A peep into the long-ago activities of a cricket team known as the Bagatawaians, of which a cache of pictures turned up on eBay in 2020. They were founded in 1893, possibly in Derbyshire. Toured Cheshire (Congleton, Macclesfield?), Derbyshire (High Peak, arriving initially via Alderley Edge station) and Lancashire (Blackpool) between 1893 and 1905. Several of the pictures below are from Hathersage in the Peak in 1905, so possibly they show their final match?

I was going to run them through Nano Banana v2 to ‘restore and colorise’, but with small faces like this it just ruins the facial expressions by ‘normalising’ them towards an average.

My guess would be that the team may have raised money for charity, by enabling local cricket teams to ‘put on a ticketed show’ against a formidable team, perhaps of former county cricketers? Nothing more can be discovered about them online.

Taking the field, Hathersage in the Peak in 1905.

Outside their boarding house, Blackpool, 1904.

Outside a village pub, in the High Peak.

All good fellows. Possibly including non-players along for the trip?

Match spectators, with local lads.

At Congleton. Possibly a mix of local pressmen, cricketing officials, and reporters for specialist cricketing publications?

This cropped picture is (unintentionally) the very image of the three main characters in Arnold Bennett’s masterpiece “The Death of Simon Fuge” (1907), set in Burslem. Loring the visitor is at the rear.