Pradip Dhole sketches the life and times of Charles Olivierre, the pioneering cricketer of West Indies

“The first team to represent the “West Indies” played over 120 year ago. This period in the history of cricket in the region is rarely discussed today outside academic circles. Even the early years of the West Indies Test team, which first played in England in 1928, do not receive much attention from cricket historians. Whereas it is still possible to find works on early English or early Australian cricket in many bookshops, or to find biographies of English or Australian cricketers who played in the early 1900s, there are no similar histories of West Indian cricket. It is not for lack of interest in the team: the period when the West Indies team dominated world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s is more fully represented on the cricket bookshelf. If WG Grace and Victor Trumper can have had books published about them in the last few years, where are the equivalents form the West Indies? Does anyone remember Charles Ollivierre?”

- From the blog Old Ebor – Cricket from the dim and distant past.

Twenty-first Century Prologue

It was a Monday, the 18th of June 2001, and the 50-over match between the MCC Women and the Australian Women had just been concluded at John Walker’s Ground, Southgate, with a resounding victory for the visitors by 142 runs. After the usual post-match formalities were over, there was a somewhat special awards ceremony. Well, hold your breath, one Ebony-Jewel Cora-Lee Rosamond Camellia Rainford-Brent, a member of the England Women’s team as a right-hand bat and a right arm medium-fast bowler, was about to receive a very significant award.

It had all started with a church service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields organised by writer Clayton Goodwin (an English writer married to a Jamaican lady for over 40 years, and writing about matters of Caribbean and Commonwealth interest, especially cricket, since the early 1960s) and sponsored by the BWIA West Indian Airways. The occasion was the celebration of 100 years of the first West Indian cricket tour to England. At the end of the service, a joint decision had been taken to donate the entire amount of the collection made as an Award to the Memory of the pioneer cricketer Charles Augustus Ollivierre, to be awarded to a modern “pioneer” of West Indian cricket in England.

On 18 June 2001, Rudolph Walker, the actor, presented the inscribed cup to Ebony and Jasmine Baksh, Manager of the St Vincent & the Grenadines Tourist Board, and also handed over the voucher for equipment and travel expenses. In this context, it should be noted that Ollivierre had been Vincentian.

The citation stated that Ebony-Jewel Rainford-Brent had been selected because of “her contribution to the enhanced profile of youth participation in women's cricket, of youth cricket in the inner-city, and of West Indian heritage players within the national structure of English cricket, and, above all, her philosophy that 'cricket is fun.’” It was intended that the award would thenceforth be presented annually

A thesis submitted by Jonathan Newman as part of the requirement for his MA degree at the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, entitled Massa Day Done: Cricket as a Catalyst for West Indian Independence, 1950-1962, traces the history and gradual evolution of cricket in the Caribbean Islands and the unifying effect the game had on the social matrix of the entire population of the areas colonised by the British in the 18th century.

Cricket takes root in the Caribbean

As with other corners of the Empire, cricket was brought to the Caribbean Islands by the British, particularly the British military. There appears to be some evidence that the Commander-in-Chief of all the British troops stationed in the Caribbean had issued specific orders in 1841 that every barrack should be provided with a cricket ground. According to the erudite cricket historian Hilary Beckles, an eminent scholar of the development of cricket in the Caribbean islands, “there was nothing surprising or spectacular about the journey of English cricket culture to the ‘sugar colonies’ of the West Indies at the end of the eighteenth century.” Far removed from their home environs, and stationed in alien lands, with vast differences in climate, food, and culture, British soldiers sought solace in their familiar game. Gradually, the game spread throughout the “white” colonials, cutting across social strata, to encompass the planters, the mercantile group, colonial administrators, and even the Anglican clergymen.

In his book Just Cricket: Black Struggles for Racial Justice and Equality, Beckles speaks of the initial social divide between the white colonials and the darker-skinned inhabitants, many of them slave labourers of the local sugar plantations: “Organized cricket culture, as a social practice, was defined in colonial society as an institution of high culture. It excluded blacks and mixed-race people from the 1790s, when the game was introduced by garrisoned imperial soldiers and domesticated by the planter-merchant elite. On racial grounds blacks were denied by whites the opportunity to participate in colonial leagues and competitions in which they played.”

