1737 English cricket season - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

During the 1737 English cricket season, the London

London Cricket Club

The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.-Early history of London cricket:...

club was pre-eminent.

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result

15 June (W)	London London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.-Early history of London cricket:... & Surrey Surrey county cricket teams Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.-17th century:... v Kent Kent county cricket teams Kent county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Kent, jointly with Sussex, is the birthplace of the sport...	Kennington Common	Kent won by 40 runs
Scores are known: Kent 99 & 70-7 declared; Surrey 31 & 98. A woman in the crowd suffered a broken leg. The Prince of Wales, sponsoring London & Surrey, gave her a ten guinea compensation. Kent was sponsored by Lord John Philip Sackville.
6 July (W)	Kent v London & Surrey	Bromley Common Bromley Common Bromley Common is the area centered around the road of the same name, stretching between Masons Hill at the south end of Bromley and Hastings Road, Locksbottom. Part of the A21...	Kent won by an innings
Kent "maintained their honour, and beat their adversaries at one hands". The match was completed in a day. Cricket Scores reports the same fixture but has a non-specific date in June.
25 July (M)	London v Essex Essex county cricket teams Essex county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. It is almost certain that cricket reached Essex by the 16th century and that it developed during the 17th century with inter-parish matches being...	Artillery Ground Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...	London won by 45 runs
Reported by the General Evening Post on Tues 26 July.
27 July (W)	Surrey v London	Moulsey Hurst Moulsey Hurst Moulsey Hurst is located in what is now West Molesey, Surrey on the south bank of the River Thames above Molesey Lock. It is one of England's oldest sporting venues and was used in the 18th and 19th centuries for cricket, prizefighting and other sports....	result unknown
The match was organised by the Prince of Wales (Surrey) and the Duke of Marlborough (London) for £500 a side. It was announced by the General Evening Post on Thu 21 July but no report of the game has been found.
1 August (M)	Essex v London	Ilford Ilford Ilford is a large cosmopolitan town in East London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It forms a significant commercial and retail...	Essex won by 7 runs
This is the earliest known organised match definitely being played in Essex (though see 1724 season re Chingford v Stead’s XI). The report is in Read’s Weekly Journal dated Sat 6 August.
6 September (Tu)	London v Chertsey Chertsey Cricket Club Chertsey Cricket Club in Surrey is one of the oldest in England. Its own website dates its founding as 1737 but in fact matches involving a Chertsey team date from 1736....	Moulsey Hurst Moulsey Hurst Moulsey Hurst is located in what is now West Molesey, Surrey on the south bank of the River Thames above Molesey Lock. It is one of England's oldest sporting venues and was used in the 18th and 19th centuries for cricket, prizefighting and other sports....	London won by 5 wkts
Scores are known: Chertsey 45 & 66; London 81 & 31-5. Cricket Scores has two reports of the same game, one of them having a date in June, but the Fresh Light date is correct as the report was taken from the Grub Street Journal dated Thu 8 September. Cricket Scores reports that a Chertsey player broke a finger and this had a bearing on the result.
27 September (Tu)	London v Kent	Kennington Common	result unknown
The match was "betwixt the Gentlemen of Kent and the Gentlemen of London, within the Bills of Mortality".

Other events

May. There was a tragic incident in a match at Newick in Sussex when a player called John Boots was killed after he collided with his partner whilst going for a run. Both men were knocked down but got up again, only for Mr Boots to drop down dead as he was running to his wicket. This was recorded in a number of sources. Mr McCann found a reference in the West Sussex Records Office which named Mr Boots and said he was buried on Tues 31 May at Chailey. Chailey and Newick are neighbouring parishes just to the north of Lewes in East Sussex.

June. Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...

and Sir William Gage wagered a considerable sum on a match in Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

, London. This seems to have involved noblemen only.

The General Evening Post on Tues 2 August announced a game at Kew Green on Thu 4 August. The Prince of Wales was due to play and lead a team of noblemen against the London Cricket Club

London Cricket Club

, but it was probably members of the London Club rather than its professional players. Mr Buckley says it is doubtful if the match was ever played as Princess Augusta (1737 – 1813) was born on the Wednesday and this occasioned great celebrations. The Prince provided beer for the populace but "one lot of it was too bad to drink". However, Mr Buckley seems to be mistaken here as Princess Augusta was born on Wed 31 August. She was the elder sister of George III and became Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttell. She was the mother of Princess Caroline of Brunswick who made the famously ill-fated marriage with the future George IV in 1795.

There is mention of another "aristocrats only" game that apparently took place at Kew

Kew

Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...

in June. The captains were the Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales

and the Duke of Marlborough

Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough

Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough KG, PC , known as The Earl of Sunderland between 1729 and 1733, was a British soldier and politician. He briefly served as Lord Privy Seal in 1755...

Matches

Other events

External links

Further reading