It has for many years been an issue at Canterbury – why is there no portrait of Frank Woolley, probably the greatest player ever to represent the county? Yes, there is a photograph in the line of capped players that goes up the staircase in the Chiesman Pavilion, but he is not one of the players featured in the famous Chevallier Tayler painting of “Kent v Lancashire 1906” (the year of his debut for the county). As a professional, he never captained the county, so is not one of the thirty or so men whose faces look down from the walls of the pavilion long room. There is not even a portrait of him anywhere inside the stand named after him, apart from a photograph in the Committee Room showing him standing alongside Percy Chapman and Tich Freeman.
This omission worried our immediate past president, Lady Kingsdown, and she resolved during her term of office to try to do something about it. We started looking for a portrait we could buy. It appears, however, that paintings of Frank Woolley are few and far between. We have photographs of the great man in action, we have photographs of him with some of his Kent team-mates, we have caricatures and sketches, we have press cuttings and memorabilia. We have bats, balls and even cuff-links presented to him, but until last month, we did not have a portrait of him, and could not trace one that already existed and was available to purchase.
At this point, KCCC and KCHT committee member Derek Barnard entered the fray. Having heard of Lady Kingsdown’s wish that a portrait of Frank Woolley should be hung in the pavilion, he set about finding one, or somebody who could paint one. While driving through Bearsted one day, he noticed the village sign that stood on the green, which portrayed Alfred Mynn, the famous Kent cricketer of Victorian times, whose home village it had been. The sign was refurbished at the time of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, and it occurred to Derek that if the artist who had done such a good job with that could be found, then they might also be able to create a good portrait of Frank Woolley. After all, the Mynn sign had not been painted from life, so a good photograph or two (plenty of which we have) could be used to model a portrait of Woolley. Other counties have done this to commemorate giants of the past – Surrey have recently commissioned a portrait of Tom Hayward – so why should Kent not do the same?
The search for the artist did not turn out to be a long one. She is Suzanne Norfolk, a professional fine artist who lives in Bearsted, in Alfred Mynn’s old home, now known as Mynn Oast. The deal was soon struck, and a wide variety of photographs were found on which she could base her portrait. It was decided that the portrait should be of Woolley batting at the St. Lawrence ground. A suitable photograph of Woolley ready to take strike was used as the basic pose for the portrait, and several other photographs of Woolley were supplied to help the artist make the likeness as close as possible.
The finished result is shown above. It shows Woolley in his MCC jersey, which he habitually wore, taking strike at St. Lawrence with the county flag fluttering in the breeze behind him. Thanks to the generosity of the Kent County Cricket Supporters Club and several individuals who wish to remain anonymous, the painting was completed in March and presented to the club on 10th April. It will hang in the pavilion, where at present there is a portrait of a member of the Weigall family in full Band of Brothers uniform. The only trouble is, he never actually played for Kent.
Smaller prints, size 6.5 inches by 9.5 inches, of the Woolley painting will soon be available, at £35 unframed or £45 framed.
Thanks for this portrait should go firstly to Rose Kingsdown, who provided the impetus for this portrait; to Derek Barnard who helped turn it into reality, and especially to Suzanne Norfolk, the artist (www.suzannenorfolk.co.uk). This particular hole in our collection has now been filled.
Frank Woolley in his early days with Kent