1752 English cricket season

1752 English cricket season
Cricket formats	first-class and single wicket

The 1752 English cricket season saw a resurgence of the famous Dartford Cricket Club.

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.

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result
17 June (W)	Kent v Surrey ^[1]	Chislehurst Common	result unknown
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.
30 June (Tu)	Bromley v London ^[1]	Bromley Common	match drawn
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 John Mansfield (Sevenoaks) and Howard (Kent) as given men.
15 July (W)	London v Bromley ^[1]	Artillery Ground	result unknown
This was the return match postponed from Monday 6 July due to wet weather.
20 July (M)	Westminster v Addington ^[1]	Tothill Fields, Westminster	result unknown
Westminster’s team included Stephen Dingate, William Anderson, Little Bennett and Tall Bennett, Perry and Capon. The Addington team included John Mansfield, George Jackson, John Frame, Durling and the two Harrises.
29 July (W)	Dartford v The Rest ^[1]	Dartford Brent	result unknown
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.
29 July (W)	London v Edmonton ^[1]	Artillery Ground	result unknown
The prize was 10 guineas.
3 August (M)	Westminster v Addington ^[1]	Tothill Fields, Westminster	Westminster by 10 runs
This may be a return to the match on Mon 20 July or it may be the same match having been postponed.
11 August (Tu)	Dartford v The Rest ^[1]	Dartford Brent	result unknown
The source says: Dartford with 4 men allowed against 11 men to be picked out of All England, for £20 a side.
12 August (W)	Addington v Dartford ^[1]	Addington Hill	result unknown
This was another match announced by our most humble servant George Williams, who would again provide the usual accommodation and victuals.
28 September (Th)	Deptford v Westminster ^[1]	Upper Fountain, Deptford	result unknown
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.
29 September (F)	Sussex v Surrey ^[2]	Long Down	Surrey won by c.80 runs
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.

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.^[1]

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.^[1]

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 (MCC).^[1]

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).^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
↑ Timothy J McCann, Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century, Sussex Record Society, 2004

Bibliography

Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.

Additional reading

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
Maun, Ian (2011). From Commons to Lord's, Volume Two: 1751 to 1770. Martin Wilson. ISBN 978-0-9569066-0-1.
Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.

External links

English cricket teams in the 18th century

"All" England

English cricket venues to 1825

English cricket seasons to 1815

History of cricket to 1725 List of English cricket matches to 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815

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