Horace Snary: Resolute Rutlander - Lives in Cricket No 59.
By Jonathan Farmer
Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. ISBN: 978-1-912421-50-3. 240 pages - Available from jonathan.farmer17@gmail.com
Horace
Snary
has
earned
for
himself
a
footnote
in
the
history
of
English
county
cricket
as
the
most
economical
regular
bowler
the
County
Championship
has
produced,
conceding
an
average
of
only
1.72
runs
per
over
in
a
first-class
career
which
lasted
from
1921
to
1933.
However,
he
has
emerged
from
Jonathan
Farmer’s
meticulous
study
as
a
much
more
multi-faceted
character
than a mere recapitulation of his bowling analyses would imply.
Snary
and
his
twin
brother,
William,
were
born
in
Whissendine
in
1897.
At
the
time
of
Snary’s
birth
the
village
had
about
700
inhabitants,
most
of
whom
were
agricultural
labourers
who
were
often
struggling
to
maintain
their
standards
of
living
at
a
time
of
agricultural
depression.
It
was
still
a
rigidly
stratified
society
which
did,
however,
offer
a
range
of
social
activities,
with
many
of
which
the
Snary
family
were
connected.
However,
Snary’s
early
connections
with
cricket
seem
to
have
been
rather
rudimentary,
social
stratification
limiting
the
playing
opportunities
at
Whissendine
Cricket
Club
for
those
outside
the
ranks
of
the
gentry,
the
professions
and
the
more highly remunerated tradesmen.
Snary
was
sixteen
at
the
outbreak
of
the
Great
War,
but
by
the
beginning
of
1916
he
had
enlisted
in
the
2/6th
South
Staffordshire
Regiment.
He
originally
served
in
Ireland;
he
was
still
essentially
a
raw
recruit
in
the
early
days
of
the
Easter
Rising.
Promoted
to
Lance
Corporal
in
early
1917,
he
was
subsequently
promoted
to
the
rank
of
Sergeant,
a
significant
rise
through
the
ranks
for
a
young
village
boy,
who
must
be
presumed
to
have
developed
considerable
leadership
skills.
His
war
ended
prematurely
at
the
battle
of
Cambrai,
where
his
regiment
suffered
huge
casualties
in
the
defence
of
Bourlain
Wood
on
29/30
November
1917
and
he
himself
was
seriously
wounded.
In
common
with
many
veterans
of
the
Great
War,
Snary
was
reluctant
to
discuss
his
experiences;
neither
did
he
apply
to
receive
the
medals
to
which
he
was
entitled.
He
was
certainly
considerably
affected
by
the
death
of
his
twin
brother,
Willy,
and
these
factors
conceivably
led
him
to
be
suspicious
of
authority
and
might
have
contributed to his holding of political views which were somewhat at variance with received opinion in Rutland.
Snary
appears
not
to
have
played
cricket
in
1919.
In
any
case
he
was
still
recuperating
from
the
horrors
of
war.
However,
he
returned
to
the
game
in
1920.
By
this
time
the
social
stratification
which
had
underpinned
the
operation
of
Whissendine
Cricket
Club
was
breaking
down.
Moreover,
Snary
took
the
opportunities
to
develop
his
reputation,
to
the
extent
that
Leicestershire
offered
him
a
contract
for
1921.
Leicestershire
cricket
was
in
a
woeful
state;
no
fewer
than
34
players
represented
the
county
in
1921,
including
four
captains.
Snary
made
an
inauspicious
county
debut
in
that
year
–
against
Yorkshire
at
Headingley.
Wilfred
Rhodes
scored
267
not
out
and
Leicestershire
collapsed
ignominiously.
Snary’s
career
was
slow
to
take
off,
and
it
wasn’t
until
1926
that
he
became
established
in
the
side,
taking
33
wickets
in
9
matches
at
an
average
of
27.3.
He
appeared
regularly
thereafter
until
illness
and
injury
ended
his
first-class
career
in
1933.