With the mandated abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1834, there was a gradual transformation in the social structure, and some of the severe restrictions on the movements and activities of the erstwhile slave population were relaxed to a certain extent, and according to Sir Michael Manley, former Jamaican Prime Minister and prolific cricket writer, “the rest of the population began to emulate the habits and practices of the elite and even to create parallel, though less well endowed, institutions of their own”. The social framework gradually revealed a stratum of “white” planters, merchants and colonial administrators at the top of the pyramid, followed by a somewhat thicker lamina of predominantly mulatto (of mixed black and white ancestry) middle class. The lowermost echelon consisted of a large mass of “black” people (predominantly people of African descent, and, in Guyana and Trinidad, newly arrived indentured labourers of East Indian origin). As a preliminary measure to bring about some measure of integration in the multi-cultural population, the erstwhile “natives” were slowly admitted to British schools and were cautiously imbued with British values, and the Gospel of cricket, which, in the end, proved to have a powerful unifying effect.

Even so, the achievement of true cultural emancipation took a little longer. Initially, the cricket code in the colonised regions of the Caribbean Islands stipulated that the art of batsmanship was the preserve of the “whites”, whilst the darker coloured slave population would be required to bowl and field while the “Massas” enjoyed their recreation. Batting was perceived to be an art that required thinking, strategy, style, and temperament, attributes beyond the capabilities of the “simple” dark-skinned people. On the other hand, the mere act of hurling the ball was thought to be well within their capacity. The result of this thinking process closed the doors on many capable batsmen of colour in the early days. Captaincy, again, was thought to be well beyond their unsophisticated minds.

Inter-Colonial matches and early tours

It was in this milieu that cricket gradually evolved in the West Indies, and the first inter-Colonial match was played between Barbados and Demerara at Garrison Savannah, Bridgetown, on 15 and 16 Feb 1865, the first cricket match in the Caribbean to be accorded first class status, with all 22 players making their collective first-class debuts. Barbados won the game by 132 runs. In a return match at the Parade Ground, Georgetown, from 11 to 13 Sep 1865, Demerara won the game by 2 wickets, and honours were even.

There followed a sporadic series of 10 inter-Colonial matches till 1890, mainly because of the distances and travel difficulties involved, the participants being Barbados, British Guinea (often referred to as Demerara in the early years), and Trinidad. An important landmark was reached on 8 Sep 1882 when, in the match between Demerara and Trinidad, played at Georgetown, Edward Fortesque Wright of Demerara scored the first century in Caribbean first-class cricket history with an innings of 123, that helped his side to win the game by an innings and 6 runs. Englishman Edward Wright, born in Devon on 11 Mar/1858, was later posted in the constabulary of Jamaica. During a riot at Montego Bay, in 1904, Wright was attacked and injured, sadly succumbing to his injuries shortly after the attack.

An important chapter in West Indies cricket was written in 1886, when, for the first time, a team from the Caribbean made an overseas tour. In their book, Liberation Cricket: West Indies Cricket Culture, Hilary Beckles and Brian Stoddart write that the idea had first been mooted by one George Wyatt of the Georgetown Cricket Club of Demerara. It was felt that the time was ripe for an overseas foray by a West Indies team, and the destination selected was North America. Although the original idea had been to select players from Jamaica, Barbados, Demerara, and Trinidad, the Trinidadian contingent had to pull out of the venture, possibly because of the cost involved (an estimated $350 per player). The final squad of 12 included 6 Jamaicans, 2 Barbadians, and 4 members from Demerara. George Wyatt was named the captain and LK Fyfe form Jamaica went as the vice-captain (Fyfe was to keep valuable notes about the action on the tour under the name “One of Them”). It was an all-white contingent. Between 16 Aug/1886 and 14 Sep 1886, a total of 12 (2-day) matches were played in Canada and the USA, none of them being of first-class status. An additional “fill-up” game was played in the USA. The West Indies team won 6, lost 5, and 2 of the games were drawn.

There was a reciprocal tour of the West Indies by The Gentlemen of the USA between 24 Dec 1887 and the end of Jan 1888. On this trip however, the tourists played only against territorial sides and not against full-strength representative West Indian teams. The relatively weak touring team was defeated by the “Big Four”; Barbados, Demerara, Trinidad, and Jamaica. All this whetted the appetites of the Caribbean cricket fraternity and they now felt that their recognition would be complete as cricketing powers only after they could cross swords, as it were, with English cricketers.

