He was 1st XI Captain of Alexandra Park CC from 1888 to 1928. A good medium-pace bowler, he took stacks of wickets during his long career notably in 1910 when taking 5 wickets for 2 runs as Dulwich Hamlet were dismissed for 6 runs. At the close of the 1928 season, anno domini and business interests caused him to retire from active participation. Deeply attached to APCC he named his first-born Alexandra Patricia Constance to reflect the Club’s initials. From 1933 to 1957 he was President of Alexandra Park Cricket & Lawn Tennis Club, of which he was elected the first Honorary Life Member in 1948.

Off the cricket field, he was elected a Middlesex County Councillor from 1911 to 1939, made a Justice of the Peace in 1933, and appointed Middlesex County Alderman in 1940. He was appointed the Middlesex County Council representative on the Board of Trustees of the Alexandra Park & Palace Trust, of which he became successively vice-chairman and in 1927 the chairman.

Ernest Cawdron died in 1957, at the age of 79.

The Cawdron Fielding Award was donated to AP Cricket Club by Michael and Ernie Cawdron as a tribute to the memory of their father. At the close of each season, the cricket committee decide whom among all the Club’s players demonstrated the most consistently outstanding fielding performances during the season. That player is presented with the Award during the Club’s Annual End-of-Season Dinner.