Irish Daily Mail

Come to play in my back garden

How the heir to the Cantrell & Cochrane millions was behind an ambitious proposal to bring the superstars of cricket to Wicklow

- by Ger Siggins

ONE hundred years ago this month one of the most audacious sporting coups was attempted by an Irishman, as he made a bid to host a crucial England v Australia cricket test – in his back garden in the north Wicklow town of Bray.

It was just a single episode in the life of one of the most enthusiast­ic philanthro­pists of the 20th century, whose failure to pull off his cricket stroke led him to totally abandon the game and set up an opera house and golf course instead.

Stanley Cochrane inherited millions from his family’s mineral water business. His father Henry had joined Dr Thomas Cantrell of Belfast to form C&C which took off when they invented ginger ale and began exporting it to the US in 1866.

One of its adverts declared: ‘The popping of Cantrell and Cochrane’s corks is heard in the bungalows of the British cantonment in the Far East, and its sparkle is familiar to the Vice-Regal entourage up in the hot season refuge of the AngloIndia­ns at Simla. Dons and seignorina­s quaff this liquid boon in the tropical climes of South America; the West Indies welcome it as a treasure: Africa’s ‘ sunny f ountains’ are outrivalle­d in their very habitat by its gleam; the Antipodes have taken this gift of the Mother Empire with gratitude.’

Stanley grew up i n great wealth in Woodbrook, Co. Wicklow, as the youngest of seven children. He was born in 1877, and after school at St Columba’s, in the Dublin Mountains, he travelled and learnt the family trade. In the early days of motoring he bought a Mercedes and built up a fleet of cars, including two Rolls-Royces. A GED 24, he went up to Trinity, where he returned to cricket, which he had played at school. He was a poor player though, certainly not good enough for the student first team, and had to spend three years flitting between the 2nd and 3rd XIs.

But, despite miserable results for those teams, in 1904 he found himself selected for a plum fixture against South Africa. He didn’t rise to the occasion however, scoring just 1 and 2.

Cochrane was a generous soul, and the death of his father later that year meant he inherited Woodbrook – and many millions. He stumped up the enormous sum of £ 300 ( equivalent to €35,000 today) to entice the Australian­s to play against the students in 1905.

Cochrane didn’t play in that game but his plans for cricket were already taking shape. He levelled a suitable field at Woodbrook and spent £1,000 on shipping hundreds of tons of clay from Nottingham to ensure a top- class playing surface. He also built an indoor practice school and hired half-a- dozen English profession­als.

With money no object, he paid for many of the best players in the world, such as Prince Ranjitsinh­ji, to come to play against Stanley Cochrane: His father helped to invent ginger ale his team. The national sides of Australia, South Africa and India came, as did many English counties.

Cochrane even built a railway station, Woodbrook Halt, which linked both the Harcourt Street and Dublin- Bray l i nes, and organised excursions from the city for spectators.

For six summers he indulged his passion, and usually picked himself to play, but the sporting public weren’t convinced. The Dublin clubs soon tired of being used as whipping boys, and the audiences for the big games were disappoint­ing.

What Cochrane needed was a marquee fixture, and, finally, he saw the opportunit­y to stage the biggest one of all. The summer of 1912 was a landmark one for cricket in England, with the first Triangular Tournament being held between England, Australia a nd South Africa. During a break in competitio­n, the South Africans came to Bray to play both Woodbrook and Ireland, and Cochrane also contracted the Australian­s to visit before returning home. By early Opera visit: Dame Nellie Melba came to sing August, the Test Board of Control realised that England and Australia were likely to finish joint top of the round-robin tournament, so they resolved to have a play-off at The Oval. But the only date available was September 12, when Australia were already due to play as election led by the England captain CB Fry – at Woodbrook. The board sent Cochrane a telegram asking him to waive his claim on the Australian­s, to which he replied: ‘Will give up date if you play match here. Every facility, and would do a lot of good for cricket in Ireland. Cochrane.’

The officials didn’t reply, so next morning Cochrane telegramme­d again: ‘Put my proposal before full board of control.’

The English officials consulted the two captains, and told the Irishman that their unanimous decision was that the game could not be played outside England, and asked him again to consent to their request. Cochrane sent a brief reply: ‘Will give way’.

The play- off wasn’t needed in the end and so the Australian­s came anyway to Woodbrook, but lost to a strong team for which Fry recruited perhaps t he greatest ever English batsman, Jack Hobbs, and bowler, Sydney Barnes.

With Cochrane disillusio­ned by local indifferen­ce and internatio­nal intransige­nce, it was the last big game at Woodbrook. Afterwards, he converted the indoor school there into an Opera House, which hosted the likes of the singer Dame Nellie Melba and the London Symphony Orchestra, and where the great pianist Alfred Cortot made his performing debut. Cochrane later became active in the British war effort and he raised money to help prisoners, and r ose to the rank of captain of the 7th Battalion, Dublin Fusiliers, see- ing action in Serbia. He was created first Baronet Cochrane in 1915 for services to music, sport and the welfare of PoWs.

At the end of the war he switched his sporting allegiance­s to golf, and set about building a course at Woodbrook, where the golf club still operates today. He promoted monthly competitio­ns for profession­als, and invited several top US and British golfers to play at his course. He also set the foundation­s for the Irish Open which began in 1927. Ironically, that event fell into abeyance for more than 20 years before it was revived in 1975 – at Woodbrook. DIAGNOSED as diabetic in t he 1920s, Cochrane was one of the first i n Europe to be treated with insulin, which had been produced by two Canadian doctors and, he admitted, cost ‘a mint of money’.

There were many more chapters to come in his extraordin­ary life, such as when he represente­d Ireland at the first World Scouting Jamboree in London. He also became president of the Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society and linked up with the Dublin-based Italian composer Michele Esposito to found the music publishing firm C&E Editions. It went through a lot of Cochrane’s money until it folded on Esposito’s death in 1929.

Cochrane himself died 20 years later, but there are still echoes of his grand dream around the Woodbrook estate. The remnants of the railway platform can be seen from the Dart line, for example, while the bell that called cricketers to play hangs in the bar in Woodbrook Golf Club.

By coincidenc­e, Ireland’s cricketers returned to play in Co. Wicklow earlier this month, a century after t heir last visit. Again they played South Africa – albeit their ‘A’ team – at Oakhill, a private ground built by the successful racehorse breeder Peter Savill.

And as supporters topped up their picnic-basket gin and tonics on an August afternoon, perhaps they noticed the words ‘C&C’ on their mixer bottles, and toasted the once ambitious vision of Woodbrook’s Stanley Cochrane.

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is now a golf course
Cricket abandoned: Woodbrook is now a golf course
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