Now for Ole Blighty

Acting independently and individually, Wyatt and Fyfe tried to arrange for separate tours to England in 1888 and 1889, but the negotiations fell through. Slowly, the truth dawned on the Caribbean cricket enthusiasts that confronting the skill and competence of English players would only be possible, at this juncture of the development of Caribbean cricket, through visits by teams of English cricketers in the West Indies. Well, the aspirations were realised when the Medway docked at Barbados with the first team of English cricketers on 28 Jan 1895.

It was a Dr RB Anderson, a physician from Lincolnshire, who had been practising his medical skills in Tobago for 28 years, and who was an ardent supporter of Caribbean cricket, who proved to be the catalyst for the first English tour of the islands. He had hoped to be able to persuade Lord Hawke of Yorkshire and England, one of the leading lights of English cricket of the time, to bring the first English team over. The good Doctor had been convinced that the mere presence of the luminary would not only act as an enormous encouragement for local West Indian cricket, but would also open doors for future West Indian trips to England. Unfortunately, His Lordship was unable to make the trip at the time. Dr Anderson, not a man to give up hope easily, met Lord Hawke personally while on a private visit to England in 1895 and appraised him of the state of cricket in the islands, suggesting that His Lordship’s personal presence in the Caribbean would do wonders for the game there. His persuasive tongue seemed to have achieved his aim, and His Lordship did make the trip 2 years later

Ultimately, the 1895 all-amateur 13-member group consisted mainly of players with relatively low-level skills, and was led by the England and Middlesex player Robert “Slade” Lucas. Even so, the team was greeted rapturously wherever they went by the excitable local population, this was, after all, the ultimate confirmation that West Indies cricket had finally arrived. The first English visitors on Caribbean shores played 16 games in all, all against teams comprising the local “white” players. Of the matches, 8 were of first-class status. Of the first-class matches, Barbados, Demerara, and Jamaica played two games each against the tourists, while Trinidad played one, and there was one game between the “Jamaica Born” and the tourists. The Englishmen won 10 of the games and lost only 4, beginning the tour with a loss against Barbados at Bridgetown in the match that began on the day next to their arrival in the Islands by 5 wickets.

The next match, a 5-day affair from 5 Feb 1895, proved to be an exciting one, with Barbados ending the first day on 359/7 and ending their 1st innings on 517 all out, an unprecedented team total in Caribbean first-class cricket at the time. Surprisingly, there were no individual centuries in the innings. The Englishmen, however, though being forced to follow on, won the match by 25 runs, with centuries by Frederick Bush (101 in the 1st innings) and John Dawson (138 in the 2nd innings). The enormity of the achievement by the local team in scoring 517 runs in a single innings was reported even in The Times of 9 Feb 1895 with the condescending comment: “That Barbados possessed the ability to compile 517 runs in a single innings was what the most judicious observers of our boys’ play or even the most sanguine spirits among us would have described as belonging more to the region of exuberant imagination than to be within the bounds of possibilities.

The real sensation of the tour, however, was the 12-a-side, single-day, single-innings game against St. Vincent at Kingstown on 25 Feb/1895. St. Vincent was not considered to be much of a cricketing force among the territories at the time. Yet, they restricted the tourists to 48 all out in 35.2 (5-ball) overs, before scoring 138/9 in 46 overs themselves, continuing batting after the winning target had been reached. Very obviously, the visit of Slade Lucas’s team to the Islands had lent an immense fillip to local cricket, and the West Indian cricket fraternity soon rejoiced on hearing that further excursions by English cricket teams were being planned to the Caribbean islands to “test the Colonial cricket steel.”

There was some confusion in the 1896-97 West Indies season when two separate English teams toured the region. On the invitation of Barbados and Jamaica, Arthur Priestley (later Sir Arthur Alexander Priestley) led a team of 13 members to play a total of 16 matches, of which 9 were attributed first-class status. Of the 9 first class games (3 against Barbados, 3 against Jamaica, 2 against Trinidad, and 1 against a team designated as All West Indies), the visitors won 4 and lost 5. This tour lasted from 13 Jan 1897 to 29 Mar 1897.

Lord Hawke arrives

At the same time, accepting an invitation from Demerara, one of the pillars of the English cricket establishment, Lord Hawke himself, arrived at Trinidad in Jan 1897 leading a 12-member, all-amateur group of cricketers. This team played 14 games in all, 7 of which were of first-class status. Lord Hawke’s team won 3, lost 2 and drew 2 of the first-class matches. Inevitably, the two teams met, but the autocratic Lord Hawke could not come to a compromise with Arthur Priestley regarding the tour, and they decided, wisely, to go their separate ways. It was reported at the time that the English peer had treated Mr. Priestley in a rather high-handed manner. Lord Hawke’s tour lasted from 29 Jan 1897 to 14 Apr 1897.

