List of earliest references in English cricket

This is a list of the earliest known references to cricket being played in each of the historic counties of England.

Counties (by date of reference)

• Surrey – c.1550 re John Derrick and the 1597 Guildford court case; the world's earliest definite mention of cricket[1][2]
• Kent – c.1611 re the match at Chevening, the world's oldest known organised match[3]
• Sussex – 1611 re an ecclesiastical court case[4]
• Hampshire – 1647 at Winchester College[5]
• London – 1617 re Oliver Cromwell[6]
• Oxfordshire – 1673 at the University of Oxford[7]
• Middlesex – 1680; also the first mention re umpires[8]
• Cambridgeshire – 1710 at the University of Cambridge[9]
• Essex – 1724 re the Chingford-Stead match[10]
• Berkshire – 1727 at Eton College[11]
• Gloucestershire – 1729[11]
• Buckinghamshire – 1730[12]
• Hertfordshire – 1732[13]
• Dorset – 1738[14]
• Bedfordshire – 1741[15]
• Huntingdonshire – 1741[15]
• Northamptonshire – 1741[15]
• Suffolk – 1743[11]
• Norfolk – 1745[11]
• Durham – 1751[16]
• Somerset – 1751[17]
• Warwickshire – 1751[18]
• Yorkshire – 1751[16]
• Derbyshire – 1757[19]
• Northumberland – 1766[20]
• Wiltshire – 1769[20]
• Nottinghamshire – 1771[21]
• Leicestershire – 1776[22]
• Cheshire – 1781[22]
• Lancashire – 1781[22]
• Rutland – 1790[23]
• Lincolnshire – 1792[23]
• Shropshire – 1794[23]
• Devon – 1799[24]
• Cornwall – 1813[25]
• Staffordshire – 1817[25]
• Herefordshire – 1823[26]
• Westmorland – 1827[26]
• Cumberland – 1828[26]
• Worcestershire – 1829[26]

Ireland, Scotland and Wales

• Glamorgan – 1780 re a match in Swansea
• Ireland – 1792 re a military match in Dublin[23]
• Scotland – 1750 re a military match in Perth[19]
• Wales – 1763 in Pembroke[20]

Formation of county clubs in England and Wales

Numerous sources list the foundation dates of the county clubs. Note that some clubs have been re-founded after earlier versions became defunct. The dates below are mostly taken from the 1982 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack:[27]

• Bedfordshire – 1899
• Berkshire – 1895
• Buckinghamshire – 1891
• Cambridgeshire – 1844 to 1869; 1891
• Carmarthenshire – 1908 to 1911
• Cheshire – 1908
• Cornwall – 1894
• Cumberland (called Cumberland and Westmorland CCC until 1955) – 1948
• Denbighshire – 1930 to 1935
• Derbyshire – 1870
• Devon – 1867 to 1897; 1899
• Dorset – 1896
• Durham – 1882
• Essex – 1876
• Glamorgan – 1888
• Gloucestershire – 1871
• Hampshire – 1863
• Herefordshire – 1836 to unknown; 1992
• Hertfordshire – 1876
• Huntingdonshire – 1831 to 1895; 1948
• Kent – 1842
• Lancashire – 1864
• Leicestershire – 1879
• Lincolnshire – 1906
• Middlesex – 1864
• Monmouthshire – 1901 to 1934
• Norfolk – 1827 to c.1850; 1876
• Northamptonshire – 1878
• Northumberland – 1895
• Nottinghamshire – 1841
• Oxfordshire – 1921
• Shropshire – 1956
• Somerset – 1875
• Staffordshire – 1871
• Suffolk – 1932
• Surrey – 1845
• Sussex – 1839
• Wales Minor Counties – 1988
• Warwickshire – 1882
• Wiltshire – 1893
• Worcestershire – 1865
• Yorkshire – 1863

References

1. Altham, ch. 1.
2. Underdown, p. 3.
3. Underdown, p. 4.
4. Underdown, p. 5.
5. Birley, p. 10.
6. Altham, p. 22.
7. Maun, p. 15.
8. Buckley (FL18), p. 1.
9. Altham, pp. 24–25.
10. Waghorn (DC), pp. 5–6.
11. Bowen, p. 263.
12. Waghorn (CS), p. 3.
13. Buckley (FL18), p. 7.
14. Major, p. 116.
15. Waghorn (CS), p. 27.
16. Ashley-Cooper, p. 83.
17. Buckley (FL18), p. 18.
18. Maun, p. 13.
19. Bowen, p. 264.
20. Bowen, p. 265.
21. Buckley (FLPV), p. 6.
22. Bowen, p. 266.
23. Bowen, p. 267.
24. Bowen, p. 268.
25. Bowen, p. 269.
26. Bowen, p. 270.
27. Wisden 1982, pp. 277–278.

Bibliography

• 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. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
• Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.
• Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9330-8.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.