Knights Sporting Auctions
Lot 743
Reverend George William Gillingham. Silver cigarette case with wooden interior presented to Gillingham in appreciation of his work for the club, he later became Secretary of the club in 1933. The cigarette case engraved to lid ‘To Rev. G.W. Gillingham from the Worcestershire County Cricket Club Committee, November 7th-9th 1923’. Full set of marks to both box and lid. Hallmarked London 1921. The case measures approx 5”x3.5”. G/VG Gillingham died on June 11th 1953 after a ministry of fifty-two years, played cricket for Gentlemen of Worcestershire before the first World War. Though never attaining to first-class standards, he was a great cricket enthusiast who did much good work for Worcestershire. When becoming Rector of St. Martin’s, Worcester, he revived and managed the Worcestershire Club and Ground matches, and in 1923 he organised a bazaar which realised £2,300 for the County Club. From 1929 he acted for some seasons as honorary secretary to Worcestershire in order that the secretary, C. F. Walters, could play for the county. During this period when, during the winter the River Severn flooded the county ground at Worcester, Gillingham swam across the ground to gain access to the Pavilion and returned with the account books. He was author of The Cardinal’s Treasure, a romance of the Elizabethan age, part of the proceeds from which he devoted to the Worcestershire C.C.C. and the R.S.P.C.A. When Vicar of St. Mark’s, Coventry, he was for four years tenant of a condemned public house, The Barley Mow, which he transformed into a Hooligans’ Club where boxing and Bible classes went hand-in-hand.
