The history of the development of the Derbyshire economy and some names of local citizens can often be deduced from the directories which were compiled for each county. The following information was taken from "Pigot and Company's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835."

Spondon is a parish in the hundred of Appletree, which formerly included the chapelries of Chaddesden, Lockhay and Stanley. The village of Spondon is situated on a commanding eminence, overlooking the beautiful vale of Derwent, and is the residence of several highly respectable families. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of lace and net, chiefly for the Nottingham market. All trades are represented in the village shops. There are several brickyards in production in the village. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is in the decorated style of English architecture; in the chancel are three stone stalls. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the executors of the late H.D. Lowe, Esq. Here is also a place of worship for Wesleylan Methodists. The parish, including the chapelry of Stanley, contains 1,867 inhabitants.

George Porter

A Famous Cricketer

George Henry Porter was born on December 3rd, 1861 in Killies Lane at Kilbourne, a village about five miles to the north-west of Spondon, Derbyshire. He was apprenticed at the age of ten to his uncle, a chimney sweep, but he grew up to be a professional cricketer and, from the age of eighteen onwards, played for various minor counties and leagues mostly in Lancashire where he was engaged with the Lowerhouse, Longsight, Broughton and other clubs. George Porter had a commanding physique and was 6'4" tall. In 1880, while playing cricket for Shanklin on the Isle of Wight, he met his future wife, Elizabeth Ann Mayne of Northwood, who was then a teacher in a school for young ladies. Elizabeth's father was Frederick James Mayne who came from a Dover, Kent family and was a tailor, following in his father's trade footsteps. He had moved to Cowes on the Isle of Wight where he became a tidewaiter, which is an older name for a Customs and Excise Officer. His wife, Sophia Scriven was from a long-established family of boatbuilders who lived in West Cowes. Elizabeth Anne Mayne, their eldest daughter, was born in 1855 in Northwood. Her photo appears below, and the family history of the Scrivens can be found in the Records Office in Newport, Isle of Wight, England.

Elizabeth made her way by railway to Spondon where George’s parents, John and Sarah Porter, agreed that marriage was the appropriate solution to this match. The marriage record shows that they were married in Derby on the tenth of March, 1881. It will be recalled that in England the banns (notices) for a church wedding have to be read for 3 weeks in the bride's village as well as the groom's. In view of my Grandmother's condition, the wedding was held at the Register Office by special license. George Frederick, Dad's older brother, was born shortly afterwards. The census records of April 1881 showed they made their new home at Chapel Street, in Spondon.

Quite early in his life George's merits as a bowler were freely recognised. In a Derbyshire County versus Colts match in 1881 he took seven wickets out of the ten total for only 20 runs. This earned him a trial for the Derbyshire County Cricket Club, but he was not engaged by them until many years after. Through ill-fortune, for his first appearance the opposing county team was Lancashire, and Granddad George had to go against the batsman A.N.Hornby, then in his most dangerous form. George bowled by no means badly, but Hornby was in that mood when all bowling comes alike, and he punished good-length balls in such a way that George came to the conclusion that he was merely a club bowler and not up to county form. His solitary wicket had cost Derbyshire 59 runs. It also seemed that a team that already contained those fine bowlers Mycroft and May could find no room for the young Spondonian, so George continued his career in the minor leagues.

According to 'John Wisden's Cricketers Almanack for 1908' George next appeared again in county cricket in 1888. He then quickly made his place in the Derbyshire eleven secure and for several seasons he was one of the best bowlers on the side, bringing the ball down from a great height and demanding constant watchfulness from the opposing batsmen. In spite of this he frequently observed that his best work had been in the previous seven years. He played for Derbyshire for seven seasons between 1890 and 1898.

Career Memories

In the booklet ‘Scraps from a Cricketer's Memory’ by L.G. Wright, who also played for Derbyshire 1883-1909, we can read that " George Porter was a Derbyshire character, certainly out of the common. The County possibly erred in their judgment when they overlooked him for so long after his first trial. He was well over six feet in height, with very long arms, and had a sort of shuffling gait up to the wicket. He sent the ball down from his full reach at a fast pace, and woe betide the batsman's knuckles if there happened to be any fire in the wicket" (meaning that the ground was hard and the ball would fly up higher on the pitch rebound.)

