1769 English cricket season

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The 1769 English cricket season is notable because it is from this season that we have the earliest surviving record of a century being scored. However, it is impossible to say whether this was actually the first hundred ever scored: it almost certainly was not.

It was scored by John Minshull in the second innings of the Duke of Dorset's XI against Wrotham. Minshull went on to score 107 out of 236 in the innings. His innings comprised 34 singles, 15 twos, 9 threes and 4 fours. Complete records of the game do not say what the result was or give any details of Wrotham's innings. John Minshull's name was given as Minchin on the scoresheet.

[edit] Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
8 May (M)	Coulsdon & Caterham v All-England	Smitham Bottom, Croydon	FL18	result unknown
The fixture was announced in the Daily Advertiser on Fri 12 May but not reported! The exact venue was a field belonging to the Red Lion at Smitham Bottom and it was a Whitsuntide event. Coulsdon and Caterham challenged any 11 men in England, rather in the style of Slindon two decades earlier: The winners to have 10/6 each man, and the losers 5/3 each man, to be paid by Edward Smith at the Red Lion. Wickets pitched at 12 noon, and dinner to be ready at 11: a very good Ordinary, and good eating at any time.
8 June (Th)	Surrey v Berkshire	Datchet Common	FL18	Surrey won by 6 runs
Reported by the St James Chronicle on Tues 13 June. Apart from the references to Thomas Waymark and others who took part in single wicket contests in the 1740s, this is the first time we encounter Berkshire as a county team. Although Berkshire has been classified as a minor county for the last two centuries, it was a strong centre of the game in the late 18th century and produced numerous players good enough to take part in major matches. As with other counties such as Essex, the strength of Berkshire was vested in one prominent club, in this case the Oldfield Club of Maidenhead which had a noted venue at Oldfield Bray.
29 June (Th)	Hambledon v Caterham	Broadhalfpenny Down	FL18	result unknown
Announced by the Reading Mercury on Mon 26 June as the “first match” between the two clubs, with wickets to be pitched at nine (early!).
31 July & 1 August (M-Tu)	Caterham v Hambledon	Guildford Bason	WDC	Hambledon won by 4 wkts
One game of note was between Caterham and Hambledon on 31 July and 1 August at Guildford Bason. Small and Bayton helped Hambledon to a comfortable 86 win. Hambledon batted first and made around 137, a good score for the time. Caterham made around 104 in reply, before Hambledon scored 142 in their second innings, thereby setting Caterham a formidable target. They managed only approximately 99. The game was reckoned to be a good one and attracted 2,000 spectators. In Mr Waghorn’s Dawn of Cricket he has this game starting on Monday 31 July in 1768. That for a start raises suspicion because 31 July in 1768 was a Sunday. Further investigation as by Martin Wilson in his Index to Waghorn has revealed that the game was in 1769, not 1768! In WDC, the team totals are also wrong with Hambledon given as winners by 86 runs when in fact they won by 4 wickets! The report of the game in the Reading Mercury on Sat 5 August reads: On Monday last began to be played at Guildford, in Surrey, the decisive grand match at cricket between the Hambledon and Caterham Clubs, which, after a long and vigorous contest, was determined on Tuesday evening in favour of the former. The utmost activity and skill in the game was displayed by each individual through the whole course of this match, but particularly the batting of Messrs Small and Bayton on the Hambledon side. There were near 20,000 spectators, and it is generally allowed by the best judges to have been the finest match that ever was played. The team totals were: Caterham – 104 + 137 = 241; Hambledon – 99 + 143-6 = 242-6 The Hambledon team: Mr Thomas Ridge, William Hogsflesh, Thomas Brett, Peter Stewart, Richard Nyren, John Small, Bayton, Glazier, Thomas Sueter, Purdy, William Barber The Caterham team: Mr Henry Rowett, Bellchambers, Edward “Lumpy” Stevens, Page, Richard Miller, Smailes, John (?) Wood, William Palmer, Shepherd, Thomas Quiddington, Wessing Mr Buckley in FL18 helpfully adds a report from the Whitehall Evening Post on Tues 8 August: Guildford. The benefit arising to this town by the last great match at Cricket has set many projections on foot for more sport of that sort. They talk of a match soon for £1,000 a side between a certain Duke against All England. The "certain Duke" was surely the 3rd Duke of Dorset, the former John Frederick Sackville, who had succeeded to his title on 6 January 1769. FL18 also recorded from the Middlesex Journal dated Thurs 3 August that: The afternoon of the first day was wet; the close of play scores were: Caterham, 104 ; Hambledon, 51 for 4. As this was the "decisive grand match", it leaves open the question of another one played between the "first match" on 29 June (see above) and this one.
9 & 10 August (W-Th)	Kent v London	Blackheath	FL18	Kent won by 47 runs
The Middlesex Journal on Sat 19 August described the teams as: Greenwich, Woolwich and Deptford beat the Artillery Club of London by 47 notches.
17 & 18 August (Th-F)	London v Kent	Artillery Ground	WCS	London won by 56 runs
Described as: A great match at cricket was played in the Artillery Ground, for a very large sum of money (i.e., £20,000), and great bets depending, between eleven gentlemen of London and eleven of Kent : the match not being played out, they began again yesterday at two in the afternoon; when the Londoners beat by 56 notches. The team scores were: London – 81 + 99 = 180; Kent – 65 + 59 = 124
24 August (Th)	London v Kent	Artillery Ground	FL18	Kent won by 6 wkts
The Middlesex Journal on Sat 26 August reported: in the third match between Kent and London, Kent won by 6 wickets.
26 August (S)	Middlesex v London	Stanmore	FL18	London won
The Bath Chronicle reported this on Thurs 31 August and said that "London beat Middlesex for 50 guineas".
31 August (Th)	Duke of Dorset’s XI v Wrotham	Sevenoaks Vine	JG	result unknown
A partial score has survived and was found by John Goulstone in the Duke of Dorset’s archives. This was the match in which John Minshull scored 107, the earliest definitely known century, though it is not improbable that John Small scored one in 1768. Unfortunately, there are no details at all of Wrotham’s team or its scores, though we have all the scores and means of dismissal for Dorset’s team who made 68 and 236. Apart from Minshull and Dorset, the only recognised players are Pattenden, John Wood and William Bowra, though the player called Fish appears in a few scorecards. Obviously, none of the Wrotham players can be recognised. As such, the status of this game must be considered minor in terms of its quality.
22 September (F)	West Kent v Surrey	Sevenoaks Vine	FL18	result unknown
Announced in the St James Chronicle on Thurs 21 September. West Kent was the Duke of Dorset’s team.
28 September (Th)	Hambledon v Surrey	Broadhalfpenny Down	WDC	Hambledon inns & 41 runs
The second known century partnership was achieved in this game when Tom Sueter and George Leer of Hambledon scored 128 for the first wicket. WDC records: On Thursday, Sept. 28 1769, the second great match of cricket was played on Broad-halfpenny, Hampshire, between the Hambledon Club, and the County of Surrey, which was decided in favour of the former, by 41 notches, in one innings ; what is very remark¬able, the two first mates on the Hambledon side (Sueter and Leer) fetched 128 before they were parted.