His
best
season
was
1931,
during
which
he
took
101
wickets
at
an
average
of
18.11.
Perhaps
unfairly
pigeon-holed
as
a
defensive
bowler,
Snary
undoubtedly
suffered
from
being
the
reliably
accurate
bowler
in
what
had
become
a
rather
weak
side.
He
seems to have accepted his lot uncomplainingly and remained a committed team player.
Following
his
departure
from
the
first-class
game,
Snary
continued
to
play
leisure
cricket,
featuring
for
his
beloved
Whissendine
as
well
as
a
number
of
other
teams,
he
became
in
demand
because
of
his
skills
in
ground
maintenance
and
served
on
a
number
of
cricket
committees.
Unlike
many
of
his
contemporaries
from
the
cricket
field
he
had
prospered,
in
his
case
as
a
chicken
farmer,
and
thus
he
was
able
to
maintain
a
modestly
middle-class
living
standard.
All
of
this
is
skilfully
narrated
by
Jonathan
Farmer.
His
grasp
of
the
details
of
Snary’s
career
is
matched
by
meticulous
research
of
the
local
context.
He
has
no
doubt
that
Snary
was
a
‘praiseworthy
man’
who
‘by
virtue of his natural doggedness, overcame the odds to lead a full and rewarding life’.
Dr Mike Tillbrook
Researching Rutland
Copyright © Rutland Local History and Record Society. - All rights reserved
Registered Charity No 700273
Book Review
Researching Rutland
© Rutland Local History and Record Society
Registered Charity No 700273
Book Review
William Browne’s Town: The Stamford Hall Book 1465-1492
Stamford Survey Group in association with Stamford Town Council and
Stamford Civic Trust
Stamford is fortunate to have a Hall Book, a record of the council minutes
of the town. Until now it has remained in the town’s archives only to be
seen by historians with an appointment. With this transcript Alan Rogers
has made the first part of the Hall Book accessible to all and we are given
the opportunity to step back in time and discover what life was really like
in the fifteenth century. Future volumes are planned which will continue
the story of Stamford’s town affairs.
The book gives a remarkable insight into the lives of townspeople in
medieval England covering the years from 1465, shortly after the town’s
incorporation, until 1489 just after the death of William Browne. William
Browne was a very rich and important Merchant of the Staple. He
controlled the affairs of the town during this period, serving as Alderman
on several occasions. His legacy to Stamford is All Saints’ Church and
Browne’s Hospital.
As today, rules and regulations governed the lives of townsfolk. The
minutes record laws forbidding Sunday trading and fines for leaving
horses tied up in the wrong places on market days – as the editor
comments, ‘There were parking penalties even in medieval Stamford’. We
also find that there were designated places for dunghills and times when
animals could be brought into town. From this book we learn how law
and order was enforced and the punishments meted out to wrongdoers.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the volume is the tremendous
number of different trades pursued in the town. The wardens strictly
controlled the craftsmen to ensure the quality of goods and there was a
diversity of rules governing the guilds and the pageant of Corpus Christi.
Alan Rogers has had close links with Stamford and readers will no doubt
be familiar with his books The Medieval Buildings of Stamford
(Nottingham 1970), The Book of Stamford (Buckingham 1983) and, with
JS Hartley, The Religious Foundations of Medieval Stamford
(Nottingham 1974). He has also been closely involved with local history in
Rutland, most recently in Uppingham, inspiring and encouraging local
historians to record aspects of the history of that town.
For this volume Professor Rogers has written an excellent introduction
including the insight he has gained about the role of William Browne in
making the transcript. He also adds useful comments throughout the
volume and there is an excellent index. It is a shame that the Editorial
Conventions are not at the front of the book and a glossary would have
been useful for those less familiar with the legal terms of the medieval
period. Do not however be deterred by the plain cover: inside it is a
fascinating record not just for people in Stamford but for anyone
interested in town life in the Middle Ages. It is a book to dip into, and read
aloud it comes to life. It certainly merits a place on the bookshelf of
anyone interested in history.
Jean Orpin