Jell in genealogy shocker

Wickman is perturbed to discover that the motivation for the creation of the Wick may have come from a man descended from those garlic crunchers from accross the channel. Jell has uncovered the history of the Wick's founder and first president and Wickman has great pleasure in reprinting this here. It could very well be the most useful thing ever contributed to the blog:

The Reverend Frederick John Champion de Crespigny

Le Wickman premier avait des ancêtres français

It seems we have to thank the French for our cricket club. Frederick, the prime mover in founding the club and its first President had French origins. His family can trace its lineage back to 16th century France, to Richard Champion, a member of a noble Norman family. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 the Protestant Champion family headed for England, settling initially in London.

The family retained its links with France over the intervening years as Frederick’s father, Augustus James, was born in Nice in 1791. Frederick himself was born 12 December 1822 at the house of his cousin, Sir William Bowyer Smijth, at Hill Hall, in Essex. Little is known of Frederick’s early life other that his father died at sea when Frederick was 3 years old. Augustus had served with Nelson and Collingwood.

Frederick went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1840 and played one game for the University, but not versus Oxford so did not get a blue.

He was ordained a clergyman in 1847 and served as a curate at Hockerton, and then Southwell Minster, both in Nottinghamshire. He was next a curate at Emmanuel Church, Camberwell, from 1850 to 1858, during which time he married Rosabelle Mary Wythe in Essex 18 August 1857. He then became the vicar of St John the Baptist, Hampton Wick from 1858 until his death in 1887.

Frederick’s first class cricket career consisted of just 3 matches. The first was in May 1843 when he played for Cambridge University v the MCC at Parker’s Piece in Cambridge. This was a 12 a side game and batting at 12 in the university’s 1st innings he was bowled for a duck, a very Wicklike start to his first class career. [It is not known whether he paid Duck Tax - Ed] In the MCC first innings his older brother Claude William opened the batting and was similarly out for a duck, although there is no evidence he ever played for the Wick. Would we have wanted him? [He would probably have paid lots of Duck Tax so yes]. This was Claude’s only first class match. In the university 2nd innings Frederick recorded a creditable 7 not out, again batting at number 12!

His 2nd match was for Nottinghamshire. He was a member of Notts County Cricket Club and played for the local Southwell side when he was living there. His single appearance for the county was versus Sussex at Trent Bridge in 1848. The scorecard shows that he bowled 3 overs for 7 runs in the Sussex first innings, including a wide and 2 overs for 5 runs in their second innings, this time including 2 wides and failed to take a wicket in either innings, a very Wicklike bowling performance. Battings at 10 in the only innings of Notts he scored a splendid 20 not out from a total of 134 scored in 95 overs. Slow going even by current Wick standards! Some enquiries regarding his cricket later in life led to him replying: ‘In bye gone times I had the honour and pleasure of playing for the famous County of Notts’.

The St Lawrence ground at Canterbury was the scene of his 3rd and last first class appearance playing for the Gentlemen of England against the Gentlemen of Kent in 1851. He did not bowl and scored 15 batting at 8 in the only innings of England.

The 1861 Census for Hampton Wick finds Frederick and Rosabelle living at the Parsonage in Park Road, along with 4 servants. With a groom who doubled as a gardener, a cook and 2 maids he must have had plenty of time for cricket.

The cricket club was founded in 1863 and 2 reports appeared in the Surrey Comet, the first in May 1863 reporting that the requisition for a grant of part of Bushy Park had been successful. The second article in June was a report on the first match, an inter club game, which was played on Tuesday 9 June 1863.

There has been much debate over the name of the club and the inclusion of Royal. Some jealous clubs have said it was an affectation introduced by us after the 2nd World war. We can now lay that to rest. The Surrey Advertiser has a headline “The Royal Cricket Club” reporting the annual meeting of the club, published in March 1873, under the section of Hampton Wick news. The report states the club’s patron was His Serene Highness the Prince Teck. The Prince was a German aristocrat from Württemberg who spent some of his later life at White Lodge in Richmond Park.

Frederick died 25th June 1887. His death was reported in the 2nd July edition of the Surrey Comet with a very long and fulsome tribute. The report included: “He was an enthusiastic lover of English field sports, and excelled especially as cricketer. He had been for many years president of the Hampton Wick Cricket Club which owes much of its original success and present prosperity to his hearty and energetic support”. Surely the editor of the paper must have forgotten to include the Royal?

His wife Rosabelle survived him until she died in 14th December 1902. She was listed on the 1901 Census living with her niece in Hampton Wick. She was recorded as an imbecile. I guess that’s what happens to all us Wick people in the end.

Richard Jell
April 2008