The Cricket Rhymes of H.C. Coghlan

Martin Chandler | 7:24am GMT 28 January 2024

Published: 2004
Pages: 20
Author: Rosenwater, Irving
Publisher: Christopher Saunders
Rating: 2.5 stars

I presume that Rosenwater must, during the time he spent in Australia in the late 1970s working for Kerry Packer, have encountered HC Coghlan’s work. His is not a well known name, and such repute as he has is as a writer and not a cricketer, and even then not primarily as a cricket writer.

This monograph comes in two parts, the first and by far the most interesting being Rosenwater’s introduction, the product of the research that he loved so much. There are two aspects to this, first in relation to a weekly publication, The Comic Australian, that ran in Sydney from October 1911 for 87 issues, thus until June 1913.

Cricket was not the magazine’s raison d’etre by any means, but for its fourth issue, and then for the five that followed there was a feature by Coghlan included, which bore the title Bat and Ball Ballads. These were not incidental column fillers, each piece including a selection of rhymes and extending to an entire page. The second part of the booklet consists of faithfully reproduced facsimiles of the relevant pages.

Rosenwater is not overly enamoured of Coghlan’s writing, beginning his assessment by describing it as not particularly thrilling nor particularly profound. But he does add that the rhymes were topical, occasionally witty, and intended to make a point.

It is impressive that Rosenwater managed to uncover as much of Coghlan’s story as he does, as the introduction is certainly more than just the bare bones of his life and contains much that is of interest. As to whether the content of the rhymes themselves has stood the test of time is rather more doubtful, but certainly the way in which they are written is a sign of a very different time and whilst this one is certainly one of the more self-indulgent Rosenwaters it is still, as one of the easier  to find* and less expensive, a monograph that is still worth acquiring.

*The limitation is 60 copies