ABSTRACT
Wherever nineteenth-century Britons went so did their sports. In the Gold Coast modern (British) outdoor sports emerged in the 1870s. In May 1874 a rifle club was set up in Cape Coast. Three years later a race course was designed near James Town, Accra. (A gymnasium for the upper echelons of the Gold Coast Police Force was also opened in the 1870s.) At the beginning of the 1880s cricket matches were being played; in the 12 months from December 1881 at least five took place at the Parade Ground of the First West India Regiment, Cape Coast. Among the participants were African-Caribbean soldiers and EuroAfricans, including Charles Wharton and three of his Grant cousins. It would be surprising if the young Arthur had not been included in some way given the level of his extended family's involvement. It was a game in which he later came to excel. Interestingly, from a cultural perspective the description of energetic side-shows by youths entertaining themselves at these cricket matches bares a remarkable similarity to those in the modern Caribbean: 'The ground was enlivened by music consisting of a clarionet (sic) and two kettle drums. Young men uninterested in cricket were occupied in dancing and young ladies in watching them.'1
