My Favourite Heirloom: Sid’s Hat Trick Ball
Sunday 1st March 2026
by Steve Poile
Published: March 2026 in Kent Family History Society Journal | Download PDF
My grandfather was Sidney George Poile, born 1 September 1914 at Four Throws, Hawkhurst, Kent, to Charles Edward Poile (1876-1962) and Agnes Minnie Haywood (1880-1918).
‘Sid’ was a keen sportsman both summer and winter, as was often the case in the past.
Football in the autumn, winter and spring; some of his exploits were recorded in detail in The Old Bird and the Cherry Pickers, an excellent history of football in Hawkhurst1.
Cricket in the summer, and this is where Sid achieved the rare and celebrated feat of taking a hat trick of wickets in 1935. The origin of the phrase ‘hat trick’ comes from the tradition of rewarding achievements with hats.
Playing for Weald Electricity away at Hurst Green in July 1935, Sid Poile contributed sixteen runs to Weald’s total of 191 all out, before taking three wickets in successive balls, with Hurst Green 84 all out.
The scorecard was recorded in the Kent and Sussex Courier2.
The hat trick feat was recognised at the end of season dinner, the first for the Weald Electricity Cricket Club, held at the Queen’s Hotel, Hawkhurst, on Friday 15 November 1935. The cricket club was made up of employees of the company, as was the football team of the same name, formed the previous year3.
The cricket club had been started by the owner of the Weald Electricity Supply Company, Major C B Grace, the son of the famous cricketer W G Grace. To mark the start of the dinner, a bat inscribed by W G Grace and bearing a record in his own handwriting of the thousand runs which he made during May 1895 was ‘reverentially handed round.4’
The guest of honour was F E Woolley, the Kent and England cricketer4.
Mr Woolley presented the inscribed cricket ball to Sid Poile for the achievement of the hat trick, whose feat had been described during the dinner.
I first became aware of its existence when my father, Michael Poile, mentioned it whilst reminiscing about his father’s sporting stories, including a claim that Sid trialled for Arsenal Football Club but had to return home to work as during the 1930s you didn’t get paid unless selected to play.
For years, the ball went unfound until I visited my auntie, Jeannette, a couple of years ago. It was in the back of a cabinet, forgotten and tarnished. A quick rub with a cloth and the plaque revealed the inscription:
W.E.C.C.
S Poile
1935
Hat Trick
v
Hurst Green
Steve Poile Member: 16180 Email: stevepoile987@gmail.com
The cricket ball forms part of my Poile One Name Study objects collection.
More details: https://poile.one-name.net/
References
1. Saunders, DD, The Old Bird and the Cherry Pickers: A Century of Soccer in Hawkhurst. 1990.
2. “Hurst Green v. Weald Electricity – At Hurst Green”. Kent and Sussex Courier, 19 July 1935, p16.
3. Saunders, DD, The Old Bird and the Cherry Pickers: A Century of Soccer in Hawkhurst. 1990. History At A Glance.
4. “Weald Electricians First Cricket Dinner”. Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kent Advertiser, Friday 22 November 1935, p16.
The following are extracts from the Waeld Electricians First Cricket Dinner4:
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