Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football & Sporting Memorabilia

Arthur Fielder. Kent & England 1900-1914. M.C.C. tour of Australia 1903/04. Large black autograph book with gilt page edges belonging to Fielder, on his first overseas tour with the England team, and used by him to obtain signatures of passengers, players and teams during the tour. The album begins on the first page with ‘Arthur Fielder. MC.C. 1903’ written by Fielder as his mark of ownership, followed by two pages of signatures of the passengers on board the R.M.S. Orontes, the ship which took the team to Australia, a page of ladies signatures and a page of men’s. Interestingly the ladies page has the ink signature of Florence Darnley, wife of Ivo Bligh (Captain of England in the 1882/83 tour of Australia), to the top of the page and the mens page contains the ink signature of G.H.S. ‘Harry’ Trott (Victoria 1886-1908 and Captain of Australia from 1896-1898. The ship arrived in Australia at Freemantle on the 29th October 1903 and finally arrived at Adelaide for the opening tour match on the 2nd November, many of any of the signatures are dated 31st October by the signees. The ladies page is also signed by Dianah Foster, who had recently married cricketer R.E. Foster, of the touring party. Following this in the book there is a page of signatures in black ink of the South Australian team who played M.C.C. in the opening match of the tour. The page is headed ‘South Australia Team. November 10th 1903’ and is signed by sixteen of the South Australian team and umpires. Signatures are Clem Hill (Cpt), Fred Hack, Donald Gehrs, George Giffen, Joseph Travers, Norman Claxton, Claude Jennings, Arthur Evans, John Reedman, Philip Newland and Henry Hay, all of which played in the tour match. Also twelfth man Bob Rees and the two umpires P. Argall and G.E. Downs. The other two signatures are administrators of the South Australian Cricket Association, George Watson, also an umpire and S.K. Edwards. The match was drawn. The following page is signed by twelve members of the Victoria team who played M.C.C. at Melbourne on the 13th November. The Captain, Frank Laver, Peter McAlister, William Bruce, George Trott, Warwick Armstrong, Matthew Ellis, James Horan, John Monfries and J.V. Saunders. Lacking the signature of Bertie Tuckwell and Fred Collins from the full eleven. Also signed by Umpire Robert Crockett and by Test player Charles McLeod who did’nt play in the tour match. M.C.C. won the match by an innings and 71 runs. The next page is headed New South Wales the next opponents on the tour, but not signatures were collected by Fielder, the next page has a smaller laid down lined page, headed ‘for A. Fielder’, signed by thirteen members of the Queensland team and umpires who M.C.C. played next on the tour. Signatures are Evans (Cpt), Fitzgerald, Byrne, Henry, Carew, Griffith, Atkins, MacDonald, Foster, Crouch and Patrick plus the two umpires Muir and Orr, this is followed by a blank page with only the title Maitland XVIII,however he did collect eighteen members of the Newcastle who played against them on the 4th/5th December. Signatures include Thomas Dent who took five wickets in the M.C.C. first innings, Bourke who top scored in the first innings with 43. The match was drawn. The following two pages facing each other are headed ‘First Test Match. England Eleven [and Australia Eleven] played at Sydney’. This first Test was played from the 11th-17th December. Fielder, who was not included in the team, has entered the names of the England team but no signatures were signed, however the Australian page is signed all twelve players who played in the Test match. Signatures in ink are Monty Noble (Capt), Reggie Duff, Victor Trumper, Clem Hill, Warwick Armstrong, Albert Hopkins, William Howell, Syd Gregory, Frank Laver, James Kelly and John Saunders. Also signed by presumably the twelfth man Claude Jennings and the two umpires, Robert Crockett and Alfred Jones. England won the Test by five wickets, Noble made 133 out of a total of 285 in Australia’s first innings, England responded with 577 all out, with R.E. Foster making 287 and Len Braund making 102, Australia in their second innings made 485 with Victor Trumper making 185no, England scored the required runs with five wickets down, Tom Hayward making 91. The following two pages are similarly laid out with handwritten titles for the second Test at Melbourne in which Fielder made his Test debut for England, again the names of the English team have been entered in Fielder’s hand and the Australian page has been signed by four of the players plus the Umpire Crockett. Signatures are Warwick Armstrong, William Howell, James Kelly and Donald Gehrs. England won the Test by 165 runs, Rhodes taking 15 wickets in the match. The remainder of the autograph book has blank pages with the exception of the final page where Fielder has noted ‘Winter Money received from K.K.C.C. of £5-00 on the 20th October’. The book breaking at the spine a little and some pages are detached otherwise in good original condition. An early and unique autograph book compiled by an initially enthusiastic collector of the teams autographs on his first tour, perhaps the pressures of the actual tour, travel and playing of matches on the tour dulled his enthusiasm to collect autographs as the series went on.