'Close of Play'

Heathfield Harman ‘H.H.’ Stephenson. Surrey & England 1853-1871. A selection of ephemera relating to Stephenson, collected by Irving Rosenwater and contained in a large yellow envelope neatly annotated by Rosenwater to the front. Contents include an original two page letter to ‘Dear Daft’ dated 13th July 1896, the year Stephenson died. Writing from Uppingham, Stephenson refers to arrangements for Uppingham’s upcoming ‘match with the Americans’, being Haverford College who were touring England schools and universities that summer. Nicely signed in ink ‘H.H. Stephenson’. The letter has been heavily trimmed, not affecting the very rare signature. Also enclosed are Rosenwater’s typed and handwritten articles and notes on Stephenson. Subjects include Stephenson’s ‘immensely significant’ captaincy of the first England team to tour Australia in 1861/62, Rosenwater describing him as a ‘talented all-round player, a professional to command the respect of his fellow- professionals, a cricketer with experience of overseas touring, and an educated man’. Also notes relating to the appointment of Stephenson to stand as umpire with Bob Thoms in the Oval Test of 1880 against Australia, the first Test match to be played in England. Rosenwater records this appointment ‘as something of a surprise and a curiosity, for I believe it is correct to say that Stephenson did not umpire in any other first-class match that year’, but that ‘The Surrey authorities... had known him not only as a player and a man of integrity, but indeed as an umpire in the matches between the County and Uppingham School, and... [he] had virtually a decade of experience umpiring inter- school matches played by Uppingham’. Other items include a facsimile copy of a Melbourne Cricket Club document of 25th March 1862, offering a ‘purse of One hundred sovereigns’ to the England touring party to Australia, captained by Stephenson, and notes on Stephenson’s connections with Uppingham School where he coached cricket. A very rare signature of a pioneering figure instrumental in England’s inaugural overseas cricket tours and first Test match. Very good condition.