Editing Edmund Barton (section)

===Sporting activities===
Barton was a member of the [[Sydney University Cricket Club]] and a founding member of the [[Sydney Rowing Club]].<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Sydney Rowing Club |url=http://www.sydneyrowingclub.com.au/Rowing/about-history.php |publisher=Sydneyrowingclub.com.au |access-date=24 September 2012 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121229140647/http://sydneyrowingclub.com.au/Rowing/about-history.php |archive-date=29 December 2012}}</ref> On a cricketing trip to [[Newcastle, New South Wales|Newcastle]] in 1870 he met [[Jane Barton|Jane Mason Ross]], whom he married in 1877.<ref name=austfirstpm>{{cite web|title=Fast facts: Edmund Barton|url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/Barton/fast-facts.aspx|website=Australia's Prime Ministers|access-date=31 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109050443/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/Barton/fast-facts.aspx|archive-date=9 November 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=Martha |last=Rutledge |title=Barton, Sir Edmund (Toby) (1849–1920) |id2=barton-sir-edmund-toby-71 |access-date=10 June 2020}}</ref>

In 1879, Barton [[Umpire (cricket)|umpired]] a cricket match at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] between [[New South Wales]] and an English touring side captained by [[George Harris, 4th Baron Harris|Lord Harris]]. After a controversial decision by Barton's colleague [[George Coulthard]] against the home side, the crowd spilled onto the pitch and assaulted some of the English players, leading to [[Sydney Riot of 1879|international cricket's first riot]]. In the subsequent public controversy, George Reid censured Coulthard and absolved the crowd, while Barton defended Coulthard and did not spare the crowd.<ref>William Coleman,''Their Fiery Cross of Union. A Retelling of the Creation of the Australian Federation, 1889-1914'', Connor Court, QLD, 2021, pp 92-93.</ref> The publicity that attended the young Barton's presence of mind in defusing that situation reputedly helped him take his first step towards becoming Australia's first prime minister, winning a state lower house seat later that year.<ref>{{cite news |title=For our PMs, there's just no avoiding the follow-on |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/27/1198345162006.html |url-status=live |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=28 December 2007 |access-date=29 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228184028/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/27/1198345162006.html |archive-date=28 December 2007}}</ref>