Isabella Emily Bardswell was born in Liverpool, England in 1842. She had a sister called Florence who was a champion at Archery and an older brother called Henry, whose son Gerald played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Lancashire.
At some point, Emily Bardswell moved south and was living in Kent when she wrote Played on, a comment on the social background to cricket in the 1890’s, first published in June 1898. Eighty years later, in 1979, Derek Deadman and Christopher Sheppard released The Bardswells: Fact and Fiction that included a reprint of Played On. Only fifty copies were made and the following paragraph appears on page 27:
‘The Bardswell family remembers “Aunt Em” as a great cricket enthusiast and her nephew Gerald’s greatest fan. Her passion for the game was apparently known to a wider circle in Wimbledon, particularly because of her collection of autographed cricket bats, bats which she herself took to major matches for signature’.
In June 2006, one of those bats was auctioned by Christies with an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000 USD, the vendor described as ‘a descendant of the Bardswell family’ and the bat exceeded expectations, selling for 9,600 pounds (approx. $12,000 USD). Six years later, Bonhams auctioned the same bat that sold for 4,625 pounds (approx. $6,000 USD).
Yet the question remains, what evidence is there to suggest that ‘The Golden age cricket bat’ and ‘Bardswell’ bat are related?
Firstly, Derek Deadman and Christopher Sheppard’s re-release of Emily Bardswell’s book made a reference to a collection of bats, so we know that there is not just one bat associated with her. Enticingly, there is potentially more than two.
Secondly, the signature of WG Grace is in a prominent position on both bats. It could be an uncanny coincidence but in regard to ‘The Bardswell bat’, Christies stated that ‘It is believed the bat was presented to the Oxford and Lancashire cricketer, Gerald Bardswell, by W.G. Grace as one of Grace’s own used bats’, whilst Grace’s signature appears in the ‘ownership position’, on the reverse side at the very top of the ‘golden age cricket bat’.
Third, both bats feature the Australian team of 1899 with similar groupings in signatures. On both bats, the names of the Australian players are clustered in two groups with the groupings remarkably similar. Darling, Hill, Gregory, Johns and McLeod have signed in one group on each bat, as have Trumper, Howell, Laver, Jones and Trumble. It appears as if each group signed one bat whilst waiting for the other to swap over. Furthermore, unlike the signatures of the Australians, the England test players are sprinkled throughout on each of the bats.
Fourth, both bats feature signatures in similar county groupings. Both bats have clusters of signatures of players belonging to the same county team and there is also another similarity in style of signature collection on both bats, where the names of star players appear on both bats, but average county players might only appear on one.
Lastly, there is the Jack Hobbs double signature conundrum. The man with more first-class hundreds than anyone else (199!) has signed ‘The Bardswell’ bat twice and although it is impossible to prove, it seems possible that Bardswell was handling more than one bat at the time and lost track of what bat he had signed!
So, although it seems impossible, what hope have I got to bring ‘The Golden Age cricket bat’ and ‘Bardswell’ bats together? How much money would need to be raised? Could the money be raised collectively, so that the bats actually belonged to a multitude of people?
I’d like to tell you about an idea on how that could be done, one that begins by offering up my own piece of cricket memorabilia - Kapil Dev’s Indian cricket cap – to members of this community, entirely for free. Please read about Kapil Dev’s Indian cricket cap here.