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Following on from List of English cricketers (1598–1787), this is a list of people who are known to have become involved in the historical development of cricket between the 1787 and 1825 seasons in England. With the single exception of Thomas Lord, it excludes everyone named in the previous list.
Contents
- Key
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- Y
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
In 1787, the opening of the original Lord's ground, and the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) soon afterwards, marked a watershed in the sport's history. The endpoint is in 1825 because of the catastrophic fire on the night of 28 July that year. The Lord's Pavilion was burned down, and a massive collection of records and archives, including unique scorecards, destroyed. [1]
Before 1787, cricket had acquired most of its modern features such as eleven-a-side matches, the three-stump wicket, and the lbw law, although pitch preparation was rudimentary, and play was largely dictated by the weather. Bowling, however, was still done using an underarm action, and the key development of the period to 1825 was the movement towards roundarm bowling.
By taking ownership of the Laws of Cricket , MCC had quickly established itself as the sport's principal club. Besides governance, it organised the early Gentlemen v Players matches, and most of the games played by occasional XIs such as those led by Colonel Charles Lennox, Lord Frederick Beauclerk, George Osbaldeston, and others. In addition, the club's home at each of the three Lord's grounds was cricket's feature venue. The present Lord's opened in 1814.
Inter-county cricket effectively ceased during the Napoleonic Wars, and there were no formally constituted county clubs at the time. The main centres at county level were Berkshire, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, and Sussex. Towards the end of the period, Cambridge University became prominent, especially through its series of matches against the Cambridge Town Club. In the north of England, cricket was developing through town clubs which became the focal points of the game in their respective counties, especially Nottingham and Sheffield.
The key historical sources for this period are Arthur Haygarth's Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826) (published in 1862), Samuel Britcher's annual Grand Matches series (1790 to 1805), and A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles, 1709–1863, published in 1981 by The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS). The works of F. S. Ashley-Cooper, H. T. Waghorn, and G. B. Buckley, among others, are also recognised.
As for the 1598–1787 list, online databases are excluded except in footnotes, as the scope remains historical, and NOT statistical. As in the previous list, a "match" is eleven-a-side, and also considered important, unless specified as single wicket or another form. [note 1]