Eustace E White: Hockey Field’s Educator Editor

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April 20, 2023

Eustace E White.

The life of Eustace E White

Mr Eustace E White was the Editor of Hockey Field and Lacrosse magazine (aka Hockey Field). The magazine was shocked to learn his sudden death on 8 December 1922, due to a second heart attack whilst in Nottingham during a hockey lecturing tour of the Midlands.

Eustace was the son of the late Colonel Charles Mills White. He was born in India and educated at Hereford Cathedral School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, where he took a BA in Classics. From the age of 12 he wanted to become a schoolmaster and, after filling two or three posts, he founded and maintained, for six or seven years, a very successful preparatory boy’s school of his own in the west of England. Dutton House School was noted for its excellent success at cricket and hockey.

With an interest in and love for writing and lured by the romance of journalism, Eustace resigned his school position and moved to London, where he became a sports correspondent and then sports editor of The Ladies’ Field, a women’s multi-sports magazine. He upheld the position until the outbreak of World War 1. In that capacity, he wrote about all sports, mainly lawn tennis and golf, but it seemed as if his heart of hearts was always given to hockey. He made hockey – women’s hockey in particular – the chief object of his enthusiasm, and whether as editor, coach, lecturer or umpire, he became renowned for giving his all to the game. His reputation and knowledge of hockey combined to have him take over from Miss Edith Thompson as the Editor of Hockey Field and Lacrosse (formerly Hockey Field magazine) for the 1920/1921 season.

His wife Nora Brittain White (nee Foster), or Mrs Eustace White as she was more commonly known, continued to edit Hockey Field and Lacrosse after his passing until 1939. Eustace resurrected the magazine after World War 1 and Nora would edit it subsequently until the outbreak of World War 2.

English Reds vs Blues

An invitational women’s hockey match, English Reds versus Blues, was held on Thursday 5 April 1923 at the Kew Hard Court Tennis Club in Richmond, at 3pm. The match coincided with the closing date for the Eustace E White Memorial Fund, which was set up following his death in December – all proceeds from the ticket sales would be donated to the fund to support Mr White’s family.

The final score saw the Reds beat the Blues 5-4. Notably, England forward Marjorie Pollard scored a hattrick for the Reds. She would later take over the editorial responsibilities of Women’s Hockey Field magazine – a continuation of Hockey Field and Lacrosse just without the lacrosse – from Nora White after World War 2.

Although the match was organised with only 15 days’ notice, £30 5s. 6d. was raised for the memorial fund.

The following England international players and reserves kindly took part:

English Reds

M. Hollowell (Lancs, North, England)
M. J. Reed (Surrey, South, England Reserve)
K. Gordon (Surrey)
P. March (Surrey, South)
Mrs. Ryott (Oxfordshire)
B. Hewlett (Lancs, North, England Reserve)
Mabel Bryant (Lancs, North England)
M. Perkin (Kent, East, England Reserve)
Brenda Newell (1 goal) (Beds, Midlands, England Reserve)
Marjorie Pollard (3 goals) (N’hants, Midlands, England)
Evelyn Willcock (1 goal) (Staff, Midlands, England), Captain

English Blues

Alieen Maltby (Sussex, South, England)
Muriel Knott (Kent, East, England)
Kathleen Doman, Captain (Kent, East, England)
L. Poland (Kent, East, England Reserve)
Phyllis Scarlett (Staff, Midlands, England)
Stevens (Kent, East)
P. Boswell (Beds, Midlands, England Reserve)
B. Taylor (Surrey, South, England Reserve)
Mrs. Stedman (1 goal) (Kent, East, England Reserve)
Mrs. Crombie (3 goals) (Surrey, South)
Dr Kathleen McArthur (Middlesex, South, England)

Umpires
Miss Mainland & Miss Clay

Our Hockey Field magazine holdings

The Hockey Museum holds several complete sets of what we collectively call Hockey Field magazine, the influential women’s hockey magazine that ran throughout the twentieth century in various guises from 1901 to 1991. These magazines are an invaluable research resource and a fascinating chronicle of women’s hockey in England, from grassroots to international level. Officially the organ of the All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA), its issues straddle the geo-political events of twentieth-century Europe and feature articles and ‘letters to the Editor’ covering hockey playing, coaching, umpiring and governance as they evolved across nine decades.

Hockey Field magazine