History
FOUNDING AND EARLY YEARS OF HAMILTON BOWLING
CLUB
Hamilton Bowling Club’s foundation took place at a meeting of eight
worthy citizens of the town on 27 August 1841 in the Trades Hall on
Church Street. The eight men present had no difficulty in reaching
agreement.
It was unanimously resolved that an association to be called the
Hamilton Bowling Club should be formed and that the entry money and
subscription for this year should be seven shillings and sixpence.
To manage the club a committee of office bearers and “masters” was set
up. These were the founding fathers of the bowling club in Hamilton:
John Patrick, President
William Rankin, Treasurer
Francis Hamilton, Secretary
The other “masters” were:
Charles Freebairn, doctor
James Stevenson, lace manufacturer
Thomas Ferguson, grocer
Fullerton Baird, teacher
At the time of its formation Hamilton Bowling Club was one of only about
25 such clubs in the whole of Scotland. But this was a time when bowling
was becoming more and more popular as a sport. By 1860 there were 65
clubs in the country.
Bowling had its origins in this country in medieval times and the game
had been played in one form or another in Scottish towns since the 15th
century. By the 19th century the game was becoming more formalised with
moves towards standardisation of bowls and agreed rules for the game.
What, then, was the setting of the new club in 1841? Hamilton in 1841
was an historic burgh dating back to the fifteenth century, a busy
market town and a centre of local government and of law and order. Over
11,000 lived in Hamilton Parish in 1841, about 2,000 more than had lived
there at the time of the 1831 census. Most of the inhabitants of the
burgh lived in or near the triangle bounded by Muir Wynd, Castle Street
and Cadzow Street. The focal point of the burgh, however, was Hamilton
Palace which stood in the Low Parks close to the junction of Muir Wynd
and Castle Street. This was the stately home of the Dukes of Hamilton,
dating back to the seventeenth century and earlier.
Hamilton’s population had been growing since the beginning of the 19th
century with the prosperity of hand loom weaving, but the town did not
really become industrialised until the development of coalmining and the
coming of the railways in the second half of the nineteenth century.
This then was the scenario for the beginning of play in Hamilton’s first
bowling club. Play started formally on 10 May 1842 and arrangements were
quickly made to draw up laws for the running of the club and for the
playing of the game on the green. Understandably, the members were
concerned about the maintenance of the green and money was provided for
wax cloths on which the bowlers could stand at each end and for the
regular cutting of the grass.
It was perhaps a sign of the times that, at the A.G.M. of the club in
April 1843, a motion had to be proposed that “no spirits or other
intoxicating liquors be allowed to be brought on the green”. This was
only carried by the casting vote of the Chairman. However, a following
resolution that smoking be forbidden on the green was rejected by the
members.
The first crisis to hit the club during these early formative years
happened in the spring of 1845 when the green and the land around it
were sold by the owner, James Forrest, to another local businessman,
David Marianski, who was planning to set up a new gas light company for
the town of Hamilton and who had dumped building stones and sand on the
green. The office bearers of the club decided to look for another green,
but failed and so no play was possible for club members during the
summer of 1845. This was the only break in play in the club’s history.
It was the Duke of Hamilton who resolved the crisis for the Club in
early 1846 when he bought the ground where the green was located from
the gas company and leased it, once again, to Hamilton Bowling Club.
Arrangements were quickly made to restore the playing surface and to lay
out flower beds around the green, while keeping the area for quoiting
for members.
By the summer of 1846, then, Hamilton Bowling Club was well established
with over forty members, its own set of laws, secure tenure of its own
green and a healthy club spirit.
That healthy spirit led the members to establish a link with the nearest
club in Lanarkshire, the Shotts and Cambusnethan Bowling Club. The first
of these parish matches took place in the summer of 1844 and the two
clubs played each other regularly during the following years.
THE DEVELOPING CLUB IN VICTORIAN TIMES
In the years following the foundation of the club its membership and
organisation grew stronger and its external connections expanded.
The membership of the club, in its early years, was restricted to about
40 - all men. The members were all known to one another and new members
had to be elected at meetings of the whole club. By the 1850’s, however,
the club had extended its membership to a maximum of 80 and this, in
turn, was extended to 100 in 1859.
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