DESMOND EAGAR
When first-class county cricket resumed in 1946 Hampshire needed a secretary – the 1940s version of a CEO – and a captain. Before the war they had five captains in six seasons, all amateurs and they wished to maintain that tradition but with a greater sense of continuity. But these were times of austerity and fewer men of independent means felt able to devote themselves to a full season of cricket so Hampshire’s solution was to amalgamate the two roles, pay the secretary and have him play as an amateur for expenses only that he controlled.
They interviewed a number of men, offered the joint post to the Surrey and England cricketer Freddie Brown but he preferred an offer from Northamptonshire so the position went to EDR (Desmond) Eagar. He was born in Cheltenham in December 1917, attended Cheltenham College and age 14 was in the field at Lord’s when Denis Compton scored a century for the Elementary Schools XI. At Cheltenham Eagar was coached by the great Hampshire bowler Alec Kennedy and at 17 he made his debut for his native Gloucestershire for whom he played 21 matches before the war. He went up to Oxford University and won his ‘blue’ in 1939 but then war intervened; he saw service as an officer in the army before taking up his post at Northlands Road.
His playing record for Hampshire was modest but as a captain and secretary he worked hard to develop a side, not least based on fine fielding, that combined the best of local men and astute signings. In 1955 his team finished third for the first time ever and the team he handed on to Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie came second and then three years later won the title. He was still ‘in charge’ when they won it again in 1973 and set out on a succession of ‘white ball’ trophies two years later, before his untimely death on holiday in September 1977. He left a wife, Marjorie, and two children, one of whom, Patrick, became one of the world’s leading cricket photographers.
Desmond Eagar might have been an adopted Hampshire man but from the age of 28 he poured himself into the County Cricket Club heart and soul – and that included marking and honouring a history that already went back 200 years to the great Hambledon days and beyond. One of his first tasks was to revive the county’s ‘annual’, known before the war as the Hampshire County Cricket Guide and forever after as the Hampshire Handbook. There was little money when he started again in 1950, indeed not enough even to publish in 1954 but he raised funds through extensive advertising and from the pre-war versions which tended to be full of lists and statistics he created something just as factual but also far more literary.
Over his years as the Editor or at least overseer of the publication he attracted some of the finest cricket writers;from Hampshire, Arlott of course, John Woodcock and Eagar’s friend and mentor Harry Altham and from elsewhereTrevor Bailey, Neville Cardus, EW Swanton, Hubert Doggart,Brian Johnston, and Roland Bowen plus Hampshire cricketers including EIM Barrett, RH Moore, Charlie Knott, Neville Rogers, Peter Sainsbury, Vic Cannings, Roy (and Mrs) Marshall, Bob Stephenson and the statisticians Roy Webber and Norman Drake. In 1963, the club’s centenary, AA Thomson contributed ‘Onward from Hambledon’ in 1963 and Harry Altham wrote of John Nyren and also the founding in 1863.
There were also many pieces by Eagar himself including more than one about building a cricket library – that became more than an idea however as he created Hampshire’s first cricket library for use by members at Northlands Road. Some of those original books are still in the Archive with the book plates he commissioned and the collection has grown considerably over the years although currently less accessible than he would have liked. In the 1951 Handbook he produced a specific Hampshire cricket bibliography and in 1964 he published 25 copies of “A Reader’s Guide to Hampshire Cricket” – both much expanded in recent years by Stephen Saunders (1997 & 2010) but inevitably now out of date! He wrote tributes to Phil Mead and his old coach Alec Kennedy and also a very valuable first index of Handbook articles, as well as working with Roy Webber on regular updates of statistics and records.
His most important written contribution surely came in 1957 as one of the authors of Hampshire County Cricket: the Official History. Eagar along with Altham, Arlott and Webber traced a story from well back into the eighteenth century through to 1956 his penultimate year as captain. It is a salutary thought that almost 70 years have passed since then, yet, for its facts and insights, it remains an invaluable resource for today’s historians. In following years, Eagar updated the records in succeeding Handbooks.
Eagar was also an enthusiastic collector of books and memorabilia; when he died a large part of that collection went to auction although there are still some pieces in the Archive including well-kept scrapbooks of press cuttings from his years as captain.
Being a collector, while straining the average purse can always be a strong basis for being an historian but it is not the same thing – the collector may keep and savour what he or she has but ultimately the historian must share those things, they must make them public. In Desmond Eagar’s case that meant in particular to the Hampshire cricketing public, including but not exclusively, the club’s members who in the days pre-sponsorship were the lifeblood. So it was that despite the very limited spaces at Northlands Road he created various displays and paved the way for those who followed – in particular he installed glass cases on the ground floor and stairway to his office on the first floor and they were well used until the last days at the old ground.
If being an historian requires sharing, publishing, making public what is available then the best of historians will also leave a legacy – artefacts of course but also a solid foundation of facts and ideas on which future generations can build. As he did that, while leading the county cricket club on-and-off the field, Desmond Eagar was among the best of all Hampshire historians.
Dave Allen
June 2025