Ernest Fletcher

Ernest Fletcher was the son of a wealthy Lancashire colliery owner. He was educated at Rossall school on the Fylde coast, where he started playing hockey until leaving in 1889, when he joined the Western Hockey Club in Eccles. Fletcher went on to become their first team captain, and played for Lancashire on many occasions, making his début in 1890 against Middlesex, in what was the first meeting between the two counties. He also played for the North, and in 1903 was in the England XI against Scotland.

Fletcher was appointed honorary secretary of the Northern Counties Hockey Association in 1901 and remained in the post until resigning due to ill-health in 1920. He later became vice-president of the Hockey Association and was a representative on the International Rules Board. Fletcher was also an international umpire and officiated in the historic first ever Olympic hockey match between Scotland and Germany in 1908. He published a handbook of Northern hockey in 1905.

Fletcher also enjoyed cricket and was a supporter of the Lancashire County side and regularly attended Test Matches at Old Trafford. He was also a very good Alpine mountaineer and climbed many Swiss peaks. Fletcher was a local Justice of the Peace (JP) and by profession was a solicitor. He was also a director of a group of collieries known as Manchester Collieries Limited.

Having served as a captain in the Atherton Volunteers for many years, Fletcher later became a major in the Manchester Territorial Regiment, and during World War I was in charge of transport trains between Italy and France, and was governor of a prisoner of war camp in France. He also saw service in Gallipoli and Egypt, and received the British War, and Victory, medals.