Description:The Dukes of Sutherland received many letters concerning the provision of facilities for local communities on their estates. A notable letter amongst these was written to George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1888-1963), the fifth Duke of Sutherland, by a man named William J. Tomlinson following the outbreak of the First World War.
The Leveson-Gower family estates in Shropshire were sold off between 1915 and 1917. Tomlinson wrotes to the Duke as ‘Secretary’ of Lilleshall Cricket Club’ expressing his concerns about ‘how the club ground & Pavillion will stand & be effected’ by the Duke’s sale of his ‘Lilleshall Estate’.
Tomlinson refers to the support given to the Cricket club by the Duke’s father, Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1851-1913) who had provided the Club with ‘a piece of ground near the Hillside’ when the cricket grounds near Lilleshall house were ‘given up’. He comments that the fourth Duke of Sutherland ‘greatly assisted the club in the laying out of the pitch’.
Tomlinson’s letter reflects the local impact which the outbreak of the First World War had on Lilleshall. He informs the Duke that ‘out of the 19 members’ of the Cricket Club three were involved in munitions work, and ‘16 joined up & all voluntarily’. He adds that ‘of these 2 have been killed, & 1 wounded’. As Tomlinson remarks, the Club as a whole had 'something to be proud of in doing their duty for their King and Country’.
The importance of national pride and solidarity within local communities at this time is reflected in Tomlinson’s appeal to the Duke to continue his support of the Cricket Club ‘when Peace comes again’. Tomlinson concludes his letter by commenting ‘I am sure that when more peaceful times come’ the men from the Club would be eager ‘to resume their games of cricket on the old ground’.