On Thursday, August 23rd,1894, the Derby Evening Telegraph reported " In first class matches only Porter heads the list, with an average of 8.21 (runs per wicket) but then, he has only taken 14 wickets. This it is true can hardly be said to be any fault of Porter's who has not been playing except at the very beginning and very end of the season. He has by his performances in the two Leicestershire matches well qualified himself for another trial next year".

A memorable game was played with Nottinghamshire in July 1895 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, when George, who never had any pretensions as a batsman, made his record score of 93. Nottinghamshire batted first and they compiled a total of 363. Derbyshire responded with 154, of which Chatterton, the team captain, got 91 in his best style. Derbyshire had to follow on with 209 runs behind, and quickly lost two wickets. As time for the day was nearly up, George Porter was sent in as the stop gap. He stayed until stumps were drawn, and on the Saturday played a wonderful innings without a flaw, being as interesting to watch as Chatterton, which was high praise, but deserved. After he was out, Evershed, the captain, congratulated him on his good play but George was not quite satisfied, for he said he made one bad stroke, a pull from off the middle stump to square leg for a four. Evershed then asked him what the Spondon people would say when they saw his score in the paper. His reply was "Oh, they will think it is a misprint! "

When in the mood George could recount many interesting anecdotes, and once when questioned as to what he did if he got into a row, he said he never fought but took hold of his opponent and rubbed him against the wall. Wright once had the pleasure of hearing him sing "I'm off to Philadelphia in the morning", and as he stood up with his coat and waistcoat off he did it in a rare style and received a hearty encore. It was only very rarely one could get George on his feet either to speak or sing.

One peculiar incident which might have been serious, happened to him once when they were at the Kensington Oval. It had been a terribly hot day, and Derbyshire had just indulged in one of their usual all-day outings, so that George had to do a deal of bowling. He must have been very footsore and weary for when the other fellows had got dressed it was noticed that George was missing. Search was at once made and he was discovered fast asleep in one of the baths with the water still running and almost reaching his bottom lip. What would have happened in a short time of course no one could tell. Anyhow, the occurrence told plainly what a hard day's work he had done.

There was one weakness from which George suffered. It was a source of great trouble and annoyance to him. That was hot sweating feet. He was most particular to avoid causing inconvenience to others, and at the end of the day's play he could always be seen emerging from the dressing room to change his boots in the open air. It was a reference to this misfortune that brought to a head a serious quarrel between Chatterton and Davidson, another bowler. The team had concluded a game in London, prior to a Southampton match, in such good time that some of the players were able to get across to the Isle of Wight on Saturday night to enjoy the Sunday on the Island. In all probability this happened in 1894. During dinner it seems that Davidson made a remark across the table to Porter, who took it so much to heart that he burst into tears, got up and left the room. Then the dramatics took place. Chatterton, head of the table, rose and addressed Davidson, laying down the terms under which they were to meet on or off the field for the future. Unless Davidson kept his peace, Chatterton promised him a severe thrashing. Practically throughout the whole of one season, although they were together almost daily, either at Lord's or in County cricket they did not speak to each other unless circumstances compelled them.

In a match won at Leeds in 1895 they were very concerned about George Porter. He was also engaged as a professional at Longsight and had only been granted a leave for the Thursday and Friday, so that he wanted to leave the match at the end of the second day. The game however was in such a position that he could not be spared, and it was not until Lord Hawke declared he would not, under the circumstances, allow a substitute that Porter risked the consequences with his contracted club. As Derbyshire won, it seems that the club forgave him." George had a rough, honest manner that was quite his own. Once, for instance, Mr. Evans Broad, the Liberal Member of Parliament for South Derbyshire, entertained the Derbyshire eleven to dinner at the Hotel Metropole in London on the occasion of the Surrey match at the Oval. George absented himself from the function "not because I have any ill-feelings agen the man, but I voted agenst him at the Election and I am not goin' to eat his dinner."

The Spondon Cricket Club Centenary magazine, published in 1983, also contains several anecdotes of George and mentions that his photograph appears in the book of 'Famous Cricketers' alongside such outstanding players as W.G.Grace, Ranji, Maclaren, Able, Gunn, etc. The caption under his photo in that book is quoted as follows: " A great part of the success of Derbyshire has been the excellency of its bowlers, one of whom has been G. Porter, a Derbyshire man from Spondon. Porter has done really great work for Derbyshire C.C.C.. Standing 6'2" and making full use of his height with the advantage of great strength, he sends the ball down at a pace which makes him awkward to play, even on the best of wickets."

