Empire Cricket Booklet

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JEREMY LONSDALE

short period of prominence in the English game. Some would argue that he was thus not tested over many seasons at the highest level, nor in a range of weathers. Nevertheless, during the English summer of 1899, he was incredibly prolific, scoring seven hundreds and three fifties in twelve county matches, with a top score of 304. No one had a better batting average in an English first-class season than his 91.23 until Don Bradman in 1930. To this day, the English sixth wicket partnership record is still 411 by R. M. Poore and E.G. Wynyard. Added to this, there can have been few more successful sporting fortnights than Poore's two weeks in June 1899, when he made the winning hit in the final of one of the top polo tournaments, the Inter-Regimental at Hurlingham, won the title of Best Man At Arms at the Royal Naval and Military Tournament, and then scored three successive centuries for Hampshire in the County Championship. It is this versatility that marks Poore out from other sportsmen of his day, and places him amongst the greatest all-round sportsmen of the nineteenth cen tury, perhaps even of all time. Other cricketers such as E.G. Wynyard, Sammy Woods, Frank Mitchell or A. E. Stoddart were known for success in other areas, but it is the range of Poore's achievements that is so impressive. One of the finest horsemen of his time, a leading swordsman, champion polo player, winner of tennis championships, racquets champion, and scorer of centuries, he excelled at virtually everything he did. Yet for all this, sport was not Poore's life. He was first and foremost a soldier, an army officer brought up in a military family, and schooled, literally from infancy, to fight, who served with four of the most senior (and controversial) officers of his day - Field-Marshal Douglas Haig,General Lord Kitchener, Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, and Colonel Robert Baden-Powell. His time in the army took away many opportunities for regular top-class sport, yet it provided him with a career in a noted British cavalry regiment, the 7th Hussars, which he eventually commanded. Along the way he was also on the staff of that great English

cricketer, Lord Harris, when he was governor of Bombay. And, as we shall see later, he played a part in one of the great imperial controversies - the court martial and execution of Breaker Morant. Robert Poore was born on 20 March 1866 near Dublin in Ireland, the son of a Major Robert Poore, who had won the Victoria Cross in the Indian Mutiny but had retired early due to illness. He had a vigorous and privileged childhood, being introduced to horse riding almost as soon as he could walk. He was sent on cross-country runs from about five, and practised boxing, rifle shooting and sword exercises at an early age, his father (in contrast to many contemporaries) 14 seeing such activities as preferable to organised team sports. His formal education was fragmented, but clearly designed to lead to a military career. He attended Cheam School and then had personal tutors in Surrey (and for a short while, in Paris) to prepare him for the Army's Preliminary Examination, which he eventually passed, after several attempts, in 1884. With his father's assistance he joined the 7th Hussars and left for India in 1886. During this period there was little indication that he would develop into an accomplished cricketer, although he did appear for the Wiltshire county side in 1887. Poore spent most of the next few years in India (he came home for one period due to ill-health), but saw no active service and life largely consisted of inspections, exercises and marches, combined with endless sporting activity, particularly cricket, polo and tennis. India provided opportunities to study the art of batting and his performances on the cricket field brought Poore to the notice of Lord Harris, former England Test captain and at the time governor of Bombay. In 1892, the 7th Hussars moved to the Bombay Presidency and Poore made his first-class debut in the regular Parsee-Presidency game, also appearing against Lord Hawke's touring side. 15 He was appointed ADC to Lord Harris, a post he held until 1895. Although stories that he taught himself to bat by reading a book are not entirely true, it was during this period that he progressed from a competent club player to one of the most prolific in India.