1600s – The very early days

Overview

In his book on cricket history, More than a Game, John Major calls, the Seventeenth Century, the lost Century of Cricket. You can see why, records of cricket before 1700 are few and invariably disputed. In terms of a general picture, it can be said that there were growing instances of references to cricket as the century progressed and these were concentrated in the Weald – that is to say, the area between the North Downs and the South Downs in the counties of Sussex, Kent and Surrey. It is still sporadic though – there are no reports of matches, no accounts of technique, no surviving equipment, no paintings. What there is, is a few records from court proceedings of where cricketers offended against the law. This, clearly the tip of the iceberg, point to a game that was growing in recognition and popularity.

Also, it was finding its way into schools for the sons of aristocrats – Derek Birley speculates that it reached Winchester by 1647 and St Paul’s, London by 1665¹, and we know that is was adopted by what is now Stoneyhurst before 1600. Percy Thomas speculates that cricket may have reached the attention of the aristocracy in the Interregnum, the period when Cromwell was Great Protector, and the Aristocracy, being essentially persona non grata, retreated to their country retreats and perhaps saw more of rural entertainments. This may be the case, but the Stoneyhurst experience suggests that other forces were at work before then. I personally would suggest that it was that cricket games first came to the notice of the upper echelons via the school system and that is how their interest was sparked.

By the end of the century, we do have a record of a match played for stakes. The development of an elite game was under way. The timeline below includes 27 items and it is, as far as I am aware, a comprehensive list. It isn’t very much to go on.

Timeline

1611	Two young men fined for playing cricket on Sunday in Sidlesham, West Sussex.
1611	‘Crosse’ is defined in Randle Cotgrave’s French-English Dictionary as ‘a cricket staffe’ or the ‘crooked staff wherein boyes play at cricket’. Cotgrave went to St John’s College, Cambridge, in I587, and was in the Inner Temple ln 1591.
1613	An assault with a ‘cricket staffe’ in a court ease. the assault taking place at Wanborough, near Guildford.
1617	Oliver Cromwell, then aged 18, went to London and trained for a time at one of the Inns of Court. William Dugdale later recorded that Cromwell played cricket and football there. This is the earliest known reference to cricket in London. Somewhat ironic, given Cromwell’s later objection to sports of all kinds.
1622	A number of youths ‘playing at cricket in the churchyard’ at Boxgrove, West Sussex
1624	Inquest on Jasper Vinall, accidentally hit with a ‘cricket batt’ while trying to catch the ball – a group were playing cricket on Horsted Green, Sussex
1629	Henry Cuffin brought before the Archdeacon’s court for ‘playing at cricketts’ immediately after divine service. Cuffin was curate of Ruckinge, Kent and claimed that several of his fellow players were ‘persons of quality’
1636	Henry Mabbinck stated he played cricket ‘in the parke’, West Horsley, Surrey – a Court case re a tithe dispute.
1640	A court case involving land at Chevening, Kent, mentions cricket being played there ‘about 10 years since’.
1640	The Revd Thomas Wilson charged some cricketers with playing on a Sunday, smashing a window, endangering the life of a child, Maidstone, Kent.
1646	A court ease at Coxheath, near Maidstone, involving a match and betting on cricket,
1648	Court case about the death of Thomas Hatter, wounded when struck by a cricket bat at Selsey, West Sussex
1652	Court ease involving the playing of cricket in Cranbrook, Kent, involving John Rabson esq.
1654	Money received for misdemeanours by ‘Cricket players’ on the Lord’s Day, Eltham, Kent.
1656	Cricket banned in Ireland – Cromwell’s Commissioners clearly mistook hurling for cricket.
1658	Cricket-ball referred to as such for the first time, in a book by Edward Phillips (1630-1696), nephew of Milton. The book was published in London. Phillips was tutor to the son of the diarist John Evelyn, when the latter was living in Deptford.
1665	There is a reference to John Churchill, later the first Duke of Marlborough, playing cricket at St Paul’s school, London.
1666	‘He saw your son very well engaged in a game at cricquett on Richmond Green”‘ Letter from Sir Robert Paston, Richmond ln Surrey
1666	St Alban’s cricket club said to be formed. No evidence; probably a misread date – 1666 should be 1806.
1668	Reference to the sale of drink at cricket matches, ln Maidstone,
1668	Court case concerning the ‘playinge at crickett and strokebase, at Shoreham’ Kent.
1668	Landlord of the Ram Inn, Smithfield, rated for a Cricket Field – this is a misreading of the Clerkenwell Rate Book.
1671	Edward Bound charged with playing cricket on Sunday – exonerated’. Shere, Surrey.
1677	‘Pd to my Lord when his Lordship went to the crekitt match at ye Dicker.’ Dicker ln East Sussex. From the Earl of Sussex’s Accounts
1678	The first edition of Dr Adam Littleton’s Linguae Latinae Liber Dictlionarus’ Quadripartitus: A Latin Dictionary in Four Parts defines cricket as ‘a play’ ludus, Ludus baculi & pilae (game of stick and ball). He also defines the Latin word ,vibia’ as: ‘A pole or stick laid across on Forks, like the cricket-bar at bat-play” Littleton was educated at Westminster (and Christ Church, Oxford) and later taught at the school,
1694	‘2/6 pald for a wagger about a cricket match at Lewis,’ steward’s Accounts of Sir John Pelham, who lived at Halland, West Sussex’. The first solid evidence of gambling on cricket.
1697	‘The middle of last week a great match at Cricket was played in Sussex there were eleven of a side, and they played for fifty guineas apiece” Foreign Post,7 July. The first record of a match that we know was eleven-a-side.

