Victorian veterans of leather and willow
This Victorian sepia photograph was taken 116 years ago at Chicksands Park in Shefford and followed a veteran cricket match to celebrate the Jubilee of W G Grace.
The match took place between two XI’s and players were selected from 20 parishes in the County of Bedford. The veterans were all over 50 years old at the time so will have been dead now for at least half a century.
As well as the long bushy beards that were fashionable in that era, it is interesting to note the different hats that each player is wearing, from bowlers and flat caps to top hats and straw boaters in an era when one was improperly dressed without a hat.
The photo was originally sent in to The Chronicle by W Clark of Stotfold.