From the Minutes of Southgate Bowling Club

It has been a delight for me to have the opportunity of trawling through the archive material of Southgate B C. The Minutes of 1921 when the Club was formed clearly state that ladies are accepted on the green but there is no mention of any names, and needless to say no lady on the Committee. In 1926 we had 250 playing members, only seven of whom were ladies - Mrs Craxford amongst them.

She was certainly the most outstanding lady bowler at Southgate at that time and mention is made in several Committee Minutes of her achievements. First winner with Mrs Roberts of the EWBA Pairs in 1932 and singles winner of the Eastbourne Tournament in 1933 appear to have been just the beginning of her many achievements. No mention is made of her taking up the post of EWBA President in 1936, her many years as Secretary of Middlesex, her County Presidency in 1950 or of her many International appearances. One reference to her standing as an international champion can be seen in the article from The Mercury newpaper of Hobart, Tasmania.

The first lady to be mentioned in the Minutes is Mrs Craxford in 1926 when she and the other seven ladies who were playing for Southgate against Canbury Ladies on 26th May wrote to the Secretary 'complaining of the conduct of our members in hurrying them off the green'. The incident is mentioned in two following Committee Minutes but there is no record of an apology!! Reading further minutes I imagine that the Committee sometimes thought of her as a thorn in their side when she sent yet another letter to the Secretary about something or other. However her requests for use of the green for Middlesex ladies to play other counties were always granted.

Photographs of her are mentioned several times in the Minutes, requesting that they be framed and hung in the clubhouse. Sadly the Minutes of the 1940 AGM tell us that our clubhouse was destroyed by enemy action so I guess all those lovely old photos went then.

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There is just one faded newspaper photograph from June 1925 in our press scrapbook which shows Mrs Craxford with other Southgate ladies and a team from Kingston. Their dresses and hats are worthy of Ascot! The Palmers Green Gazette sadly disappeared many years ago .

I was told some years back that the Eve Trophy which is played for annually outdoors by England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales was made by Mr Craxford, who was a Silversmith. He modelled it on his wife, Evelyn, and those who knew her said it was a wonderful likeness. I know that Mr Craxford died in 1956 but nothing is recorded of when Mrs Craxford died.

She was certainly a pioneer for ladies bowls and I hope my Club will always be proud that she belonged to Southgate.

Gwen Young
Assistant Honorary Secretary
Southgate Bowling Club
May 2007

Footnote: Lionel George Craxford

Evelyn Coote was born in 1879. She married Lionel Craxford in Colchester in 1913. Lionel was one of six children born in rural Lincolnshire to William Craxford, an organist who had been blinded in an accident in his youth. Lionel spent some of his childhood with his brother Percy at an orphanage in Wanstead where their places had been funded by public subscription. He became a tax inspector with the Inland Revenue in the 1920s. Lionel died in the Spring of 1956 in Wood Green in London.

Evelyn was one of thirty five club representatives who met in London in October 1931 to form the English Women's Bowls Association (2). She was selected to serve on its management committee. She subsequently became its president. When a competitor at a tournament in Somerset was reprimanded for not wearing regulation dress (hers was light grey instead of the proper cream), Evelyn commented: "Rules are rules and must be adhered to. Mrs Coakes (the honorary secretary and another founder member of the EWBA) was perfectly right in protesting" (3)

In later life, Evelyn retired to the quiet village of Braunton, some five miles south of Ilfracombe in Devon and close to Barnstaple Bay. She lived in The Glen, Butts Path. She survived her husband by ten years and was buried in the churchyard of St Brannock Parish Church in the village in July 1966. The headstone commemorates them both.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Cynthia Abraham, Hon. Secretary of Hampshire County Women's Bowling Association and Archivist for Bowls England for the photograph of Evelyn Craxford reproduced at the head of this page. Thanks also to Stephen Coote for the photograph of the photograph of the E.W.B.A Secretaries & Treasurers Cup which was won by Evelyn in 1936. Evelyn was the sister of Stephen's great grandfather, Osmond A.E. Coote.

References

1. 'Women at Bowls', The Mercury, Hobart, Tasmania, Page 12, January 8th 1935: The National Library of Australia
2. 'Bowls for women - National Association formed in London' - Western Morning News: Tuesday October 27th 1931: The British Newspaper Archive: © The British Library Board
3. 'Her Grey Dress' - Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Saturday August 29th 1936: The British Newspaper Archive: © The British Library Board
4.The Parish Church of St Brannock, Braunton, Devon. Photograph: © Richard Croft, and licenced for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
5. The headstone of Evelyn and Lionel Craxford: © The Gravestone Photographic Resource and reproduced with permission.

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Added: October 20th 2007
Revised: November 28th 2020