Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football & Sporting Memorabilia

To be held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday
6th, 7th, 8th & 9th August 2026

Lord Martin Bladen Hawke. Yorkshire, Cambridge University & England 1881-1911. Single page handwritten letter in ink from Lord Hawke to ‘Dear Mr. Payne’. Hawke writes ‘Glad you got the job & ... you will succeed & bring Worcester finances up to good standard’. Nicely signed ‘Hawke’. The letter is dated ‘Tues’, year unknown but probably around 1927 when John Bertram Payne was elected President of Worcestershire C.C.C. and oversaw the organisation and stabilisation of the Club’s financial challenges at the time. The letter is laid down to slightly larger page. Minor foxing, otherwise in good condition.
John Bertram Payne was an author and cricket statistician who compiled the ‘Index to all first-class matches in “Scores and Biographies”’ covering volumes I-XIV 1746-1878, first published in 1903. He served on the Committee of Worcestershire C.C.C. in the 1920s before being elected President in 1927. He also wrote the official history of the Club, published in 1928.

Back to top