From spring 1915 the MCC closed Lord's to first-class fixtures and made the ground available to the war effort. The pavilion was used as a wartime club for officers, parts of the outfield were dug for vegetables, and at various points the ground hosted military drills, hay storage and ammunition depots.
The MCC had been reluctant to abandon cricket entirely but Grace's letter and the steady flow of casualties made continuing impossible.
The committee voted in early 1915 not to hold a season and to make the ground available to the war effort.
After the abandonment of the 1914 season the MCC committee decided not to attempt a 1915 first-class programme. Lord's was placed at the disposal of the War Office. The pavilion served as a club and recreation room for officers passing through London. Parts of the practice ground were dug up for vegetable allotments under the national 'Dig for Victory'-style schemes that pre-dated the more famous WWII version. The Long Room was used for committee meetings and recruiting drives. Schoolboys' matches and a handful of charity games — including services and 'England versus Australia' games using available service personnel — were the only cricket of any standing played there during the war. The ground escaped any direct damage from Zeppelin raids, though London was bombed several times in 1915-17. By the time the war ended in November 1918, the pavilion required a substantial refit before the resumption of first-class cricket in May 1919.
Spring 1915: MCC opens Lord's to military use
1916: Allotments planted on practice ground
1916-18: Charity and services matches occasionally played
Nov 1918: Armistice; Lord's begins refit for 1919 season
Apr 1915
MCC closes Lord's to first-class cricket
1916
Allotments dug on the practice ground
1916-18
Charity matches occasionally staged
May 1919
First-class cricket resumes at Lord's
“The famous turf was given over to potatoes.”
The 1919 season opened with Lord's restored. Several wartime adaptations — including parts of the indoor area used for officers' messes — were dismantled.
Cricket's most famous ground spent four seasons as a quasi-military facility, with vegetable allotments where pre-war crowds had watched W.G. Grace.
The image of wartime allotments at Lord's became one of the most-reproduced in MCC histories, a symbol of the way the war reached into the most insulated parts of English society.
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.