The effect of the Great War was clearly evident at the Annual Meeting held in 1915.
In opening the meeting, the Chairman referred to the sad news of the death at Gallipoli of Lieut. R Cradick of the Morpeth Club and to a recent report of RV Dransfield and H Cradick being among the list of wounded. Mention was made later on in the meeting of the 27 members of various cricket clubs who had enlisted, and “all members who had no ties or responsibilities” were urged “to do their share in the world wide struggle against militarism”.
Against this background and in the midst of farewells for volunteer soldiers, the sorrow of growing casualty lists, and the increasing focus on the home front on the war effort, the Association shortly afterwards decided to suspend competitions for the duration of the war.
The Association’s competitions were not to be revived until 1919, by which time a lot of local cricketing careers would be cut short in the ill-fated campaign on the Dardanelles and in the slaughter of the Western Front.