Millhouses cricket
These photographs are taken from a set that was lent to Totley History Group by Garth Inman who found them whilst decluttering drawers during the lockdown. From other family photographs, Garth was able to recognise his great uncle, Cecil Inman, in several of the photographs and would like to know when they were taken and, if possible, who else is in the photographs.
Photograph 1. Batting team. Cecil Inman is number 3.
In the first two photographs, the words "Millhouses Cricket Club" can be seen in the background. Millhouses Cricket Club moved to its current ground in 1891. At first the square was closer to the Waggon and Horses but after the creation of Millhouses Park in 1907-08, it moved nearer to the old mill buildings at the city end of the park. There is no mention of anyone named Inman playing for the club in the scorecards published in the local newspapers although Millhouses cricket ground was used by many other cricket clubs as there was a shortage of suitable venues in Sheffield.
Unfortunately Millhouses Works Cricket Club does not have an archivist and it seems unlikely that it will be able to date the photographs or identify the participants. We are therefore asking our readers to take a close look at the the photographs and let us know whether anyone can put names to faces. From the style of clothing and appearance of the people in the photographs, they are likely to date from between 1905 and the early 1920s, very probably pre-war.
Photograph 2. Bowling team.
Photograph 1 appears to be of the batting team and photograph 2 one of the bowling team. We have annotated the photos with reference numbers and Cecil Inman has been given number 3. To aid identification, please click on the photographs to enlarge them.
The other two photographs appear to show a match between two teams of "Old Boys". Such matches were popular from about 1907, with players sporting top hats, straw boaters or other fancy headgear and held in aid of former players who had fallen upon hard times. Photograph 3 appears to be of the batting team and photograph 4 of the bowling team. We have given Cecil the number 28.
Photograph 3. Batting team. Cecil Inman is number 28.
Cecil Inman was born in Sheffield in 1881, the youngest son of Tom Inman and his wife Alice (nee Hawksworth). Tom was the proprietor of Inman's Steelworks at Britannia Works on Furnival Road, Sheffield. Cecil looks to be in his thirties or early forties when these photographs were taken. However, we know that, in early 20th century photographs, men can often look older than we would expect them to look today. Cecil spent much of his life after 1907 in Canada but, apart from the war years, he could have easily paid a visit to his family who remained in Sheffield.
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