George, the second oldest son of a large family, was living in Kilburne when he became apprenticed at the age of ten to his uncle John Pearson, a sweep in Stapleford. Eventually he became the Spondon chimney sweep. He still kept up his business even while playing cricket, plying his trade in the early hours of the day and then being collected and taken by hansom cab to the Derbyshire County cricket ground, about 3 miles away. More than most men he was able to demonstrate that the cricket field is a great social leveler. George was not the man to be ashamed of his business, and once when he was bowling at Trent Bridge a sweep's brush emerged from a chimney on an adjacent house. He laughed as heartily as anyone when the wags round the ropes pointed and jocularly drew his attention to the fact.

In 1896 George retired from playing county cricket and was placed on the list of first-class umpires by the M.C.C. The accuracy of his decisions was seldom questioned. At times he played for the Spondon team in the Derby and District League and he helped the team become League Champions in 1905. A photograph of the winning team shows him tall, grey haired and moustached, with the Spondon Cricket Pavilion as a background. This is probably the last surviving picture of him.

In 1903 Spondon and Stanley tied for top place in the league, so they had to play a test match on the County ground to determine the championship. Spondon's team of all-stars were so certain of victory that they had arranged for the Spondon Village Band and a photographer to be present. Incredibly Spondon were bowled out for 17 runs, and Stanley doing little better were 16 for 9. George bowled what proved to be the last over. His first few balls shaved the stumps, the fifth hit the shoulder of the bat, bounced high over the slips, and Stanley had won!. Mr. J.H. Dean, the Derby tailor, had promised 12 pairs of trousers to the winning team. Thus, Stanley got the trousers, but the Spondon team also got some. On the following Monday, the womenfolk of Stanley made sets out of paper and sent them to the Spondon players, with a special midget pair for big George. In 1905 Spondon again won the test match after tieing with Melbourne for the top spot. Spondon made 136 thanks to good scores by Bill Thompson and George, and splendid bowling by Freddy Ward who took 8 wickets for 44 runs.

George Porter played and served the game of cricket all his life and died at 46 Oxford Street, Spondon, at noon on July 15th.,1908 at the untimely age of 47. The death certificate listed the primary cause as insolation meningitis. Death came after a ten-week long and painful illness, caused by the sunstroke received during the umpiring of a match at Chesterfield, according to Wisden. His untimely death was widely reported in the county newspapers with editorial tributes and news columns in the Derby and Chesterfield Recorder and The Derby Mercury. Sadly, within three weeks his father John also died in Spondon.

George had left as widow his second wife Emma, nee Crockett, and eight children from his first marriage to Elizabeth Mayne, including three sons, George, Jack, and Walter, all of whom played cricket for the Spondon Cricket Club. Walter, who was the youngest son, also served the Club as President for many years. The third generation of cricketers included my brothers Stan and Jack, and my cousins Sydney, Eric, and Dennis. They all played for the Spondon Cricket Club at various times and together with some great-grandchildren, in the 1960’s we could have fielded a complete cricket team of Porters.

• From the Derby Mercury, Friday, July 17th 1908

GEORGE PORTER
________________

FAMOUS CRICKETER'S DEATH
________________

HIS DERBYSHIRE CAREER

The reported death on Wednesday removed one who in his day made a name for himself in Derbyshire County Cricket, namely, George Porter who passed away at his home in Spondon, the place of his birth, at noon. The news of his death was not unexpected, for some weeks past his condition had been very serious, and little hope was recently held out for his ultimate recovery from the illness which laid him aside some ten weeks ago. The deceased, who leaves a widow and a large family, followed the calling of a chimney sweep, and it was in the eighties that he first came into the picture as far as Derbyshire cricket is concerned, and in which he figured with special prominence as a fast bowler.