[edit] Other events

Joseph Hartley, "one of the greatest cricket players in England", died at his house near Cobham, Kent. No information about Hartley’s age has been found and we do not know when he played, but probably before 1740.

Four reports found in FL18 which provide a flavour of the times:

Middlesex Journal (Thurs 6 July) – Yesterday a Mr. Carter, a very eminent butcher of Grub Street, but of a corpulent body, was playing at Cricket in the Artillery Ground, making a stroke at the ball which he missed, he threw himself round with so great force that he broke his knee pan (knee cap). He was carried home, with little hope of ever recovering the use of his leg again.

Whitehall Evening Post (Thurs 20 July) – Nothing can exceed the vogue that Cricket has in some parts of Surrey and Hampshire: the people are so fond of it that it is common for them to ride 40 miles to be mere spectators at a Cricket match. A few days ago 22 expert players played a match not far from Godalming when each side got the same number of notches at both innings, which was esteemed very extraordinary.

Reading Mercury (Mon 24 July) – A letter from "An old Cricket Player" re the match Reading v. Sonning on Bulmarsh Heath on Fri., July 21, complaining of the latter’s unfair tactics. Sonning batted first and made 86: Reading then made 187, sacrificing their last five wickets: Sonning then made 125 which put them 24 ahead. There had been a bet between a player on each side on their total individual scores. The Sonning player made 9 the first innings, and between 60 & 70 the second : the Reading player having made 41 the first innings could not exceed the other’s total as only 25 runs were wanted to win the match. There was a dispute over that, but finally the Reading player agreed to go in for the game. Sonning at first refused to play or to pay the money, although there was nearly an hour to go ; they finally went into the held, and ‘by throwing the ball about, out of the way’ so delayed the game that it could not be played out.

Whitehall Evening Post (Tues 1 August) – We are informed that the great match at Cricket, which has been so long in agitation, will be decided one day next week on the downs at Calais. On this match near £5,000 is depending : the players are to be all English men.

That visit to Calais may have been successful, unlike the one which the Duke of Dorset tried to organise in 1789: only to find that the French Revolution had begun!

WDC and the ACS list both have Hambledon v Sussex on 5 September 1769 but the game took place in 1768. It is another of Mr Waghorn’s dating errors.