A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Mention has already been made of the 

 Addington Qub, \\hich numbered among 

 its membere at one time four of the best all- 

 round cricketers — ^Thomas Faulkner, George 

 Jacbon, John and Joseph Harris. But 

 there were many others of hardly less 

 influence distributed all over the county in 

 districts so wide apart as Barnes and Bramley, 

 Cheam and Chertsey, Egham and Lingfield, 

 Moulsey Hurst and Ripley, Mitcham and 

 Famham. 



Even the glories of the Hambledon Club, 

 as has already been pointed out, were in the 

 main the work of Surrey rather than Hamp- 

 shire cricketers. ' Surrey ' in the old scores, 

 says the author of the Cricket Field, meant 

 nothing more than the Farnham parishes. 

 This corner of Surrey, in every match against 

 all England, was reckoned as part of Hamp- 

 shire, and Beldham truly said, ' You find us 

 regularly on the Hampshire side in Bently's 

 Book.' The latter part of the eighteenth 

 century found many of the highest men in 

 the land enthusiastic in their support of 

 cricket and Surrey cricketers. The prin- 

 cipal grounds in the county itself were 

 Moulsey Hurst and Holt Pound near Fam- 

 ham. The latter, which had been made by 

 David Harris, the Surrey cricketer, for Lord 

 Stowell, shared with Moulsey Hunt the 

 monopoly of the best cricket in the county. 

 The Earl of Tankerville was one of the great 

 patrons of Surrey cricjcet from 1770 till 1780. 



It was the custom for the patrician sup- 

 porters of the game to find employment for 

 the principal players. ' The active Earl of 

 Tankerville,' as he was called, did his duty 

 nobly in this direction, retaining Lumpy 

 and Bedster, two of the best Surrey players 

 of the period, in his service as butler and 

 gardener respectively. 



Another famous ground about the time 

 was Laleham Burway Ground at Chertsey. 

 It was here that Surrey played Kent on 11 

 and 12 June 1773, the first fully recorded 

 match of eleven a side in the history of 

 Surrey cricket. 



The game, it is said, was the outcome of 

 a challenge issued by the Earl of Tankerville 

 on behalf of Surrey. In any case he was 

 one of the principal scorers on the side of his 

 county, which won by 35 runs. The Surrey 

 eleven on that occasion included, in addition 

 to Lumpy and William Yalden, Thomas 

 White, the great wicket-keeper of his day, 

 generally known as Stock White, who for 

 many years was quite one of the most success- 

 ful batsmen of his time. The retirement 

 of the Earl of Tankerville in or about 1781 

 deprived Surrey cricket of a friend in every 



528 



sense of the word. Fortunately only a few 

 years elapsed before a capable successor 

 appeared in the person of the Earl of Win- 

 chilsea ; a good player himself. Lord Win- 

 chilsea not only befriended Surrey cricketen 

 in more ways than one, but led them with 

 great skill on the field. He was one of the 

 safest batsmen in a side of run-getters. How 

 strong Surrey was just at the end of the 

 eighteenth and at the commencement of the 

 nineteenth centuries its brilliant record 

 against England from 1793 to 18 17 will 

 show. 



Several times Surrey's eleven played thirteen 

 of England, and twice in 1800 and 1809 the 

 county was able to lend its best all-round 

 player, William Beldham, to England, and 

 still win. 



As the nineteenth century opened Surrey 

 cricket was quite in the ascendant. The 

 break up of the Old Hambledon Club in 1791 

 had freed several of the best Surrey players, 

 and for a long term of years the best cricket 

 was to be seen in the Surrey matches. 



William Lambert, certainly without a 

 superior as an all-round player, in the first 

 quarter of the century, was just then com- 

 mencing to represent the county. He 

 played first for Surrey in 1801, at the same 

 time as William Beldham, Robert Robinson 

 (Long Bob), and the two Walkers, Tom (Old 

 Everlasting, as he was called) and Harry. 

 For many years William Lambert stood out 

 as one of the most prominent figures in the 

 cricket world. He was a fine batsman, a 

 bowler of many parts, and a fieldsman of 

 exceptional versatility, equally at home in 

 any position, and pre-eminently safe. 'The 

 very best batsman of his time,' was the 

 estimate of William Clarke, the great bowler 

 of Notts, founder of the All-England Eleven 

 and one of the shrewdest judges of the day. 

 As a cricketer Surrey born and bred, the 

 county had good reason to be proud of Lam- 

 bert. While his reputation as a player was of 

 the highest, it was otherwise not unblemished. 

 Betting on the game was much in vogue 

 about this period, and rumour was busy with 

 innuendoes against some of the principal 

 players. In some cases charges of selling 

 matches were made and undoubtedly believed. 

 Lambert was accused of having sold the 

 match between England and Twenty-two 

 of Nottingham at Nottingham in 18 18, and he 

 was not only ' warned off ' Lords, but omitted 

 from all the chief matches played subse- 

 quently. Though left out of the better 

 class of cricket, he played regularly in country 

 matches until 1839. His last appearance, 

 so far as can be ascertained, was in this year, 



