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foot of page A grand match will be played | It were all fields round here | Je ne sais quoi... | Matches Finale |
A grand match will be played
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Déjà Vu! The plaque is in Dorset Square, to commemorate the original Lord's ground. |
"A grand match will be played on Monday, 21 May in the New Cricket Ground, the New Road, Mary-le-bone (sic), between eleven Noblemen of the White Conduit Club and eleven Gentlemen of the County of Middlesex with two men given, for 500 guineas a side. The wickets to be pitched at ten o'clock, and the match to be played out".
The match was not reported afterwards, but the notice tells us all we need to know. As G. B. Buckley said, it was "apparently the first match to be played on Thomas Lord's new ground".
It's a little ironic that what was then called the New Cricket Ground is now known as Lord's Old Ground! It was in use from 1787 to 1810 when, because of a rent dispute, Lord upped sticks (and his turf!) to open his Middle Ground at North Bank. He had to quit that one in 1813 because it was on the route of the Regent's Canal. The present Lord's in St John's Wood opened in 1814.
Okay, so that was the future of the ground, but what about the teams in this "grand match"? We may assume the players were all members of the jolly good chap fraternity apart, perhaps, from the two given men. And one of those two could well have been Thomas Lord himself! It's no surprise that one of the teams should be a Middlesex combination, but what was the White Conduit Club?
Well, although short-lived, White Conduit was one of the most significant clubs in cricket history. It bridged the gulf between the rural and rustic Hambledon era, and the new, modern, metropolitan era of Marylebone Cricket Club and Lord's, the two entities that it spawned. In Scores & Biographies, Arthur Haygarth commented: "There are only a few recorded matches of the White Conduit Club. The Marylebone Club was formed in 1787 from its members. The date of the formation of the White Conduit could not be found". We still don't know exactly when it was formed, but probably in 1782.
It were all fields round here
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| White Conduit House in the early 18th century |
The house and fields are long gone, but we know the house was where Barnsbury Road meets Dewey Road in modern Islington. There's a pub there now. The cricket field is believed to have been within the bounds of Barnsbury Road (west), Tolpuddle Street (south), and Liverpool Road (east). A northern boundary is difficult to ascertain. The whole area has been built on, so there aren't any fields round there any more.
Je ne sais quoi...
It literally means "I don't know what", and it's supposed to be complimentary—as when you say that someone like an attractive woman, maybe, has a certain "je ne sais quoi". In 18th century London, there was a convivial club of sorts called the Je-ne-sais-quoi. It was based in the West End, and may have been a precursor of, or at least affiliated to, the Star and Garter. That was the club, at its meeting place on Pall Mall, which drafted the earliest written Laws of Cricket in 1744, and again in 1774.
There's a very good book by Pelham Warner called Lord's 1787–1945 (1945). In this, he cites an earlier work by A. D. Taylor (1903), and says the White Conduit Club was formed in 1782 as an offshoot of the Je-ne-sais-quoi, some of whose members took to frequenting White Conduit House and playing their matches there in the adjoining fields.
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| Thomas Lord |
It remains an enigma, but there is little doubt that Je-ne-sais-quoi was a reincarnation of the long-standing "noblemen's and gentlemen's club" that had fingered several pies through the 18th century. As well as drafting the Laws of Cricket, the same people were involved in the organisation of prizefighting and horse racing. In the latter context, it was they who formed the Jockey Club in 1752.
These people had been the mainstay of the old London Club which played at the Artillery Ground. When that fell into disrepute, and the Hambledon glory days began, many of the members joined the Hambledon Club, but still hankered for a suitable base in the London area. White Conduit Fields was ideal in many respects except, as we shall see, that it did not afford sufficient privacy for the "honourable gentlemen". The prime movers in this shift back to London, which marked the end of the Hambledon Era, were George Finch, who was the 9th Earl of Winchilsea; and Colonel Charles Lennox, who became the 4th Duke of Richmond.
So, White Conduit led the sport out of Hambledon, and then relocated it in Marylebone.
Matches
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George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea |
The game on 27 May was "A grand Cricket Match" (is grand better than great?). Again, it was almost certainly a White Conduit match against unknown opponents. A report names eight players as "the Duke of Dorset, Lord Winchilsea, Lord Talbot, Col. Tarleton, Mr Howe, Mr Damer, the Hon. Mr Lennox and the Rev. Mr Williams". It says nothing of the play but does tell us that a pavilion was erected for refreshments, and that a number of ladies attended!
The single wicket event in July was between Colonel Tarleton and Captain Monson. It was "determined in favour of the latter". Afterwards, a seven-a-side match was played, evidently a time-filling friendly, and it featured a partnership of 116 between Colonel Lennox and Captain Monson.
In 1785, White Conduit was named at last, and played two matches against the Gentlemen of Kent. The first was on 20 June at Sevenoaks Vine and reported as: "A grand match of cricket between 11 gentlemen of the White Conduit Club, London, against 11 gentlemen of Kent, which was won by the latter, by 104 runs". The return was in Islington ten days later, and White Conduit won by 304 runs.
