This short club history was written sometime in the 1960s. The text is taken pretty much unaltered from a document that I found pinned to our notice board one day.
If anyone would like to fill in the blanks up to the present day feel free to e-mail contributions.
BeginningsMajor T. H. C. Hopkins, then a young master at Berkhamsted School, now retired and living at Ashridge, decided that playing hockey at Watford each week was a load of trouble. It meant taking a train to Watford Junction, walking a mile or so to the old Watford Football ground where the Hockey Club (not West Herts but its predecessors) had a pitch alongside. The football spectators-then as now club hockey matches went largely unwatched-when their match was over marched across the hockey pitch whether the game was in progress or not. Changing after the game was in a primitive wooden hut, washing in a tin basin, followed by a long walk and train home.
After a season or two the young Hopkins decided that a club in his home town would suit him better. He gathered one or two local men together and founded the Berkhamsted club. The first fixtures were arranged. A week before the opening match the then Headmaster of the School decided to change our founder's duties; the new ones precluded Saturday afternoon sport. Although he founded the club, he never played for it. 1903-14During this period the club seems usually to have been captained by a local curate, either the Rev. B. H. Winterbotham or the Rev. R. H. Cattell. Even in the 50's this connection with the Church has been maintained; the Rev. Derek Laughton played for a season or two and Lt.-Colonel Charles Chase captained the 3rd XI for a couple of years before taking orders in 1962. Before 1914 only one XI was fielded but there was little difficulty in raising a side.
Various grounds were used. The first was off Cross Oak Road, about where Greenway now runs through an area wholely built over. Mr. Noel Rew remembers the ground 'behind the station'; this must be the ground, mentioned in an early town Directory as 'Berkhamsted Park'. In the same Directory the Hockey Club appears in a list of Sporting Associations of the town in close proximity to the 'Berkhamsted Beagles' and the 'Berkhamsted Buckhounds'. Some may feel that the latter title might well be a suitable name for today's 4th XI. Mr. Mark Tegetmeier, who was a member from 1910-21, says that in the seasons immediately prior to 1914 the pitch was inside the Castle grounds. He adds that 'there was a slight hump running right across the pitch which gave the game added excitement'. Many hockey players know that playing on pitches with such features was not the prerogative of pre-1914 players. Well-known local players of this decade, besides those already named, included T. F. Dwight (Bill Nelson's late uncle), John Lake, J. M. Hatherley, D. Harrison, A. C. and C. W. Iliff, E. Popple, H. J. Tubbs, E. W. Doncater and C. L. Greenstreet.
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