Today marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of another notable Merthyr citizen, yet someone who is quite forgotten – the first-class cricketer Harry Goodwin.
Harry Smyth Goodwin was born at Brynheulog Villa in Thomastown on 30 September 1870, the son of Albert Goodwin, a school-master originally from Monmouth. He was educated at prep school in Bournemouth before attending Rossall School in Fleetwood, Lancashire.
It was whilst he was at Rossall School that he first began playing cricket. According to records, in these school matches he batted in the top order, scoring five and 16 against Loretto School on 7 June 1889 while batting at three. He also took a five-wicket haul with his bowling though his bowling style is not recorded, and he did not bowl during his first class career. On 21 June he played against Malvern College and scored 72 and 15 opening the batting, but did not bowl.
Goodwin was bitten by the cricket bug, and decided to embark on a career as a cricketer, making his first class debut on 25 May 1896 playing for Gloucestershire against Sussex (a team which included the ageing but legendary W. G. Grace), where he batted and number six, making 10 runs on his first outing. He played again that year against Middlesex on 18 June at Lord’s.
In 1897, he played once again for Gloucestershire, enjoying his most prolific season. He played ten games, scoring 239 runs at 21.72 including a high score of 44 not out which came against Sussex on 2 August, overshadowed once more by a Grace century. He also made 36 against Somerset on 19 August, however he was unable to make any lasting impact and played only one match in the 1898 season: scoring five against Sussex on 30 May.
He did return more convincingly in 1899, playing five games including his career-high score of 46 made against Somerset on 28 August at Taunton, which was the highest score of the innings, and also a game against a touring Australian side though in this match he only made six. However, a batting average of 12.50 and only 100 runs scored in the season was not enough to secure a regular place in the Gloucestershire line-up. Goodwin managed only nine runs from his three games in 1900, and played only one match in 1901.
In 1902, he decided to give up his cricket career, and in May of that year, he joined the staff at the prestigious Christ’s Hospital School. Christ’s Hospital was founded in 1552, receiving its first Royal Charter in 1553. Although following the public school tradition, Christ’s Hospital has been, since its establishment, a charity school, with a core aim to offer children from humble backgrounds the chance of a better education. Originally situated at Newgate, London, when Harry Goodwin began his teaching career, the school had just moved, in May 1902, to a newly purpose-built establishment at Horsham, Sussex.
A tribute to Goodwin in ‘The Blue’, the official magazine of Christ’s Hospital, written at the time of his retirement describes one of his first teaching experiences:
“He was then appointed to Coleridge A as its first Junior House Master, and the ‘Prep’ was the scene of his first teaching activities. Some will remember his astonishment at finding in his form a diminutive cockney, who had never seen a cow. Accordingly the small boy was sent out to an adjacent field to inspect a herd grazing there. Asked on his return what he thought of the cow, he replied, ‘Please sir, it’s like an ‘orse with ‘orns’.”
The Blue, June 1930
In 1906, he returned briefly to cricket, again playing for Gloucestershire, playing four games that year. In 1907, however, he played six matches and reached 117 runs for the season and a best of 34 made against Essex on 5 August. His final first class match came against a South African side that was on an England tour, where he made a pair – two scores of zero. He was dismissed each time by South African Test cricketer Ernie Vogler. After this brief return to the world of cricket, he returned to his teaching career.
When the First World War broke out, despite his age (he was 43 at the time), he immediately volunteered for active service. At first rejected on account of his age, he eventually became a private in the Public Schools Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, soon being transferred to the Royal Fusiliers as a Lieutenant, quickly moving up the ranks to Captain then Major. Whilst serving on the front-line in France he was badly wounded in the arm by machine gun fire, and following his recovery, he became Director of Graves’ Registration and Enquiries until he was demobilised.
Following his demobilisation, he returned to Christ’s Hospital, and in 1920 married Ada White. He continued to teach at the school until his retirement in 1930. Harry Goodwin died at the school where he spent most of his adult life on 13 November 1955.
Many thanks to Christ’s Hospital Museum for providing the photographs and invaluable information for this article.
Thanks too to Mike Donovan for his help in researching Harry Goodwin’s family records.