1697 to 1725 English cricket seasons

This is a continuation of the history of cricket from the first "great match" in 1697 through the early decades of the 18th Century to the year 1725 when the mists of time began to part. Newspaper reports about the sport became more common after 1725 and gradually provided greater detail, all of which has helped us to learn something about the early matches, their results and the people who took part in them.

Chronology: 1697 - 1725

1697

By the end of the 17th Century, cricket had long since broken its bounds as a village pastime and was already into the age of great matches. All that was needed now was for the matches to be reported.

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
c.30 June	"A Great Match in Sussex"	Sussex	unknown	TJM

The earliest known newspaper report of a match proclaimed to be great or a similar adjective. The report was in the Foreign Post dated Wed 7 July 1697 and describes a great match at cricket that was played the middle of last week in Sussex with eleven of a side and they played for fifty guineas apiece. The stakes on offer indicate the importance of the fixture and the fact that it was eleven a side suggests that two strong and well-balanced teams were assembled. Unfortunately, no other details were given but we do at last have some real evidence to support the view that top class cricket in the form of "great matches" played for high stakes was in vogue in the years following the Restoration in 1660.

TJM = Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century by Timothy J McCann

1700

A series of matches, to be held on Clapham Common, was pre-announced on 30 March by a periodical called The Post Boy. The first was to take place on Easter Monday and prizes of £10 and £20 were at stake. No match reports could be found so the results and scores remain unknown. Interestingly, the advert says the teams would consist of ten Gentlemen per side but the invitation to attend was to Gentlemen and others. This clearly infers that cricket had achieved both the patronage that underwrote it through the 18th century and the spectators who demonstrated its lasting popular appeal.

1702

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
unknown	Duke of Richmond's XI v Arundel	Sussex	Duke of Richmond's XI won?	TJM

The source for this game is a receipt sent by one Saul Bradley to the Duke on 14 December 1702. The receipt was in respect of one shilling and sixpence paid by the Duke for brandy when your Grace plaid at Cricket with Arundel men. It is thought the brandy was bought to celebrate a victory. This was the first Duke of Richmond, also called Charles Lennox. He died in 1723 and it was his son, Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, who became the famous patron of Sussex cricket.

Away from cricket, the [British [East India Company]] bought control of the New (or English) Company that had been set up as a rival trading organisation in 1698. An Act of Parliament then amalgamated the two as "The United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies". The charter was renewed several times in the 18th century, each time with financial concessions to the Crown. The significance of this piece of information is that it was largely via the success of the East India Company that cricket was introduced to and established in India; and consequently in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The first report of cricket in India concerns mariners of the so-called "John Company" playing at Cambay in 1721 (see below).

Meanwhile, Queen Anne succeeded the late William III under the terms of the 1701 Act of Settlement. When she died with no surviving heirs in 1714, the throne passed to the Elector of Hanover, who became George I and whose descendants played a major role in popularising cricket in London.

1705

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
July	West of Kent v Chatham	Malling, Kent	unknown	PWT

This was an 11-a-side game advertised in The Post Man dated 24 July 1705.

PWT = From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas.

1706

William Goldwin published a Latin poem in celebration of a cricket match.

The spread of cricket relied heavily on ease of transport and communications. In 1706, Parliament established the first turnpike trusts which placed a length of road under the control of trustees drawn from local landowners and traders. The turnpike trusts borrowed capital for road maintenance against the security of tolls. This arrangement became the common method of road maintenance for the next 150 years.

1707

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
1 July	Croydon v London	Croydon (Duppas Hill?)	unknown	WDC
3 July	London v Croydon	Lamb's Conduit Field, Holborn	unknown	WDC

These two are the earliest known matches of real significance that Mr H T Waghorn, a cricket historian writing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, could find in his research. They were advertised in a periodical called The Post Man (dates 21-24 June 1707) as two great matches at cricket (to be) plaid, between London and Croydon; the first at Croydon on Tuesday, July 1st, and the other to be plaid in Lamb's-Conduit-Fields, near Holborn, on the Tuesday (sic) following, being the 3rd of July. No match reports could be found so the results and scores are unknown.

