Eton & Harrow: A Hundred Years of Fives
(From The Harrovian)
The first Eton Fives Courts were built in 1840. Ball games had long been played in the bays between the buttresses of the Eton College Chapel but it was the particular attraction of the "doubles court", the area at the foot of the staircase to the North Door, which led to the distinctive ledges, "pepper pot" and step of the Eton Fives Court.
The game spread gradually, mainly through Old Etonians becoming headmasters or assistant masters at other public schools. The first Harrow Courts were built in 1865 but, in those days, little importance was attracted to accuracyof measurement and those four courts were significantly different from those at Eton. In 1880 four 'black' courts, now replaced, were built largely due to the enthusiam of Mr G H Hallam (himself a Salopian and later House Master of the Park) who was the earliest patron of Fives at Harrow. The main preoccupation in all sports in those days was the House Ties although the cricket match against Eton and the Public Schools Rackets Championships were by now well established. Football was complicated by the fact that everyone played to different rules but we can sense a greater awareness of activities beyond the confines of the Hill beginning to emerge. The March 1885 issue of Harrow Notes, one of the forerunners of the Harrovian, has the following paragraph in Notes on News:
The First Match and Early Years
"On Thursday, the 12 ult. the Hon. and Revd. E Lyttelton, F Thomas and C Barclay paid a visit to our Fives Courts and showed the way Fives are played at Eton".
This is the first reference to an inter-school Fives match and the beginning of a series of annual contests with remarkably few breaks. Considering that these early courts were neither covered nor lit and that matches were invariably played in February, the players must have had a very diferent idea of what constituted normal playing conditions from to-day. There are no records of matches in 1887 or 1893 but the next gap is not until 1952-53. Interestingly, matches were played through both World Wars when many such activities were suspended.
The visit of the Etonians in 1865 clearly gave a fillip to the game at Harrow. E M Butler (son of Montagu Butler, Head Master at the time) who had played for Harrow in the inaugural match went up to Cambridge with one of the Eton pair, Freeman Thomas. Also up was George Townsend Warner who had left in 1883 and he and Butler were to return to teach at Harrow and to give enthusiastic support to the Fives. They played against the School pair every Friday in the Easter Term and it is said that they were only once beaten in their match playing career - and then by a pair of Charterhouse masters. Harrow won the match in 1886 but the early contests were mostly one-sided in Eton's favour, until the arrival of E H Crake and R E Eiloart who won all their matches against Eton, home and away, for three seasons from 1904 to 1906. These victories inspired Old Harrovians to collect enough money to build a covered court in their memory in 1907. But such successes were rare interruptions in what Townsend Warner describes as "even tenor of defeat". Harrow were not to win again until 1928.
Six more courts built had been built in 1894 in memory of Arthur Macnamara, killed in the Alps, and the arrival of a Fives-playing Head Master, Lionel Ford, in 1910, led to further building. By the following season the School could boast fifteen covered courts. Although all the open courts fell into disuse together with the Memorial Court, unfortunately built in an isolated position, the School still possesses sixteen covered courts which re-flooring and lighting in the sixties and re-roofing in the seventies have kept in playing condition.
Late Twenties and Thirties
Eton have usually proved superior over the years and the tally of matches to date is nearly three to one in their favour. However there have been some notable highlights and some outstanding Harrow pairs: Between 1928 and 1936 the matches were level. K C Gandar-Dower, a war correspondent who was tragically drowned in the Indian Ocean in 1944, and G R McConnell, later Housemaster of Rendalls, won the Amateur Championship twice, as did W M Welch, another war victim, and H G Grey Warter.
Forties - Eighties
Up to 1938 the match had been played one pair a side but, in the return match that year, three pairs were played for the first time and since then the result has been considered to be determined by the best of three courts. Further expansion took place gradually with Colts pairs and Junior Colts pairs being introduced in the forties and fifties. In recent years up to fifteen pairs have been played in four age groups but the match is still considered to be decided by the top three courts alone.
After another lean spell, Harrow again had the best of the exchanges in the immediate post war years due to the success of an outstanding pair from Druries, M J Shortland-Jones and D J S Guilford, both now Eton masters. These two were to feature as Amateur Champions and finalists, both together and separately, over the next twenty years.
Eton were again very strong in the fifties and, although there were occasional victories, the balance shows a clear deficit there too. Recent Harrow teams have been more successful with only an 11-8 advantage to Eton in the last decade.
The Centenary Match and Dinner
The hundred years of Fives between the two schools is being celebrated by a Centenary Match this afternoon, followed by a six pair match between the Old Harrovian and Eton Fives Clubs. Harrow will be hosts for this event as they were in 1885 and the Headmaster will be giving a dinner in the evening to mark the occasion. Lord Home of the Hirsel who, as Lord Dunglass, played in the victorius Eton pair of 1922, will be guest of honour. Other guests will include the Provost and Head Master of Eton and many who have been associated with the game at the two schools.
With the diversification of extra-curricular activities in recent years Fives has met with intense competition in all schools. Those of us who have enjoyed playing it over the years wish it well and this match in particular.
Constructed by Mike Fenn
24th January 2000
efa@etonfives.co.uk