No 58: Did Sidney Barnes play for Colwyn Bay?

Following his military service in the Great War Thomas Williams returned, in April 1919, to resume his career as a tailor with H R Davies, Ladies and Gents Tailors, Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay where he remained until his death in 1945. I show photo of the staff. Tom is standing behind the girl in the white blouse and the date is probably before 1914. The photographer was H.J. Edwards, Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay.

There are a number of photos of un-named men and women in his album taken mainly by Ll Jones & Co, Colwyn Bay. Perhaps someone will know more about this photographer. Tom was interested in the Theatre, currently called Colwyn Theatre, which I remember as the Prince of Wales Theatre. I show a photo of a character in costume which is signed on the back by J O Davies in May 1920.

There is a second photo of the actor (or singer) Mr J. O. Davies appearing with the Colwyn Bay Light Opera Company in 1927. It's a bit difficult to read but the photo is signed "All the Best. Sincerely yours. J O Davies. 1927" Some of the other photos of unnamed people could have been people associated with the theatre.

Tom appears to have been a cricket fan as there is a photo signed "S F Barnes" of the famous cricketer, Sidney Barnes. Sidney Barnes (1873-1967) played for England in 27 Test matches against Australia and South Africa between 1901 and 1914 taking 189 wickets at an average of 16.43 runs each. Sidney Barnes was the only player to have been picked to play for England directly from the Lancashire League. Following this test appearance he played for Lancashire but after a contractual dispute at the end of 1903, he played for Staffordshire in the Minor Counties.

I was surprised to discover that there was a Wales cricket team which played 16 first-class matches between 1923 and 1930. I was even more surprised to learn that Sidney Barnes, then in his fifties, played in 9 of these matches between 1927 and 1930 which included an eight wicket win over the West Indies in 1928. In that match Barnes took 7 wickets for 51 runs and in total he took 49 first class wickets for Wales.

What puzzles me is how Barnes was qualified to play for Wales. Did he play for a Welsh team? I know of the reputation of cricket in Colwyn Bay and, during the 1950s I remember going to watch cricket festivals during August featuring matches between C J Barnet's XI (have I remembered the name correct?) and a Commonwealth XI. There were wonderful matches with all those international players who used to play in the Lancashire League. I remember seeing the Three Ws (Worrall, Weeks and Walcott) and "those two little friends of mine" and many other famous players at Colwyn Bay. I remember Frank Worrall making 194 not out and I also remember George Hadley making more than 50 with beautiful strokes without once lifting the ball more than a few inches off the ground.

Did Sidney Barnes play for Colwyn Bay? Is this how Tom came to have an autographed photo of Sidney Barnes? If there's anyone who knows about any connection that Sidney Barnes might have had with Colwyn Bay, then I'd be very interested to know.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk
Meetings start again in September

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd. The next meeting is as follows:

Saturday 9 July 2011: Summer Outing (12.30 to 4.00pm) to Garthewin, Llanfair Talhaearn.