Involvement of the aristocracy

A commonly held view is that cricket was a game played, maybe invented by boys that was taken up by village populations and and then appropriated by the aristocracy at the start of the Eighteenth Century. For example:

The appropriation of cricket by the gentry around the start of the eighteenth century shaped a new era in the game’s development. Their growing involvement initiated a fundamental shift in cricket’s social and cultural dynamics which altered general perceptions of the game.²

From the timeline above (and that of the prehistory of the game), it is clear that the monied classes were already taking an interest in the game. The 1629 incident mentions ‘persons of quality’. In 1652 John Rabson esq seems to be a member of the gentry. The 1655 reference has John Churchill playing cricket at St Paul’s School and the 1666 and 1667 references also involve the upper orders. It seems to me that there never was a time when cricket was confined to the rural working classes, something that may be explained by the education system which, while excluding the very highest and the poorest in society, was otherwise unsegregated. As I explain elsewhere, I think there is a possibility that cricket was devised in a structured way within the school system around 1550, possibly by a schoolteacher and spread from there and appealed to all classes of society.

The Interregnum and the Restoration

The interregnum is the period from 1649 and 1660 when the monarchy was in abeyance and when, for the most part, Oliver Cromwell ruled England as Lord Protector. Cromwell brought with him a Puritan philosophy which saw the playing of games of trivial and unnecessary. If such games games took place on a Sunday, they were positively sinful. The aristocracy kept a low profile during this period, retreating to their country estates, perhaps engaging more with the rural population, or perhaps not. Either way, this was not a great time for organised sport, as is seen by the number of presecutions.

After Cromwell’s Death, Charles was soon recalled from Continental Europe to become Charles II and the atmosphere of the country changed. Known as the Merrie Monarch, his accession to the throne was accompanied by general euphoria which encouraged activities such as sport, gambling and the return of the Aristocracy to the city. It has often been thought that they brought cricket with them, but John Major makes the point that there is no evidence of any cricket being played in London before 1700.³

Map of growth of cricket in the Seventeenth Century

This map is taken from The History of Cricket by Peter Wynne-Thomas (1997).

Footnotes

1. Birley page 10 ↩︎
2. Peter Davies (Author), Robert Light (2015) page 3 ↩︎
3. Major page 33 ↩︎