1747 English cricket season

1747 English cricket season

1747 was the 51st English cricket season since the earliest known important match was played. Details have survived of 14 important eleven-a-side and seven single wicket matches. The single wicket form of the game was very popular among the gamblers of London and matches were disrupted because of a General Election.

Important matches

The following matches are classified as important:[note 1]

date match title venue result source
13 May (W) Addington & Croydon v Deptford & Greenwich Duppas Hill, Croydon result unknown [1][2]
notes

Pre-announced in the London Evening Post on Saturday, 9 May. No post-match report has been found.

29 May (F)
and 9 June (Tu)		 Addington & Croydon v London Duppas Hill, Croydon Addington & Croydon won [2][3]
notes

Apparently, the match was unfinished on 29 May and the players agreed to play it out more than a week later. Curiously, that happened a week after the return match (see below) at the Artillery Ground.

1–2 June (M–Tu) London v Addington & Croydon Artillery Ground London won [2][3]
notes

The previous match (see above) being incomplete would "be played out on Tuesday next" at Duppas Hill. As a result, this return match was played before the first one was completed.

12 June (F) Dartford v London Dartford Brent result unknown [2][3]
notes

No details reported.

15 June (M) London v Addington & Croydon Artillery Ground result unknown [2][3]
notes

The source states: "They have played two matches this season, and each won one with great difficulty, being two days playing each match".

29 June (M) London v Dartford Artillery Ground result unknown [2][3]
notes

No details known other than that wickets were to be pitched at two o'clock. Two games between Kent and an England XI were due to be played at Bromley Common on Monday, 29 June and at the Artillery Ground on Wednesday, 1 July, but the source reports that both matches "are deferred on account of the gentlemen subscribers being engaged at several Elections". The Parliamentary Election of 1747 resulted in a Whig government under Henry Pelham (1694–1754). In those days, voting was limited to landed gentry (i.e., to fully paid up members of the Hanoverian aristocracy).

2 July (Th) Dartford v Hadlow Dartford Brent result unknown [1][2]
notes

This was pre-announced in the Penny London Post of Wednesday, 1 July as "the deciding match" but there is no report of the game and no references to the earlier fixture(s).

9 July (Th) Long Robin's XI v William Hodsoll's XI Artillery Ground result unknown [4][5]
notes

A "scratch match" arranged by members of the London Cricket Club. Most of the players' names are known but no scores have survived. The exact title is unknown but one team consisted mainly of players from London, Bromley and Slindon, the other mainly of players from Dartford and Hadlow. The teams were:

Long Robin's XI: Robert Colchin, James Bryant, John Bryant, John Bowra, Little Bennett, Thomas Jure, Richard Newland, John Newland, Adam Newland and two others.

William Hodsoll's XI: William Hodsoll, Broad, John Bell, Thomas Bell, Allen, J. Harris, Tom Faulkner, John Larkin and others from the parish of Hadlow in Kent. It is not known which of John or Joe Harris was involved.

28 July (Tu) Tom Faulkner's XI v John Bowra's XI Kennington Common result unknown [2][6]
notes

This was billed as "Long Tom of Surrey against the Kentish Shepherd", those being the nicknames of Tom Faulkner, who was also a prizefighter, and John Bowra. The rest would be "ten other persons on each side, picked out of different parts". Wickets were due to be pitched at 14:00 and the common was to be roped around for the accommodation of spectators.

In an additional note copied from the Daily Advertiser of 28 July, "Long Tom is well known for his excellent play and therefore needs no puffs; he backs himself 5 to 4 against the Kentish shepherd".[6]

17 August (M) London v Bromley & Ripley Artillery Ground result unknown [2][4]
notes

A statement by Mr George Smith, the Keeper of the Artillery Ground: "These matches being attended with great Charge the Door, for the Future, will be Six-pence; Two-pence not being sufficient to defray the Expense". The match was to be played for fifty guineas per side.

20 August (Th) Bromley & Ripley v London Ripley Green result unknown [2][4]
notes

No details reported.

24 August (M) London v Hadlow Artillery Ground result unknown [2][4]
notes

Hadlow, near Tonbridge in Kent, was stated to be "a famous parish for cricket".

31 August (M) England XI v Kent Artillery Ground result unknown [2][4][7]
notes

This game and the next one were the two postponed earlier in the season because of the Parliamentary Election.

Another statement from George Smith: "The Town may be certain that the taking Six-pence Admittance is out of no avaricious Temper. Two-pence being greatly insufficient to the Charge that attends the Matches, which Mr Smith is ready and willing to make appear to any Gentleman".

The advertised teams (in the Daily Advertiser on Monday, 31 August) were:

Kent: Robert Colchin, James Bryant, John Bryant (all Bromley), Val Romney, Kipps, John Mansfield (all Sevenoaks), John Bell, Thomas Bell (both Dartford), Jones, John Larkin (both Hadlow), Robert Eures (Bexley).

England: Richard Newland (Slindon), Green (Amberley, Sussex), Stephen Dingate, Little Bennett, Thomas Jure (all London), Tom Faulkner, Joe Harris, Broad, George Jackson (all Addington), William Sawyer (Richmond), Maynard (Surrey).

2 September (W) Kent v England XI Bromley Common result unknown [2][4][7]
notes

No details reported. This match was advertised at the same time as the first one and not subsequently.

Single wicket

Monday, 6 July. Five of Slindon versus Five of Dartford at the Artillery Ground. This was the result of a challenge by Slindon, published in the Daily Advertiser on Monday, 29 June to play "five of any parish in England, for their own Sum". The announcement advised interested parties: "If it is accepted of by any, they are desir'd to go to Mr Smith, who has Orders to make Stakes for them". The three Newland brothers all played. On Saturday, 4 July, George Smith announced in the same paper that "five of Dartford in Kent, have made Stakes with him, and will play with the above Gentlemen at the Time and Place above mentioned for twenty Pounds".[4][8]

Wednesday, 8 July. Five of Slindon versus Five of Bromley at the Artillery Ground. Another game resulting from Slindon's challenge. At least one of the Newland brothers played for Slindon.[6][5]

Friday, 10 July. Five of Slindon versus Five of Hadlow at the Artillery Ground. Another game resulting from Slindon's five-a-side challenge. Details unknown.[4][5]

Wednesday, 15 July. Five of Slindon versus Five of Hadlow at the Artillery Ground. A return game which suggests Hadlow might have won the first as Slindon, having issued the initial challenge, might wish to try for honours even. Details unknown.[9]

In early August, there were two single wicket matches at the Artillery Ground which were organised by the 2nd Duke of Richmond. In the first, three of his employees Stephen Dingate, Joseph Rudd and Pye defeated Little and Tall Bennett and William Anderson. In the second, the same threes were to play again but in a "fives" match with the two Bryant brothers added to the Duke's team and with Tom Faulkner and one of the Harris brothers to their opponents. The result of the second game is unknown.[9]

Saturday, 5 September. Three-a-side game at the Artillery Ground: Long Robin's Three versus Stephen Dingate's Three. The teams were Robert Colchin, John Harris and Val Romney against Stephen Dingate, Richard Newland and Thomas Jure. It was played for sixty guineas per side and the players were specially chosen from those who had played in the Kent v England games above, so possibly they were the best performers in those matches. It was ruled that "all Strokes behind as well as before Wickets" counted and in this respect the contest "differs from any Three Match ever play'd".[4][7]

Other events

According to Rowland Bowen, cricket was first played in New York this year.[10] This is, however, doubted by Ian Maun, who states that "no contemporary record of cricket in New York is known before 1751".[11]

First mentions

Counties

  • none

Clubs and teams

Players

Venues

  • Ripley Green[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ First-class cricket was officially defined in May 1894 by a meeting at Lord's of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season. Pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective and the important matches designation, as applied to a given match, is based on the views of one or more substantial historical sources. For further information, see First-class cricket, Forms of cricket and History of cricket.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Buckley, FLPVC, p. 2.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ACS, Important Matches, p. 22.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Ashley-Cooper, At the Sign of the Wicket, 29 March 1900, p. 37.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Ashley-Cooper, At the Sign of the Wicket, 12 April 1900, p. 51.
  5. 1 2 3 McCann, p. 38.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Buckley, FL18C, p. 21.
  7. 1 2 3 McCann, p. 42.
  8. ↑ McCann, p. 37.
  9. 1 2 McCann, p. 41.
  10. ↑ Bowen, p. 264.
  11. ↑ Maun, p. 180.

Bibliography

  • ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
  • Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1900). At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742–1751. Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. London: Cricket Magazine. OCLC 28863559.
  • Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 0-413-27860-3.
  • Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
  • Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
  • McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
  • Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.

Further reading

  • Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
  • Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
  • Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
  • Marshall, John (1961). The Duke who was Cricket. Muller.
  • Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.
  • Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
  • Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
  • Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.
  • Leach, John (2008). "Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825". Stumpsite. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
  • Leach, John (2007). "From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787". Stumpsite. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
  • Collins, A. R. (2016). "Historical Calendar". Dr A. R. Collins.
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