an active member of the Commercial Travellers' Association, as were Harry Divers and the younger William Banks. Among other club members, Arthur Lush was a grocer in St. Dunstan's, the Fetherstones had a tea and coffee shop in Palace Street, Eli Hazelden was a greengrocer, Thomas Easton was bootmaker, and Aubrey Lester became a chemist.

The growing interest in cricket among such men reflected not merely the expansion of leisure time as the working week was gradually reduced, but also developments within schools. As has already been mentioned, the King's School had been playing cricket for some time and had had close connections with the old Beverley. In this period other schoolswere established, notably the Clergy Orphan School (St. Edmund's), the Canterbury Middle School (Simon Langton) and Kent College, and with the cult of games at its height they too soon had their own cricket teams. With other educational establishments such as St. Augustine's College, they contributed both to the growth of cricket clubs and to the supply of enthusiastic young players. The Old Langtonians even formed their own team and they were to be particularly important in providing the Beverley with players, Laurie Kemp being one of the earliest and most notable.

The growth of the popular press in the late nineteenth century also helped stimulate interest in the game – most obviously through the national newspapers, but also by the publication of cricket magazines, stories and even cigarette cards. Attention focussed primarily on the county team and on the national side, but there were repercussions locally. One was the interest shown in end-of-season averages. By the early 1880s, St. Lawrence published their statistics in the Kentish Gazette and other clubs soon followed suit.^[37] In 1887, a report of the St. Stephen's dinner mentioned that "Mr. L.Roalfe had taken 67 wickets at a small cost per wicket"^[38] In 1889, it was announced that "P.E.Miles and L.Roalfe had the highest batting averages, viz. 15.6 and 15 respectively", and two weeks later the Gazette added that "L.Roalfe had taken 46 wickets and E.Hazelden 32".^[39] Finally, in 1891, the St. Stephen's averages were published in full, as they continued to be in most years thereafter. Indeed, at the annual dinner that year, Fricker was presented with a bat and Roalfe with a ball to recognize their achievements in heading the averages.^[40] By 1908, the Club rules had even been amended to regularise this interest, proclaiming "that at least eight innings shall have been played by a member to constitute the 'Highest Average', also that a member shall have bowled in at least four innings and have taken fifteen wickets to entitle him to the 'Best Average' in bowling".^[41]

This increasingly serious interest in cricket and the growing spirit of competitiveness fostered by the schools did not alter the fact that all the matches played by the Beverley were still 'friendlies'. In 1905, a Canterbury evening league was organized at the instigation of 'Spectator', the Kentish Gazette's cricket correspondent, but although many of the sides which joined were opponents of the Beverley's 'A' or Saturday teams the Club itself did not participate. (One or two individuals did join in: Laurie Kemp, for example, played for the Y.M.C.A. team.) Nor did the Club become involved in the North East Kent League, including Herne Bay and Whitstable, formed at the end of 1908. This continued friendliness in games could sometimes have curious consequences. In June 1901, for instance, the Beverley allowed T.Easton's XI to continue batting for ten minutes after the scheduled close to enable them to complete a victory.^[42] At the same time, the practice of playing two-innings matches gradually faded, although it was retained for the all-day games on Bank Holiday Mondays. As late as 1900, the fixture card still provided columns for members to record scores in both first and second innings, but fewer games were now prolonged in this way. What remained normal, however, was the custom of the side batting second continuing with its innings even after it had passed its opponents' total. It was in these circumstances that Colley made his century in 1898, as did Kemp in 1904.^[43] The game, in other words, was still being played for its own sake, rather than in order to achieve a result.

Yet although reference to 'playing the game' became a commonplace in cricket literature and in speeches at club dinners, the reality might sometimes be different. This is revealed in the somewhat acrimonious correspondence that followed the Kentish Gazette's account of the match against Sturry in July 1901. Sturry had won the toss and put the Beverley in to bat. After the visitors had been dismissed for 34 – "the wicket at this point played rather queerly" – the home team went on to win comfortably, making 106 – "the wicket had improved when Sturry went in". The implication of the report was that local knowledge on the state of the wicket had had something to do with Sturry's unusual decision and that it might even be bordering on sharp practice. The reply from Sturry was forthright: "it would have been more honourable for the Beverley to acknowledge a fair and open thrashing by taking it quietly, than by casting insinuations of unfair play".^[44] Perhaps surprisingly – or reassuringly – Sturry were still to be found in the Beverley's fixture list in 1902.

