Tom Brown's Centenary Celebrated

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 205, 30 August 1941, Page 6 (Supplement)

Tom Brown's Centenary Celebrated

By SIR PELHAM WARNER THE gods who preside over the 1 weather decreed in the.,-wis-dom that June 17, 1941, «hou be the perfect summer day, and the long line of school buildings looked down on a close trapped in sunshine and warmth with here and there a reminder that we are living in grim and anxious times. Following tradition, Colonel PL S it.Kerr captained the Maryicoone team and losing the toss, the School, "with the usual liberality of \oung hands sent their opponents in first "'as was the case a hundred vears ago. The pitch was not easy and the outfield very slow, so that M.C.C.'s total of 149 was worth at least 200 runs. There was no three wickets down for 18, J and no . J Raggles to stand on his head and wave his legs, but when Wyatt fell to a magnificent catch at short leg bv Melly and Munro to an almost equally fine one in the same Position bv Guthrie, I really did expect the Rugby captain, Boyes, to throw himself on the turf arid sa>, Pretty cricket!" Rugby, indeed, fielded splendidly, and if the bowlers had kept a consistent length. M.C.C. would not have made as many as they did. But it some runs were given away in this respect, Robinson, a leg-break bowler, Guthrie, slow left, and Boddington. fast right, showed promise. ' The duel between the Boddingtons was watched with keen interest, and I have a strong suspicion that the father would not have shown any i 1 sort of resentment had the son sent j him down a "ball too much for an old | hand and his bails had flown differ- j ent ways." . , , It was hoped that Jim Smith, the) "Slogger Williams" of M.C.C., would j have got in a mighty blow ; or two and caused the rooks in the elms to caw, but the catching was too safe and he' soon departed, well caught at deep extra cover. When Colonel Rait- j Kerr, himself an old Rugbeian. went | in he was received with cheers, and j the historians noted with pleasure that his figure was about half the size of our Mr. Aislabie, who weighed 20st when going in last. Tom "bowled slow lobs'* to him. And so to luncheon with the Head- , master of the Fourth Form School, passing on our right old Bigside, where the Tom Brown match was played, and on our left the chapel near which Tom Brown and "Slogger" Williams did battle, and "next morning after morning school shook hands with mutual respect and admiration." At luncheon were Mr.

Philip Aislabie Landon—a greatgrandson of old Mr. Aislabie—now a i noted figure in Oxford, and Mr. P* 1 B. V. Currie, a nephew of Currie ma. ! and Currie mi., of the 1841 School | XI. j Then to coffee in the Headmaster; I House, whence some of us made our exit by the dour through which the 1 great Thomas Arnold passed to stoo i the fight between Tom and the i "Slogger." The Headmaster and Mrs. Lyon were the most hospitable of hosts, but the excellent luncheon they gave us may have upset the School batsmen—and 33 was a poor total even admitting that they were up against bowlers of the class of G. 0. Allen. R. E. S. Wyatt and Smith, who "did the hat trick." But bad weather and consequent lack of practice can be urged as a reasonable excuse. It was the end of a perfect day a day on which memories came crowding back rccailing days of triumph and disaster, and I only hope that I treated those two impostors just the same. Memorv is a queer thinjr. Sometimes "the hi" things pass and the little things main." and even in these davs fraught with immense consequences I can remember as it were but vesterday. June 18. ISS9, when I read on the old pavilion the followinn notice signed by A. W. Dixon, the captain of the Xl:— New Member of the XI. P. F. Warner (R. W.). "R.W." being the initials of mv housemaster. Rdbert Whitelaw, one of the best friends I ever had. Who knows whether Tom Brown in the Elysian Fields was not with us in spirit at Rugby on June 17.