SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



mentioned lett to John Parrish Innholder de- 

 ceased that he knew it for fifty years or more. 

 It lay waste and was used and occupied by the 

 inhabitants of Guildford to saw timber in and for 

 Sawpits and for makinge of frames of timber for 

 the said inhabitants. When he was a scholler of 

 the Free School of Guildford he and several of 

 his fellows did run and play there at Crickett and 

 other plaies and also that the same was used for 

 bating of bears in the said towne until the said 

 John Parrish did inclose the said Parcell of land.' ' 



This evidence of one of the Queen's Majestie's 

 Coroners of the county establishes the fact 

 that ' crickett,' however crude, was familiar 

 to the schoolboys of the middle of the six- 

 teenth century. The literature of the next 

 few generations contains few if any allusions 

 to cricket. The inference is that for a long 

 time, perhaps a century or more, it did not 

 advance beyond the status of a schoolboy 

 game. There is presumptive evidence that 

 by the end of the seventeenth century it was 

 gaining popularity among men. A quaint 

 announcement in one of the London papers, 

 published in March 170x2, gives bold adver- 

 tisement to the fact that ' a match at cricket 

 of ten Gentlemen on each side was to be 

 played on Clapham Common on Easter 

 Monday.' Clapham Common then was 

 evidently little known, for the notice takes 

 pains to specify that it is near Fox HaU, 

 which can be no other than VauxhaU Gardens, 

 one of the favourite resorts of all classes 

 about that period. 



With the opening of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury cricket undoubtedly gained a firm hold 

 on that part of Surrey bordering on the 

 Metropolis. Walworth Common, as well 

 as Kennington Common, now Kennington 

 Park, were frequently the scenes of matches, 

 and by this time the game had spread to 

 more remote parts of the county. 



Already Richmond and Mitcham had 

 made names for themselves as cricket nur- 

 series. Mitcham was then laying the foun- 

 dation of the reputation which it has main- 

 tained to the present day. A little later, 

 about 1730, the Richmond Club was run- 

 ning it close in popular favour. Both clubs 

 were strong enough to play the London Club, 

 which had its headquarters at the Artillery 

 Ground, Finsbury, the first enclosure on 

 which matches of importance were played, 

 so far as records tell us. In 1736 we find the 

 gentlemen of London playing the gentlemen 

 of Mitcham at Mitcham, and beating them. 

 A year later the combined forces of London 



1 History of Guildford (J. and S. Russell, 1 801), 

 p. 202. 



and Surrey were beaten on Kennington 

 Common by Kent, the Prince of Wales being 

 backer of the former, and Lord Sackville of 

 the latter. 



The London Club, which had for its chief 

 patron Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, was 

 then mainly dependent for its success on 

 Surrey cricketers. A generous supporter of 

 the game, the Prince of Wales was particu- 

 larly liberal in his favour to Surrey cricket 

 and cricketers. He took a most active 

 interest even, it is said, to the extent of 

 selecting the Surrey elevens. In any case, 

 it may fairly be claimed that his munificent 

 support induced a great number of the 

 aristocracy of the period to take up the game. 



Though the cricket records of the middle 

 of the eighteenth century are disappointingly 

 scanty, it is certain that Surrey played in a 

 large number of matches of which no details, 

 or at least no full scores, were published. 



By this time there were clubs, and strong 

 clubs too, all over the county. The Adding- 

 ton Club was perhaps the best; indeed for 

 several years its performances entitled it to 

 a place in the foremost rank. In the twenty 

 years ending 1750, as far as we can find, 

 Surrey played England five times without a 

 reverse. The chief Surrey cricketers at this 

 period were Stephen Dengate, Thomas 

 Faulkner, the brothers Harris, Joseph and 

 John, and John Frame, who was a prominent 

 figure in the cricket f^eld in the latter half 

 of the century, and was one of the best 

 players in the days when the Hambledon 

 Club was at its zenith. The Hambledon 

 Club itself, though its headquarters were of 

 course in Hampshire (first on Windmill 

 Down, and subsequently on Broad Half- 

 penny Down), was in great measure indebted 

 to Surrey players for the brilliant reputation 

 it enjoyed for so many years. WiUiam 

 Beldham, Tom Robinson, Tom Suiter, Tom 

 Walker, and the two Smalls, were a few of 

 the Surrey men who contributed to the 

 greatness of the Hambledon Club. Con- 

 temporary with the rise of the Hambledon 

 Club came a sudden check to the progress 

 of Surrey as a cricket county. The death 

 of the Prince of Wales from the effect of a 

 blow received from a cricket ball in 1750 was 

 no doubt to some extent the cause of the 

 temporary disappearance of Surrey from the 

 records of the game. Whether this were the 

 reason or not, the fact remains that for over 

 twenty years from 1750 there was prac- 

 tically a blank in Surrey cricket, that is as a 

 county. On the other hand, clubs of im- 

 portance had come into existence all over 

 Surrey. 



527 



