History of Lacrosse at St Leonards

As Miss Lumsden had left St Leonards in 1882 it can only be assumed that she suggested the idea of lacrosse to her successor Miss Frances Dove (later to become Dame Frances) when consultations began to find an appropriate game for the Spring Term. (Correspondence in the Gazettes (school magazines) prior to 1890 had indicated the need for a new activity for the Spring Term.)

A most interesting reference to the introduction of lacrosse is to be found in a small note book entitled, “Rules and Record of the Challenge Shield Competition”, dated March 1890, which states: "that owing to the lack of a drillmistress... it was decided to award the Shield on a competition in lacrosse."

An amusing account of the very first lacrosse match at St Leonards on March 27th 1890. (Tullochs v Sandys)

This article was found in a magazine called “Tulloch Gorum” dated 1890 written by girls in Miss Tulloch’s house.

An account of the Match Thursday the 27th being a holiday was the day appointed for the first lacrosse match. We arrived in very fair time for us. After our crosses having undergone a severe inspection i.e. our referee holding them up one by one and squinting with one eye to see if that which ought to be plane surface was not a curved one. Our referee said it was time to begin, but, owing to the absence of the ball it was rather difficult for the order to be carried out. However, the ball was duly found & after 123 Play had been called, a vigorous game began. About quarter time the Sandys gained the first goal & then a little before half time they gained their second. During the interval of play we, & all those backing our team implored them to make up their minds to get the next goal.

Play began again and as a happy result of our prayers our Captain succeeded in putting the ball very neatly through our adversaries’ goal, thereby gaining great applause. As to the play, our Captain was of course all that could be desired. M. McLeod did her best & often succeeding in getting the ball away from her opponent. J. Barty played up very well & proved that the accusations made against her were utterly false.

We expected great thing of F. Dodgson who played with vigour but did not come quite up to expectations. I. Elliot kept goals very creditably & looked as if it were a matter of life and death all the time. M. Alston deserves praise for the way in which she was able to be centre so long with out giving way. R. Grieve played as well as usual & ought to be commended for the way in which she followed the captain’s orders as to the duties of point. S. Jarvie won great applause from one & all for the capital way in which she played up for the honour of the house; her manner of throwing is worthy of imitation.

Everyone in our team having had such a long time to practice ought certainly at least to have been able to pick up the ball. As regards shouting we consider that we carried that part of the programme to perfection.

NB We are glad to tell our readers that no one was too deeply affected by our defeat, sad as it was.

By two onlookers.

The June issue of the 'St Leonards Gazette' 1890 reported the first house matches: "Whether the game on the whole has proved successful may be doubted but at least we have advanced so far in its mysteries as to get a good and exciting game in the field with teams of eight and they lasted one hour not including a ten minute interval in the middle, after which goals were changed ...the game was close and fast but the play rather wild and far too much on the ground."

Photographs of players at this time show them holding sticks with very large nets, no bridge and short handles. Similar sticks can be found on display in the U.S. Lacrosse Museum in Baltimore.

Originally the house teams consisted of 8 players and the table below indicates the changing size of teams and the names of the positions.

Date Number in Team Positions

1890 8 No Record

1895 10 4 forwards, 4 backs, centre and goal

1901 10 Full forward, 2H, RA, LA, C, RD, LD, CP, Full back, goals

1907 10 As above, but goals became GK

1912 10 IH, 2H, RA, LA, C, RD, LD, CP, P, GK

1913 12 As above with the addition of 3H & 3M

St Leonards contributed to the development of lacrosse in other schools. In 1896 Miss Frances Dove left to found Wycombe Abbey School and immediately introduced lacrosse. In 1902 M. Colbeck, a St Leonards Senior, spent a fortnight at Rodean to start lacrosse there.

St Leonards influence on lacrosse was not confined to Great Britain. Rosabelle Sinclair, also a Senior, was instrumental in introducing lacrosse as a game for high school girls in the United States.

Rosabelle Sinclair (back row, extreme right).

On leaving school in 1910 Rosabelle attended Madame Osterberg's College of Physical Training in Dartford for two years and her first teaching appointment was at Queen Ethelburga’s School in Yorkshire. In 1919 Rosabelle was appointed to the staff of Chelsea Physical Training College and in 1922 sailed to America. Between 1923 and 1925 she was the Games Mistress at Rosemary Hall School and in the Autumn of 1926 Rosabelle took up the post of Athletic Director at Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, a post she held for twenty five years.

An article in "The Baltimore Sun" reproduced in the May 1955 issue of the St Leonards Gazette, indicates that women's lacrosse had disappeared in America when Rosabelle Sinclair arrived in Baltimore. It states:

"Introducing the game there in 1926, she succeeded in injecting her enthusiasm into her pupils with the result that they, in their turn, went to spread the gospel among the colleges in the East."

Records of the USWLA indicate that she was co-opted as an Officer of the organisation in 1931 and was on the USWLA Selection Committee in 1933. In an article in the 1993 February/March issue of the USWLA Newsletter, Sheila Ridley writes:

“Rosabelle was the first person to establish a school team that still exists today. Her drive and enthusiasm rooted women’s lacrosse in Baltimore, providing a strong foundation upon which others would build...Rosabelle died in 1978 at the age of 87. She was noted for being a stickler for perfection.”

In 1992 Rosabelle was the first woman to be inducted into the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

St Leonards has therefore been influential in the development of women's lacrosse in the United Kingdom and in America.

Further information will be published about Rosabelle Sinclair in the coming year. The Archivist at Bryn Mawr School, Elizabeth Di Cataldo and Jane Claydon are working on a joint project to enable further details of Rosabelle’s life to be released, as a tribute to her, to co-incide with the 125th Anniversary of Bryn Mawr School in 2009-2010.

Jane Claydon

Updated 10th November 2008

References:

"Rules and Record of the Challenge Shield Competition" March 1890

Julia Grant: 1927 "St Leonards School": Oxford University Press London

Humphrey Milford: "St Leonards School Gazette" June 1890

Lumsden Louisa Innes: 1933 "Yellow Leaves: Memories of a Long Life": William Blackwood & Sons Ltd.

Photographs of the St Leonards archive material taken by Feffie Barnhill, President of FIL.

© 2001 - 2009 St Leonards School.

This article or parts of it may not be reproduced without the express permission of the School.

St Leonards: Cradle of Lacrosse

Jane Claydon has written a book about the crucial part played by St Leonards in the history and development of women's lacrosse.

Copies of 'St Leonards: Cradle of Lacrosse' are availabe by contacting Jane at jane.claydon@virgin.net