Hampshire were promoted to first-class status in 1895, when Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire joined the County Championship. Their early years were grim — last or equal-last in 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904 and 1905 — with a brief 1901 rally led by Charlie Llewellyn, the Natal-born all-rounder who later played five Tests for South Africa.
The 1895 Championship admitted five new counties: Derbyshire (re-admitted), Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire. The MCC formally recognised the competition that year. Hampshire's recovery had been driven by Lord Tennyson's grandfather and Major Robert Poore, who served as captain in his Army leaves.
The county's early rebuilding was complicated by the Boer War (1899-1902), which removed officers (including Greig and Poore) from cricket for long stretches.
Llewellyn arrived in England in 1899 having played for Natal and on a Hampshire residential qualification. His 1901 season was the breakthrough.
Hampshire had been a fluctuating county presence since the 18th century, but lost first-class status in 1886 after a string of poor results. They returned in 1895, when the MCC formally recognised the County Championship's existence and admitted five new sides to the competition.
The debut season (1895) was respectable. Hampshire finished tenth, sixteen points behind champions Surrey, winning their first two matches against Somerset and Derbyshire and beating Yorkshire at Sheffield in August. The first home first-class match was a draw against Surrey at Crystal Palace (then in development) and the second won at Southampton.
Fortunes then declined. Hampshire failed to win a single Championship match in 1900, finishing last. They were last or equal-last in 1902, 1903, 1904 and 1905 too. The lone bright year was 1901, when Charlie Llewellyn — the Natal-born all-rounder who had qualified for Hampshire by residence and was the first cricketer of mixed race to play in major English cricket — took 168 first-class wickets and made over 1,000 runs. Captain Robert Greig (on temporary leave from the Indian Army) added stability and Hampshire that year won as many matches as they lost.
The decade ended with a quiet 1908 season under Major E. G. Wynyard's captaincy. Hampshire finished mid-table for the first time since 1895. Major investments in the Northlands Road ground at Southampton and the development of the Bournemouth and Portsmouth out-grounds laid the basis for steady (if unspectacular) county presence through the next century.
1895: First-class status restored; Hampshire 10th in debut Championship.
1900: Last in Championship — no Championship wins.
1901: Llewellyn 168 wickets + 1,000 runs; Hampshire respectable.
1902-05: Last or equal-last in four of four seasons.
1908: Mid-table — first non-bottom finish since 1901.
Llewellyn plays 5 Tests for South Africa 1895-1912.
1886
Hampshire lose first-class status.
1895
First-class status restored; Hampshire 10th in Championship.
1900
Bottom of Championship — no wins.
1901
Llewellyn breakthrough: 168 wickets, 1,000+ runs.
1902-05
Last or equal-last in four seasons.
1908
First mid-table Championship finish since 1901.
1910
Llewellyn leaves Hampshire over contract.
1961
First Championship title — under Ingleby-Mackenzie.
“Hampshire's struggle for survival in the Championship of the early 1900s was as protracted as that of any new county in cricket history.”
Hampshire were not strong enough to rise much further until the 1920s, when George Brown, Phil Mead and Alec Kennedy arrived. The county would not win the Championship until 1961 under Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie. But the 1895 admission and the gradual stabilisation across 1900-1908 prevented a second collapse of the kind that had ended the old Hampshire CCC in 1886.
Llewellyn left Hampshire in 1910 over a contract dispute and continued in the leagues. He died in Surrey in 1964 aged 87.
A laborious entry into first-class cricket for a county with limited financial resources, no large urban professional pool, and constant Royal Navy and Army player departures. Llewellyn's 1901 was the period's high point; the 1908 mid-table finish a sign of slow stabilisation.
Hampshire's persistence through the 1900s lean years was a precedent for the second-tier counties. The principle that a county could be admitted to first-class status and survive multiple last-place finishes was new, and was tested most severely by Hampshire of this era.
Llewellyn's career has been re-evaluated in recent decades as a pioneering example of multi-racial international cricket; he is the first non-white cricketer to have represented England-affiliated first-class teams.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.