Posted: Fri 20 Jul, 2012 3:54 pm
The following sporting match is reported in John Mayhall’s ‘Annals of Yorkshire’ vol 3:-July 20 1867. “A Knur and Spell Match was played at the Cardigan Arms Grounds, Leeds, for £50, between James Hollings, of Bradford, and W. Horrocks, of Gildersome, the latter being allowed 10 scores in 30 rises. Horrocks lost the game by 35 scores, including the 10 scores given him”.Now I know virtually nothing about Knur and Spell but I’m guessing that either Hollings was very good at it or Horrocks was very poor (or a combination of both). £50 in 1867 was worth about £4,590 in 2011 at an inflation rate averaging 3.1% per year according to an inflation calculator on the Bank of England website, so £50 was quite a sum.