While all these momentous events were taking place in the major cricketing centres of the West Indies, a male child was born to a Mr. Helon Ollivierre in his Back Street residence, somewhere between Victoria Park and the local cemetery of Kingstown, in little St. Vincent, a part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a sovereign state of the Lesser Antilles Islands arc, in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, on 20 July/1876. Mr. Helon Ollivierre was a man of importance in the area, being considered “one of the most popular and respected coloured gentlemen in the country. He was a nominated member of the Kingstown Board, belonged to a number of benefit societies, was Treasurer of the Mechanic Association and Chief Ranger of the local Court of the Ancient Order of Forresters.”

St. Vincent being one of the smaller islands, there were very limited opportunities for cricket for the three talented Ollivierre brothers, Charles (Charlie), Richard, and Helon. Charlie later moved to the larger island of Trinidad for better cricketing prospects, and there made his first-class debut, primarily as a right-hand batsman, with the Trinidad team against Slade Lucas’s XI at Queens Park Savannah, Port of Spain, in a 2-day match from 4 Mar 1895. Interestingly, the skipper of the Trinidad team for the match, Aucher Warner, elder brother of the more famous Pelham (Plum) Warner, also made his first-class debut in the same game. Charles Ollivierre’s performances with the bat (7 and 12) were moderate, but he shone with the ball, opening the attack in the tourists’ 2nd innings in his right-arm fast-medium mode, and returning figures of 23-9-45-2. A future Caribbean star had been launched.

In a first-class career spanning 1894-95 to 1907, Charles Augustus Ollivierre played 114 matches in all, aggregating 4830 runs from his 209 innings (remaining not out 4 times), with a highest of 229, and an average of 23.56. He had 3 centuries and 25 fifties, and held 110 catches. He claimed 29 wickets from his 1085 (documented) deliveries bowled, conceding 664 runs, with best figures of 6/51, and a bowling average of 22.89. He had 5 five-wicket hauls and took 10 wickets in a match on one occasion. Considering that West Indies cricket was still in its relative infancy during his playing days, his figures bespeak the achievements of a player of notable merit.

A “white” gentleman named Arthur Bertram St. Hill, born in Barbados, and a cricket enthusiast though of very limited capabilities in the game himself, raised a team and toured Trinidad and Tobago with them on two occasions, in Apr 1899 and again in Jan 1901. Both Charles and his brother Richard were included in the AB St. Hill XI that played against Trinidad in the two games in Apr 1899, both games being played at the Queens Park Oval, Port of Spain. With bowling figures of 6/51 and 5/69, and scores of 13 and 67, Charles Ollivierre was easily the star of the 5-wicket win by his team in the first match, a 2-day affair, from 21 Apr/1899. Although Trinidad won the next match, a 3-day game from 24 Apr/1899 by 8 wickets, Charles Ollivierre had figures of 5/62 in the 1st innings. His value as an all-round cricketer was increasing by leaps and bounds.

By the middle of 1899, the cricket fraternity in the Caribbean began to get the feeling that the time had perhaps come for a representative team from the West Indian communities to pay their first respectful visit to the home of cricket. Briefed extensively by Dr Anderson, Lord Hawke and the mandarins of the MCC were also thinking along the same lines. The fact that Lord Hawke had experienced the state of cricket in the islands personally on his tour of 1897 helped him to make an informed assessment on the issue and to convey his personal feelings and moral support for the idea to the MCC committee. In the meantime, it may be remembered that James Logan, the Scottish-born South African cricket patron, had also been in communication with Lord Hawke and the MCC about a projected tour of England by a South African team sponsored by him in the 1900 English season. As things turned out, however, the outbreak of the Boer War in Oct 1899 resulted in the cancellation of the South African venture.

With an assurance from Lord Hawke that the projected tour of England would indeed, be on, preparations began on the Caribbean side in right earnest. After the conclusion of the Final of the Inter-Colonial Tournament between Barbados and British Guiana at Port of Spain on 18 Jan/1900, the business of selecting the touring party began with the nomination of a Selection Committee comprising representatives of all the Caribbean islands. The Committee met in Trinidad in late Jan/1900, with Aucher Warner of Trinidad, having been named captain of the touring side, being co-opted into the selection panel.