The dates are uncertain as the report states: the first game to be played on Tuesday 1 July 1707 [which is a correct date in the then in use Julian Calendar] and the other to be played on the Tuesday following, being the 3rd of July. It has been assumed that the second game was played on 3 July which was a Thursday.

There is record of a London Club from 1722 but it is not known when that organisation was founded or if it formed the London teams in the 1707 matches.

Later matches in Croydon were played at Duppas Hill, but it is not known for certain if that was the venue in 1707.

Lamb’s Conduit Field was near Holborn in Middlesex. It had no connection with White Conduit Fields in Islington which later became the home venue of the White Conduit Club, forerunner of MCC.

WDC = The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn.

1709

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
29 June	Kent v Surrey	Dartford Brent	unknown	FLPV

The earliest known match involving county teams or at any rate teams bearing the names of counties. The match was advertised in the Post Man dated Saturday 25 June 1709. The stake was £50.

Some authors have suggested the teams in reality were "Dartford and a Surrey village". This view is short-sighted and conflicts with the evidence we already have of patronage and high stakes. It is likely that Dartford, as the foremost Kent club in this period, provided not only the venue but also the nucleus of the team, but there is no reason at all to doubt that the team included good players from elsewhere in the county. The Surrey team will equally have been drawn from a number of Surrey parishes and subscribed by their patron.

One player who may well have taken part was William Bedle (1680 - 1768), of Dartford, who is the earliest great player whose name has been recorded. He was reckoned to be "the most expert player in England" and must have been in his prime c.1700 to c.1720 (see FL18).

Dartford Brent was a popular Kent venue in the 18th century and was probably used for matches in the 17th Century also.

FLPV = Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley.

1710

The earliest reference has been found to cricket being played at Cambridge University.

1717

Thomas Marchant, a farmer from Hurstpierpoint in Sussex, first mentioned cricket in his diary. He made numerous references to the game, particularly concerning his local club, until 1727. His son Will played for our parish, as he often called the Hurstpierpoint team.

1718

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
1 Sept	London v Rochester Punch Club	White Conduit Fields, Islington	London won by 21 runs	FL18

This game was unfinished on 1 September 1718 because the Rochester players walked off in an attempt to have the game declared incomplete so that they would retain their stake money. London was clearly winning at the time. The London players sued for their winnings and the game while incomplete was the subject of a famous lawsuit where the terms of the wager were at issue. The court ordered it to be played out and this happened in July 1719. Rochester with 4 wickets standing needed 30 (presumably 30 more runs rather than 30 runs in total) but were out for 9 (again, presumably, 9 more runs).

FL18 = Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley.

1719

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
19 August	London v Kent	White Conduit Fields, Islington	Kent won	WDC

The report says the teams played for a considerable sum of money.

1720

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
9 July	London v Kent	White Conduit Fields, Islington	London won	WDC

Two London fielders were badly injured by a clash of heads. Mr Waghorn noted that advertising and reporting of cricket ceased for some years and wondered if that was due to a perception that the sport is dangerous!

Mr Waghorn may have overlooked the impact of the South Sea Bubble on cricket. This was a major economic crisis caused by a frenzy of investment in the South Sea Company during the preceding years. When the company was found to be insolvent, its crash in 1720 caused massive repercussions throughout the economy and many formerly prosperous investors were ruined. It is quite likely that some of cricket’s patrons at the time were badly affected and it would have curtailed their cricketing activities.

Therefore, the reason why Mr Waghorn could find fewer reports may well have been due to the withholding of patronage and investment, hence fewer matches.

1721

English sailors were reported to be playing cricket at Cambay, near Baroda, and this is the earliest known reference to cricket being played in India.

Away from cricket, one impact of the South Sea Bubble was the unofficial creation of the post of Prime Minister, though it was not officially called that until 1905. The office at first combined the roles of Leader of the Commons, First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the person of Sir Robert Walpole who held office until 1742. Walpole is not known for any particular cricketing connection but his regime did no harm to the game’s development. His son, the writer Horace Walpole, supposedly hated the game!

