On this day in 1935, the second Walter Lawrence Trophy Presentation Dinner was held at Barber-Surgeons’ Hall, at which the award for the fastest hundred scored in the English cricket season in a first-class innings was presented to Harold Gimblett, then aged 21.
Wisden’s 1979 obituary stated that the events of Gimblett’s entry into first-class cricket were ‘so sensational that any novelist attributing it to his hero would have discredited the book.’
On the final day of a 2-week trial for Somerset after which he was to be dropped, Harold Gimblett’s side faced Essex at Frome in May 1935. A last-minute stand-in, Gimblett missed the bus taking him to a pick-up point and was forced to hitch a lorry-ride to the ground.
He came out after lunch with a borrowed bat, with Somerset at six wickets down for 107 runs and proceeded to score a century in just under 63 minutes. The fastest of the season, it turned Gimblett into an instant celebrity.
The Sunday Express for 22 December 1935 reported that cricketer Douglas Jardine, who captained England 15 times between 1931 and 1934, spoke at the Trophy dinner:
‘D. R. JARDINE can make a good after-dinner speech in the right company. He brought the house down at Barbers’ Hall when he spoke at the presentation of the Sir Walter Lawrence Trophy for the fastest century to Harold Gimblett, of Somerset. “If England, Abyssinia, and Italy could play cricket together,” seriously declared one enthusiastic cricket orator, “ there would be no war or talk of war. Quoth Jardine in his reply: “From my own experience I should say cricket at the present time is a very good substitute for war.”’
Sir Walter Lawrence (1872-1939), made Free in 1911 and Master of the Barbers’ Company in 1935, was Governing Director of Walter Lawrence & Co., Building Contractors, which in WWII manufactured parts for the de Havilland Mosquito in Hertfordshire. A passionate lover of cricket, Sir Walter created his own ground at Hyde Hall near Sawbridgeworth and in 1934 instigated the eponymous trophy, still awarded to this day.
The original photograph, in which Sir Walter and Gimblett can be seen standing at the far end of the room, is on display at the Somerset Cricket Museum in Taunton.
Further reading:
The Astonishing Debuts of Harold Gimblett – available to read online here.
The History of the Walter Lawrence Trophy – available to read online here.
Walter Lawrence & Co. A history -1 – available to read online here.
Walter Lawrence & Co. A history – 2 – available to read online here.