For his first appearance for Derbyshire one has to go back to 1881, though it was not until 1888 that he reappeared and from thence onward to 1896 played a conspicuous partin the Peakites history. Once only did he find a place in the team in the season to which he came under official notice, and the lengthy interval between this occasion and his next match for the county is accounted for by the fact that in the meantime he was playing in Lancashire League cricket. His initial match for the Peakites was against Lancashire at Derby in which his solitary wicket cost 59 runs. Previously in Easter week of this season of 1881, playing in a match between the County XI and 22 Colts he had greatly distinguished himself by the capture of seven of the first team's ten wickets - they only batted once - for 20 runs. As indicated however he was not destined to come into the eleven again until seven seasons later. Then, against the M.C.C., he assisted in a victory at Lord's by 45 runs, only sending down a maiden over in the first innings, and eight overs, seven of which were maidens in the second, for one and two wickets. He figured once more during 1888, and against Surrey at Derby secured three wickets for 44. In the succeeding campaign he made only one appearance. This was also against Surrey at headquarters when he captured two wickets for 11 and a like number in the second innings for 32. However, in 1890 he assisted in several matches and his performances included the following with the ball; - 4 wickets for 78 against the M.C.C. at Lord's, - 3 for 49 against Notts. at Derby; 3 for 44 and 3 for 28 at Sheffield against Yorkshire - this match Derbyshire won by 52 runs; and 3 for 22 against Norfolk at Derby. The season of 1891 saw Porter a much more frequent performer and he met with considerable success in the team.

In more than one match he achieved striking success. Against Surrey, the champion county of the year, Derbyshire gained a brilliant ten wicket victory, thanks largely to the superb bowling of the deceased and Davidson, who except for a couple of overs shared the attack throughout, Porter sending down 75 overs, 36 maidens for 121 runs and 10 wickets. Shortly afterwards, on a bowler's wicket against Warwickshire at Birmingham, Porter was again right to the fore having the distinction of accounting for ten wickets- five in each innings and curiously enough in each venture secured at an amount of 34. Derbyshire won this match by nine wickets. For the season he headed the bowling averages, capturing 43 wickets at an average cost of 11.20 each and in 1892 when he played more frequently he improved upon the number of his victims, aggregating 51 at 17.86 each.

The match against Leicestershire at Leicester he almost pulled off for the Peakites, sending down 18 overs, ten of which were maidens, for 20 runs and six wickets, the home county in the end winning by one wicket. His other performance in this campaign included the capture of five wickets for 14 against Hampshire at Derby - Derbyshire won by 80 runs - and six for 62 against Surrey at the Oval. For this season he came out third on the bowling list and bore the brunt of the attack. In 1893 Porter was responsible for 45 wickets, but in the following season he only played in a few matches, doing specially well against Leicestershire at Leicester by dismissing five men for 14, and four for 23, the Peakites gaining the victory by an innings and 36 runs.

The season of 1895 proved the deceased's best, and it was distinguished not only by a fine bowling record and the capture of the greatest number of wickets he ever secured for the county in the course of one campaign, but one memorable achievement with the bat. This was against Notts. and the big innings which Porter then played was undoubtedly the means of Derbyshire saving the game for they had followed on 209 in arrears after a response of 154 to the Notts score of 363, and then succeeded in aggregating 385. Porter's contribution was 93, the top score, and the innings was a really good one. It of course overshadowed everything else he had done with the bat, his next best score being forthcoming in the next and what was his last season with the county. The season of 1895 he led off with a fine piece of bowling against the M.C.C. at Lord's, taking 8 wickets for 49, including 4 in the second innings for 11. The Peakites won by 42 runs.

The Hampshire match at Derby was characterised by a notable performance on his part. In the course of the game Derbyshire won by an innings and 50 runs, he sent down 66 overs, 36 maidens for exactly 100 runs and 14 wickets. Again at Derby, this time against Lancashire, the Peakites had largely to thank him for a 53 runs victory. Requiring 303 to win, they were within 73 of victory and had five wickets still to fall when he was called on to resume the attack and actually dismissed the whole of the remaining batsmen for an addition of nine runs.

As stated, the 1896 season was Porter's last for Derbyshire, and in the course of it he proved somewhat expensive as the appended records show. The second highest score of his career, namely 55, he made against Surrey, at Derby, in the first match of the campaign, and his best bowling performances were 4 for 56 against Notts. at Nottingham, and 5 for fifty in the second innings against the M.C.C. at Lord's. In more recent years Porter figured in local club cricket, and for Spondon he had often rendered yeoman service.

His records with bat and ball for Derbyshire since 1890 read as follows: