Edward Stead
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Edward Stead | ||||
 |
||||
| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Edward Stead | |||
| Born | 1701 Maidstone, Kent, England |
|||
| Died | 1735 London, England |
|||
| Role | patron | |||
| Batting style | unknown hand | |||
| Bowling style | underarm: unknown hand and type | |||
| Domestic team information | ||||
| Years | Team | |||
| c.1720-1735 | Dartford Cricket Club | |||
| c.1720-1735 | Kent | |||
|
As of 31 May, 2008 |
||||
Edward Stead (aka Edwin Steed) (born 1701 in Maidstone, Kent; died 28 August 1735 in London) was a famous patron of English cricket, particularly of Kent county cricket teams, during its formative years in the early 18th century.
Contents |
[edit] Career
Stead was something of a compulsive gambler and he sought to make money out of cricket by underwriting select XIs usually made up of players from several Kent parish teams. The Dartford Cricket Club, which featured William Bedle, had arguably the best parish team in the game at the time and it is almost certain that Stead used several Dartford players. It is not clear if Stead played himself but, given that his rival patrons all did, it is reasonable to assume that he was the captain of his own team as well as its patron [1].
Stead's teams are known to have performed in "Great Matches" for several years from 1724. He was very successful in 1728 when the report of a game in August said of his latest victory: the third time this summer that the Kent men have been too expert for those of Sussex [2].
See also : Champion County
[edit] Early death
But Stead was not always successful and his gambling habit eventually got the better of him. He died in reduced circumstances while still only 34 [1].
His death on 28 August 1735 was reported in the Grub Street Journal on Thursday 4 September 1735. The report says there were two accounts of his death: one that he died "near Charing Cross"; the other that he died "in Scotland Yard" [3].
[edit] References
- ^ a b From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300–1787
- ^ H T Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906
- ^ G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, page 12
[edit] External sources
[edit] Further reading
- H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
- Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
- G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
- David Underdown, Start of Play, Allen Lane, 2000
- H T Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906
