- The Walkers of Southgate
The Walkers of Southgate were a cricketing family who lived at
Arnos Grove Estate in Southgate,Middlesex . The family fortune was built through the brewing company Taylor Walker, and the seven brothers were all sent toHarrow School andTrinity College, Cambridge . It was at school and university that the Walkers became keen cricketers.The three eldest brothers originally played for the Southgate Albert, the village team, on the bumpy Chapel Fields wicket until John had the ground re-turfed in the early 1850s. The brothers founded the
Southgate Cricket Club in 1855, a Middlesex team in 1859, the officialMiddlesex County Cricket Club in 1864 and were instrumental in establishing the home of the county at Lords in 1877 [Southgate, A Glimpse into the Past Alan Dumayne. 1987 ISBN 0951228609] . In 1859, the first match played by the Middlesex team was held in Southgate against Kent, who were defeated by 78 runs.Although
Test Cricket only started in 1877, four of the brothers played in the United All-England Eleven prior to that date. Both the United All-England team and the MCC would visit Southgate to take on the brothers and their team, attended by crowds of up to 10,000.Their cricket ground Chapel Fields in Waterfall Road, Southgate became the Walker Cricket Ground in 1907 [ [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/ground/57319.html Cricinfo - Grounds - The Walker Cricket Ground, Southgate ] ] and is maintained by the Walker Trust to this day.
* The seven Walker brothers:
** John Walker (1826-1885)
**Alfred Walker (1827-1870)
**Frederic Walker (1829-1889)
**Arthur Henry Walker (1833-1878)
** Vyell Edward Walker (1837-1906)
** Russell Donnithorne Walker (1842-1922)
** Isaac Donnithorne Walker (1844-1898)* The seven brothers had an uncle:
**Henry Walker (1807-1872)References
Further reading
"The Walkers of Southgate - a Famous Brotherhood of Cricketers" by W. A. Bettesworth, Methuen, 1900.
External links
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com Cricket Archive]
* [http://www.cricinfo.com Wisden Cricinfo]
* [http://www.middlesexccc.com The Middlesex Official website]
* [http://www.thewalkerground.org.uk/ Walker Ground website]
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