1740 English cricket season
The 1740 English cricket season was the 44th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of eight matches. Each of the surviving match records features London Cricket Club with half the known matches played at the Artillery Ground in Finsbury.
Recorded matches
Records have survived of eight matches:[1][2]
Date | Teams | Venue | Result | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
June | Chislehurst v London | Chislehurst Common | London won | [3] |
The report only states the venue and the winners. | ||||
June | London v Chislehurst | Artillery Ground | unknown | [3] |
A return match. May have been played at the beginning of July. | ||||
9 July | Richmond & Moulsey v London | Moulsey Hurst | drawn (rain) | [3] |
Scores are known: London 100 & 70/8; Moulsey & Richmond 86. Rain delayed the start until between three and four o’clock. It was decided to play again the following week at the Artillery Ground. | ||||
16 July | London v Richmond & Moulsey | Artillery Ground | London won by 73 runs | [4][5] |
Reported by the London & Country Journal on 22 July. | ||||
21 July | Kent v London | Sevenoaks Vine | drawn (rain) | [4] |
Kent scored 71 & 130; London scored 98 and 30/3. Rain halted play "for some time". The report mentions the return match below. | ||||
28 July | London v Kent | Artillery Ground | unknown | [6] |
Referenced by the report of the match above. | ||||
8 September | Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Hertfordshire v London | Uxbridge Moor | London won | [6] |
London won "with great difficulty". The report in the London Evening Post mentions arrangements for the return fixture below. This is the earliest mention of Uxbridge as a venue and the first time that Berkshire and Buckinghamshire are mentioned in county team terms. | ||||
15 September | London v Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Hertfordshire | Artillery Ground | unknown | [6] |
Announced in the report of the previous match. | ||||
Other events
Thomas Waymark, who had been employed by the Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond as a groom, relocated to Bray, Berkshire where he was employed by the cricket enthusiast Mr Darville, and took part in matches organised by him.[7]
In a letter from Goodwood House to his friend Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, the Duke of Richmond mentioned several local people including "John Newland, that you must remember".[4] This is the first mention in the sources of the Newland brothers who were members of Slindon Cricket Club.
First mentions
Players
- George Smith[3]
Venues
References
- ACS, p.20.
- Other matches in England 1740, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
- Maun, p.98.
- Maun, p.99.
- Buckley, p.16.
- Maun, p.100.
- Maun, pp.100–101.
Bibliography
- ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
- Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
- Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.
Further reading
- 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.
- Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
- Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.
- Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
- Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.