1722

Although teams styled London were already in existence, the first actual reference to a London Club was dated in 1722.

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
18 July	London v Dartford	Islington	unknown	Cktr

Cktr = The Cricketer magazine.

Presumably the venue was White Conduit Fields in Islington.

There was a letter about this game in The Weekly Journal dated 21 July 1722.

1723

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
unknown	Dartford v Tonbridge	Dartford Brent	unknown	DCC

Recorded in the journal of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford: "At Dartford upon the Heath as we came out of the town, the men of Tonbridge and the Dartford men were warmly engaged at the sport of cricket, which of all the people of England the Kentish folk are the most renowned for, and of all the Kentish men, the men of Dartford lay claim to the greatest excellence". It is more than likely to been Dartford Brent where this game was taking place. Robert Harley (1661-1724) was a noted Tory politician who was against spending on the armed forces; he was a particular favourite of Queen Anne and a strong opponent of Sir Robert Walpole.

DCC = Dartford Cricket Club

1724

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
18 June	London v Dartford	Kennington Common	unknown	FL18
10 August	Penshurst, Tunbridge & Wadhurst v Dartford	Islington	unknown	TJM
unknown	Chingford v Mr Edward Stead's XI	unknown	unknown	WDC

London v Dartford is the earliest known match at Kennington Common, where (it is believed) The Oval is now sited.

The second match featured the combined parishes of Penshurst, Tunbridge and Wadhurst versus Dartford. It is reported in a diary entry by one John Dawson, who may have watched it. No details are known but as Dartford was already recognised as a leading club, it may have been a great cricket match as Mr Dawson says.

The third match seems to be the earliest reference to cricket being played in Essex (if at Chingford) or by an Essex team. The game echoed the one in 1718 as the Chingford team refused to play to a finish when Mr Stead's team had the advantage. A court case followed and, as in 1718, it was ordered to be played out presumably so that all wagers could be fulfilled. We know that Lord Chief Justice Pratt presided over the case and that he ordered them to play it out on Dartford Brent, though it is not known if this was the original venue. The game was completed in 1726.

Mr Edward Stead of Maidstone was a noted patron of early 18th century cricket, especially in his native Kent.

1725

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result	Source
15 July	Sir William Gage's XI v unknown XI	unknown	Gage's XI shamefully beaten!	TJM
20 July	Duke of Richmond's XI v Sir William Gage's XI	unknown	unknown	TJM

Our knowledge of these two games is based on a humorous letter sent by Sir William Gage to the Duke of Richmond on 16 July. Gage bemoans that he was shamefully beaten the previous day in his first match of the year but says nothing of his opponents. He then looks forward to playing the Duke's team next Tuesday and wishes his Grace success in everything except his cricket match!

The story continues in History of cricket 1726 - 1815 from which links are provided to an individual article re each English season.

Article & Match Sources

The above information is essentially driven out of various historical notes that have been accumulated over many years and so sources used originally may have been overlooked for the moment. But the sources certainly include:

• A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley;
• Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications;
• At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 – 1751 by F S Ashley-Cooper in Cricket Magazine (1900) (ASW);
• Cricket: History of its Growth and Development by Rowland Bowen;
• Cricket Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS);
• Chertsey Cricket Club website
• Dartford Cricket Club website
• Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18);
• Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV);
• From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT);
• Hambledon Cricket Chronicle by F S Ashley-Cooper (HCC);
• Hambledon: Men and Myths by John Goulstone (HMM);
• Kent Cricket Matches by F S Ashley-Cooper (KCM);
• Pre-Victorian Sussex Cricket by HF & AP Squire (PVSC);
• Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn);
• Start of Play by David Underdown;
• Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century by Timothy J McCann (TJM);
• The Cricketer magazine (Cktr);
• The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC);
• The Glory Days of Cricket by Ashley Mote;
• John Nyren's The Cricketers of my Time by Ashley Mote;
• Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual): various issues