1752 English cricket season
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The 1752 English cricket season saw a resurgence of the famous Dartford Cricket Club.
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[edit] Impact of the Gregorian Calendar
It was a very important year in dating terms. The Gregorian calendar, first devised in 1582, was finally adopted in Great Britain. An 11-day discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian versions was corrected by having Wednesday 2 September 1752 followed by Thursday 14 September 1752. There was civil unrest among the population due to a widespread belief that people’s lives were literally being shortened by 11 days! Fortunately, for the purposes of cricket history, the calendar change has minimal impact because the cricket season never began before 25 March and so the year is always the same whether a Julian or Gregorian date is used, apart from a few out of season references that need to be noted accordingly. The only problem is that care has to be taken re any original sources that insisted on using the Julian date after the Gregorian Calendar was introduced. Indeed, there is an example of this below re the Sussex Weekly Advertiser.
[edit] Matches
| Date | Match Title | Venue | Source | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 June (W) | Kent v Surrey | Chislehurst Common | FL18 | result unknown |
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This match was advertised on Tues 16 June in the Daily Advertiser by George Williams of the White Lion at Streatham who said he would provide the best of liquors and a cold collation; he humbly hoped the noblemen and gentlemen would do him the honour of regaling themselves! See the games on 3 and 21 August 1745 for earlier references to Mr Williams and his catering services. Williams played cricket himself and was captain of the Streatham club in 1745. |
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| 30 June (Tu) | Bromley v >London | Bromley Common | FL18 | match drawn |
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London scored 52 and 92; Bromley replied with 60 and were 52 for 5 when play ended, presumably because of rain. The precise venue was the White Hart field on Bromley Common. Stakes were £50 a side. Bromley had J Mansfield (Sevenoaks) and Howard (Kent) as given men. |
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| 15 July (W) | London v Bromley | Artillery Ground | FL18 | result unknown |
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This was the return match postponed from Monday 6 July due to wet weather. |
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| 20 July (M) | Westminster v Addington | Tothill Fields, Westminster | FL18 | result unknown |
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Westminster’s team included Dingate, Anderson, the two Bennetts, Perry and Capon. The Addington team included Mansfield, Jackson, John Frame, Durling and the Harrises. |
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| 29 July (W) | Dartford v The Rest | Dartford Brent | FL18 | result unknown |
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Dartford’s team was pre-announced as William Hodsoll, John Bryant, Robert Eures and 8 others of the parish of Dartford against any 11 men to be chosen and taken in any part of England. Dartford was a very strong team in the 1750s and this match is reminiscent of the Slindon challenges of a decade earlier. |
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| 29 July (W) | London v Edmonton | Artillery Ground | FL18 | result unknown |
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The prize was 10 guineas. |
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| 3 August (M) | Westminster v Addington | Tothill Fields, Westminster | FL18 | Westminster by 10 runs |
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This may be a return to the match on Mon 20 July or it may be the same match having been postponed. |
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| 11 August (Tu) | Dartford v The Rest | Dartford Brent | FL18 | result unknown |
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The source says: Dartford with 4 men allowed against 11 men to be picked out of All England, for £20 a side. |
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| 12 August (W) | Addington v Dartford | Addington Hill | FL18 | result unknown |
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This was another match announced by our most humble servant George Williams, who would again provide the usual accommodation and victuals. |
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| 28 September (Th) | Deptford v Westminster | Upper Fountain, Deptford | FL18 | result unknown |
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The Daily Advertiser on Sat 29 August (Julian) announced that this game would take place on Thurs 14 September (i.e., day one itself of the Gregorian Calendar immediately following the last Julian date of Wed 2 September). Tom Faulkner and one of the Harrises were to be given men on the Deptford side. On Thurs 21 September (Gregorian), the Daily Advertiser announced postponement of the match to Thurs 28 September and reported that John Bryant and "two from Chislehurst" would play for Deptford instead of Faulkner and Harris who were not allowed to play. |
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| 29 September (F) | Sussex v Surrey | Long Down | TJM | Surrey won by c.80 runs |
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An interesting one in calendar terms as the report was in the Sussex Weekly Advertiser dated Thurs 16 October (Julian date), which should officially have been dated Thurs 5 October (Gregorian). The report says: Last Friday se’enight the great Match at Cricket between Surrey and Sussex was finished, on Long Down, when Surrey beat by about four score Notches. The match took place on Fri 29 September (Gregorian), not Fri 10 October (Julian) as the source infers. |
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[edit] Other events
On Thursday 27 February (Julian), the Daily Advertiser reported that George Smith of the Artillery Ground had taken the late Duke of Somerset’s house at Marlborough and intended to open it as an inn. Smith offered the Artillery Ground and its dwelling house, etc. on lease for 7 years. Smith had evidently overcome his bankruptcy problems in 1748.
On Saturday 30 May (Julian), the Daily Advertiser carried a notice re the Artillery Ground that gentlemen may be supplied with bats and balls and that the ground is kept in good order for play by your humble servant William Sharpe.
The Daily Advertiser on Mon 31 August (two days before the end of the Julian Calendar) announced a game on the same day between Marybone (sic) Club and 11 of London for a guinea a man: to meet at Francis Ludgate’s, the Sun and Sportsman next the church. Wickets to be pitched at 1, and the match played out. Note that this "Marylebone Club" had no connection with the Marylebone Cricket Club aka MCC. (FL18)
On the same day, there was a match at Durdham Down near Bristol between 11 of Bristol and 11 of London for 20 guineas. This was announced in Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal on Sat 29 August (Julian). (FL18)
| English cricket teams in the 18th century |
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Berkshire | Essex | Hampshire | Kent | Leicestershire | Middlesex | Mitcham | Nottingham | Sheffield | Surrey | Sussex |
| English cricket venues in the 18th century |
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Artillery Ground | Bishopsbourne Paddock | Broadhalfpenny Down | Bromley Common | Dartford Brent | Duppas Hill |
| English cricket seasons to 1815 |
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1300 - 1696 | 1697 - 1725 |
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to 1815 • 1816-1863 • 1864-1889 • 1890-1918 • 1919-1945 • 1946-1968 • 1969-2000 • from 2001 |
[edit] Main Sources
- 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 Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS)
- Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18)
- Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV)
- Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century by Timothy J McCann (TJM)
- The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
[edit] Additional References
- A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley
- Cricket: History of its Growth and Development by Rowland Bowen
- Chertsey Cricket Club website
- Dartford Cricket Club website (DCC)
- 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
- The Cricketer magazine (Cktr)
- 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
