Sports Societies
When Brian Wright, vicar of Farndish, made his will in 1532 leaving his horse, saddle and bow and arrows to Thomas Athey (ref: ABP/R 3 f62d) he was less concerned with enjoying archery than fulfilling his military obligations to defend the realm and bequeathing useful weapons to a descendant. The legal documents relating to fishing show that fishing rights were seen as important in themselves and the fish as a livelihood. However, the archives hold all kind of source material including illustrations, printed ephemera such as advertising, building plans of clubhouses, and references in private letters and estate papers, which show how people enjoyed sports and pastimes from archery to yachting.
Most of our earliest records of sports societies date from the 1870s, when the affluent middle classes and gentry formed clubs to enjoy new sports, often as part of the social round of the day. Doubtless clubs existed before this date, but few records have survived. In some cases there must have been no written record of proceedings, but by contrast the Victorians enjoyed minuting their sporting activities and seeing them reported in the press.
The earliest minute books we have are for South Bedfordshire Croquet Club established in 1871 (ref: LL17/323) which concentrated on tennis after 1876. Also from around this time are the minutes of Bedford Angling Club for 1872-1879 (ref: Z447/66-67) and for Oakley Hunt for 1877-1920 (ref: X213/61) while a scorebook survives 1879-1882 (ref: X188/1) for a forerunner of the Bedfordshire County Cricket Club. Cricket records far outnumber those for other sporting societies.
The Oakley Hunt was founded in 1798 by the Duke of Bedford and Samuel Whitbread and the records held here (ref: X213) are fairly comprehensive. The deeds and declarations of trust (ref: X213/1-45) provide evidence of the property and rights held by the Hunt from 1804 until the 1950s. There are also hunting agreements and correspondence and papers from the 1830s but only a single minute book for 1877 to 1920. There must have been earlier minutes, now lost, for they are mentioned in other papers but fortunately there is a detailed history of the Hunt in the introduction to the catalogue and published histories by Ralph Greaves (ref: X213/207) and Joyce Godber (BHRS Vol. 44; 1965). The papers of the Russell (Dukes of Bedford), Lucas and Whitbread families also contain significant material on Oakley Hunt and hunting in general during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Bedford Angling Club was founded on 4 March 1872 with the object of “preservation of the River Ouse in and near the two of Bedford for the purpose of legitimate trolling and angling.” The minute books, which survive for 1872-1879, outline the club rules and subscription rates, give the names of new members, and mention the work of the committee in improving the fishing on the river. For example, barbel, a present from the Maidenhead Fishing Club, were introduced into the river in June 1878, in exchange for some bream. Press cuttings and printed annual reports are also included in the minutes and provide useful information.
The following years saw the formation of many other sports clubs across the County. Records held here include those of: Bedford Rowing Club, established in 1886 (ref: X337), Kempston Rovers Football Club (est. c 1895, ref. X1011), Dunstable Downs Golf Clubs (est. 1906, ref: X686), Bedford Athletic Rugby Union Football Club (est. 1908, ref: X436), Bedford Motoring Club (est. 1920, ref: X474), Luton Rambling Club (est. 1928, ref: Z1165), Bedford and District Table Tennis League (est. 1932, ref: X663) and of Everton Football Club (est. 1960, ref: X747). Surviving records do not always start at the establishment of the club. Club names change over time, for example, the Luton Rambling Club was founded as the Luton and District Holiday Fellowship Club and only changed its name in 1970.
The booklet, A History of Bedford Athletic RUFC, published by Alan Cox in 1970 (see pamphlet box 150) shows that the club changed its pitch a dozen times between 1908 and 1970, occupied three different club houses over the same period, while its play was interrupted by two world wars. If you take all these factors into account, together with changes in club committee members and the lack of proper storage facilities for records, it is scarcely surprising that so many club archives have disappeared. Records of sports societies are important not only for charting the history of the organisation concerned, but also for providing an insight into the leisure and social activities of the day. This makes it all the more important that these scarce records are preserved.