Brighton Croquet Club from first beginnings - 1869

Unsurprisingly, we have no club records from the time of the club when founded in Brighton. However, Brighton supported more than a dozen local newspapers and croquet was a fashionable pastime and so featured in the national press and in magazines. From these sources we can learn a little of its activities.

1869: Founding of the club

Croquet was played on the East Lawn of Brighton Pavilion (the green space facing the main road). There seems to be room for about 5 courts. Probably the grass was not that great or well cut but nonetheless the club grew in membership.

The first Hon. Secretary, Henry Alexander Dowell (about 1842 - 1924) lived in Hove Villas. It is not known what occupation he may have had in Hove but was a retired Army captain. Greatly involved in local affairs, he was at various times, a member of  the Hove School Board, Hon Sec. of the Volunteer Fire Brigade, as well as the Hove Toxophilite Society and the croquet club.

The Hove Toxophilite Society (archery to you and I) was another popular society sport at the time; its Archery Grounds were in the northern end of the block between St Aubyns and Seafield Road, now under housing.

The article clips below are fairly clear but you can click on each one to see a text version.)

(Map reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland)

 

Brighton Guardian 21 April 1869

Brighton Guardian 07 July 1869

The Club played on the East Lawn of the Pavilion until its closure in the 1980s. We do not have any archive material relating to that period but there are two photographs in the James Gray Collection of the Regency Society of Brighton and Hove which they have kindly given us permission to reproduce here.

The first image, dated c. 1870, shows a court being cut - hand mower of course. The layout uses 10 hoops and 2 pegs, a starting and turning peg. One can see the starting peg with four balls surrounding it. The lawn mower is almost certainly an Edward Budding's, later manufactured by Ransomes, and primarily sold for golf greens. It may well be that the other person in the picture is the puller as these machines were often operated by two and the handle was built into the structure.
The second picture shows a group of members of Brighton Croquet Club facing the east lawn of the Pavilion, circa 1875. It is tempting to imagine that some of the younger members shown would also have played later at Southwick.

The tournament must have been a success for another prize meeting followed in October.

The Brighton Guardian reported on the event and it is worth reading in full as the croquet they played was very different from what we know today. (There is an explanation of the layout and rules in 1864 on Oxford Croquet website - http://www.oxfordcroquet.com/history/1864/index.asp)

Brighton_Guardian 13 October 1869

Brighton_Guardian 20 October 1869

The Brighton Gazette summed up the first season in a column on 28 October 1869

Brighton_Gazette 28 October 1869

Not all was plain sailing. Perhaps buoyed up by their success the Club tried to make alterations to the grounds of the Pavilion to improve the playing area. The Pavilion Committee was not supportive.