CRICKET
By Alan Dinnis.
December 2001

Bearing in mind that Warsop bats have been used by W.G.Grace and so many other famous sportsmen in the past, it is worth bearing in mind that other branches of the family have also been interested in cricket, albeit on a more modest scale.

Joseph Warsap (1807-1889) and his wife Frances (nee Evison) had eight children. The 1851 census record for Boston shows that their third son, called Joseph Hill Warsap after his father and paternal grandmother, was apprenticed to a timber merchant. Robert Evison Warsap, son number four, was at the age of 16 a railway labourer. Both sons did well. J.H.Warsap migrated to Kent where his connections with the building trade led him into cement manufacture, while R.E.Warsap went to Manchester where he worked for a company building railway carriages before moving to London to continue his engineering career.

Sometime in the 1870's J.H.Warsap arrived at Dodnor on the Isle of Wight to become manager of the West Medina Mill, a large site owned by cement manufacturers Charles Francis, Son and Company where they employed about one hundred people. (Charles Francis and Son was one of the original companies that amalgamated to form the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (1900) Ltd and ultimately Blue Circle Industries.)

J.H.Warsap had two sons who followed him into the business. James Robert Warsap became a miller, and his elder brother Henry Joseph Warsap was a "Tester of Cement" until he was promoted to Assistant Manager. One would have thought that H.J.Warsap would have been in a good position to succeed his father as Manager, but this did not happen. The job went to his cousin instead.

The business had not been doing too well financially, and in about 1890 Robert Evison Warsap's second son James Lovell Warsap arrived on the Isle of Wight to help. J.L.Warsap was an accountant. By 1897 he had done a good job, the financial situation had improved and he had been made Manager. How H.J.Warsap took this we don't know, but we can guess because in the early years of the twentieth century his family emigrated to Los Angeles.

James Lovell Warsap was very fond of cricket and took a prominent part in the formation of the Medina Cement Mills Cricket Club that thrived for a number of years around the turn of the century. The enthusiasm of the team was not always matched by its success, however. In one game in 1898 they were dismissed by a team from the village of Brading for a total of just 4 runs. On 10th September of that year they fared better when they played the Isle of Wight Central Railway. The Isle of Wight County Press reported:

CEMENT WORKS v. ISLE OF WIGHT CENTRAL RAILWAY

Played at Dodnor on Saturday. Thanks to a good all-round batting display by the Cement Works - the chief contributors being J.L. Warsap, Tidd, Kemp and Denham - they gained an easy victory over the representatives of the I.W. Central Railway. The bowling of Tidd and Kemp also contributed to the success of the victorious team. Score:

In the family album is this lovely photograph of J.L.Warsap (second from left) leading his team from the field at the end of a match. They were heading for his home Serapis Lodge, the manager's house that may have been originally constructed for his uncle Joseph Hill Warsap. The cricket field was certainly not level; the grass was long and it sloped towards the riverside mill whose smoky kilns and chimneys may be seen in the background. Sadly there is no proof that this was the match reported above, but I would like to think so.

In 1900 the Cement Mills team felt adventurous enough to enter the Isle of Wight Cricket League. Once again they had mixed success. On 23rd June the Isle of Wight County Press reported:

CEMENT WORKS v. NEWPORT 2nd XI

Played at Cement Works on Saturday last, resulting in a win for Newport, who played two short, by seven wickets.

On this occasion J.R.Warsap was caught and bowled by Osgood for two runs in the first innings, and bowled by Chamberlain for another two runs in the second innings. J.L.Warsap was not in the team.

At the end of the season the League Table was as follows:

I.W. CRICKET LEAGUE - 2nd DIVISION, 1900 SEASON

They did not enter for the League again.

James Lovell Warsap (whose eight children are pictured elsewhere on this website) retired at the end of 1929 due to ill health, and he died in 1931. He succeeded twice where his uncle Joseph Hill Warsap had failed - not only did the business become solvent but he managed to pass the manager's job to his eldest son Frederick Robert Warsap (1893-1964).

Surely, such nepotism would never be allowed today. However F.R.Warsap went on to have a very successful career in the cement industry, moving on to manage larger plants in Magheramorne (Northern Ireland), Dunstable (Bedfordshire) and Kirton Lindsey (Lincolnshire). The West Medina Cement Mill closed in 1946 but remains in service as Blue Circle's Vectis Depot.