It is not easy to assess the standard of cricket played at this time, but surviving fixture cards make it possible to comment on the opposition faced. There were surprisingly few regular fixtures. Chartham Asylum, indeed, were the only side to be played consistently from the late 1880s until the First World War, although Harbledown were played in most years and St. Lawrence 'A' – the Thursday side – were played regularly from the late 1890s. The general pattern of the Thursday fixture list is clear, however. Opposition came principally from other Canterbury sides, such as Foresters or the various regimental teams, from the schools, especially Kent College and Simon Langton (whose Old Boys were also played), and from local villages, such as Tyler Hill and Hardres. In the 1900s, the Club began to venture further afield, especially to Ramsgate, where opponents included St. George's, Shamrock, 'Thistle' and the South East and Chatham Railway, but also to Folkestone, to play Walton Star, the Harveian Club or Holy Trinity, and to Deal and District, regular opponents from 1907. The Saturday side and the 'A' team remained very local, however, playing mainly other city teams such as St. Gregory's, St. Mildred's or St. Dunstan's, and not venturing further than Chartham, Blean or Charlton Park.

The evidence of scorecards and of the published averages seems to confirm this impression of a club playing at a fairly moderate level. Batsmen certainly found things difficult. Very few totals of over 200 were made in these years, and most of them were at Chartham Asylum, as indeed were three of the five centuries – those by Sgt.-Mjr. Richer in 1894, Laurie Kemp in 1904 and Charles Belbin in 1911. Only C.A.Colley, the other century-maker, seems to achieved the feat on the St. Stephen's ground. An average of over 20 was not common either – even Colley only just managed it in 1897 – and in several seasons the leading batsman failed to reach this standard. The bowlers, on the other hand, were more successful, and averages of 5 or 6 runs per wicket were not uncommon. There seems little doubt that Lewis Roalfe and Charles Belbin were very good bowlers, while J.W.Banks, who took over fifty wickets in a season more than once, was a consistently steady performer. Alfred Webb, James Partridge and the Hazeldens also did well. As for the fielding, 'Spectator' in 1901 described it as consistently good and an important factor in the Club's success – but no sooner had he done so than the side suffered a defeat attributed to "slovenly fielding and dropped catches".^[45] In any event, the cricket certainly pleased some observers. At the 1908 annual dinner, Ernest Kennett remarked that "he did enjoy seeing the Beverley perform because there was always something interesting happening in their game; they did not block or just poke the ball about, but played a free and attractive game, win or lose".^[46] In the early years of the century, therefore, the Club was, by its own standards, reasonably successful.

This success was not easy to sustain. After 1907, the 'A' team was disbanded. The end of season summary for the local press referred to a "fairly good record"; the truth was that of the ten matches arranged, at least five were lost and a further three scratched – perhaps because the Club could no longer raise enough players.^[47] Two years later, the Secretary, Alfred Divers, reported that "the club was numerically weaker than last year" and that there was a deficit "of about £6... partly owing to the ground requiring more mowing than usual, and also to the fact that they had bought more tackle".^[48] The following April, therefore, a concert organized by Miss Ethel Onslow was held at the Foresters' Hall to reduce this deficit (now described as "of £8 or £9").^[49] The relief was only temporary, however, and in 1912 an even more ambitious evening's entertainment, again arranged by the energetic Miss Onslow, was held in the Canterbury Theatre – "to raise funds towards liquidating the debt of £20 which the Club has, mainly through having decided to rent the whole of the ground, of which it previously had a part, rather than see the old club disappear". A profit of £10. 13s was made on the evening, helping the Club to continue for a while at least.^[50] Yet despite a reasonably successful season on the field (seven of the thirteen matches were won), the problems remained. In April 1913, next to an ominous announcement of the disbandment of Harbledown C.C., the Kentish Gazette reported:

"the ancient Beverley team is not, I understand, in the most flourishing condition. It is sincerely to be hoped that during the coming season the Club will entirely re-habilitate itself, and that financial and playing support will be forthcoming so that not the slightest element of danger should threaten what is essentially 'an old and honoured institution'..."^[51]

A disappointing season in fact ensued, brightened only by the batting of E.L.Goulden – a former Harbledown player.

In 1914, these problems faded into insignificance. At the end of June, it was reported that "the match arranged for 2nd. July, Beverley v Buffs is scratched, owing to the Buffs going into camp".^[52] Six weeks later, war broke out, and although for a while some games continued – including Canterbury Cricket Week – it soon became apparent that 'business as usual' could not apply to club cricket. In the spring of 1915, in an announcement reporting that five of its members had been killed and another four wounded – and the war had been going a mere nine months – the St. Lawrence C.C. stated that their committee "do not consider it desirable to arrange any fixtures until the end of the war is in sight".^[53] The Beverley took the same view, and for the next four seasons the Club was in abeyance.