|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Turnham
Green has enjoyed a long and
colourful association with the sport of cricket which continues to
the present day. Such was the local popularity of cricket that, in
1780, the well-known cricket-bat manufacturer, Aquila Clapshaw, moved
his business to Turnham Green. Clapshaw's company continued to prosper
for the next hundred years, and in 1870 they merged with another prominent
local cricket equipment manufacturer, Louis Salmon. |
|
|
Turnham Green Cricket Club was formed in 1853. It was initially called the Turnham Green Devonshire Cricket Club in honour of its first president, the 8th Duke of Devonshire, who was a very prominent local landowner. William Hutchins was himself a very keen cricketer . During the late 19th century he was an active member of the Turnham Green Cricket Club and, by all accounts, an enthusiastic and talented batsman. |
|
(above)
|
In
1848 Mr. Robert Caught,
proprietor of the local butcher's shop opposite Turnham Green Common,
issued a challenge to the local cricketers: a leg of mutton would
be awarded to the first batsman who was able to hit a ball from the
common into the forecourt of his premises. |
|
(above) |
Family
legend has it that William Hutchins
himself was the hero of the famous Cricket Challenge, and winner of
the leg of mutton. However, history has recorded that the Challenge
in fact remained unanswered until October 1929 when local batsman
A.R.W. Perks, playing against a team from Hayes, hit a ball which
ricocheted off a tree, shot across the busy Chiswick High Road and
landed in the very entrance of Caught's the butchers. Mr. Perks was
duly awarded his leg of mutton by the, then, proprietor, Frederick
Trowbridge. |
|
(above)
|
|
Although William Hutchins evidently was not the winner of the Turnham Green Cricket Challenge, his batting prowess was reputedly such that he literally stopped the clock - on two occasions he hit a ball that struck and broke the clock in the tower of Christ Church adjacent to the cricket green!
|
|