There were two matches in 1786, both against Kent, and these were definitely top-class. The first was in Islington over three days from 22 to 24 June, the return at Bishopsbourne Paddock over five days from 8 to 12 August. The teams in White Conduit's home match were evenly split between amateurs and professionals, five of the former and six of the latter. White Conduit had six given men who were all leading professionals: Lumpy Stevens (Chertsey), John Small, Noah Mann, Tom Taylor, Tom Walker, and Richard Purchase (all Hambledon). The amateurs were all reasonably good players: Winchilsea, Lennox, George Monson, John Dampier, and George Boult. The two legends, Lumpy and Small, were 51 and 49 by this time, but they were still formidable opponents, as Kent would find out. Kent had only one given man: Richard Francis of Hambledon. Their other five pros were all Kent players: James Aylward, William Bullen, Joey Ring, Robert Clifford, and John Boorman. The Kent amateurs, who were arguably a notch or two better than the White Conduit ones, were Edward Hussey, Richard Hosmer, Richard Stanford, Stephen Amherst, and Isaac Hatch.
So, two very good teams assembled on White Conduit Fields, and they produced an evident nail-biter of a contest over the three days of play. We only know the scorecard details, plus Haygarth's wry comment that these were not in batting order because they named the amateurs first. White Conduit batted first and made 103 (Taylor 33). Bullen and Clifford took two bowled wickets each, and the other six were all catches credited to the fielder alone. In reply, Bullen and Hosmer scored 26 apiece, and Kent made 121 for a first innings lead of 18. Lumpy bowled two, and Purchase one; plus six catches and a run out. In the second innings, "star of the first magnitude" Small made the highest score of the match, which was also his age. He scored 49, and was then one of three bowled out by Clifford. Small may have had some support from Monson, who scored 26 before he was caught by Clifford. Boorman took one wicket, and there were six catches.
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Map of Islington in 1805. Note the cricket field, centre left, and White Conduit House directly below it. |
The match at Bishopsbourne was much less of a contest, and White Conduit won by 164 runs. Even so, there was almost a piece of history there because the dogged and stubborn Tom Walker, known as "Old Everlasting", fought his way to scores of 95* and 102. He was that close to becoming the first batsman ever to score two centuries in a match. In the second innings, he was outscored by his Hambledon colleague Tom Taylor, who made 117. The centuries by Walker and Taylor are the first known instance of two players scoring centuries in the same match, let alone the same innings. Although it cannot be confirmed, it is possible they shared a 200-plus partnership. These were the third and fourth centuries in recorded top-class cricket, following the previous hundreds by John Small and James Aylward, who were both playing in this game.
White Conduit again had six professionals as given men, but with one massive difference in that Richard Purchase stepped aside for the great David Harris. Again, we don't know who was bowling when the catches were held, but Harris bowled three out in the first innings, and three more in the second, so he took at least six wickets in the match. White Conduit, batting first, scored 183 and 296. Kent in reply made 218 and 97.
As we have already seen, White Conduit played against Middlesex at the original Lord's ground in May 1787, the first match known to have been played there. Thomas Lord was possibly involved as one of the given men. He was a professional bowler of some repute, which is why White Conduit employed him, but he was also known for his business acumen. White Conduit may well have continued to play in Islington, but for the fact that the fields were an open area of common land. To the consternation of the jolly good chaps, this meant members of the hoi polloi could venture into the area, including the rowdier elements. Bad show, what!
As must be expected, people watching the matches began to voice their opinions on the play and the players. Given that the club was "gentlemen only", and its team was therefore lacking quality, most of the off-field comments were, well, negative and sometimes abusive. The chappery were were not amused by such home-truths, and decided to look for a more private venue of their own. This was where Lord came into his own.
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| MCC logo today |
Since the ground was in Marylebone, the WCC on relocating there decided to call themselves Marylebone Cricket Club, although the exact date is unknown. 1787 is the accepted year given the golden jubilee of the club in 1837. It should really have been the golden jubilee of Lord's only for that was new, although its location had changed twice by 1837. MCC, as noted above, was not a new club at all. It was a long existing club that had relocated to Marylebone, and had then changed its name to match its new location.
The first known match played by this club under its new name took place at Lord's on Monday, 30 July 1787. According to The World dated Friday, 27 July 1787:
"On Monday, 30 July will be played (at Lord's) a match between 11 gentlemen of the Mary-le-bone Club and 11 gentlemen of the Islington Club".
This was the first time that mention was made of "the Mary-le-bone Club". Ironically, given that MCC ensured tighter organisation of the sport from then on, including diligent record-keeping, the scorecards of the two historic inaugural matches (the first-ever at Lord's and the first-ever involving MCC) have not survived.
The White Conduit Club disappeared in the aftermath of MCC's founding, and the fields also disappeared under increasing urbanisation as London grew to swallow Islington whole. For the record, White Conduit is known to have played at least eleven matches between 1785 and 1788. The last, ironically, was on 27 June 1788 against MCC at Lord's Old Ground. The White Conduit team contained several unknown players. MCC won by 83 runs, and White Conduit played no more. Having said that, it's possible that a remnant of the club continued to play at White Conduit Fields for a time.
Finale
The following made the most appearances for White Conduit Club in its seven matches from which the scorecards have survived:
| apps | name | teams |
| 7 | George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea | MCC |
| 6 | Sir Peter Burrell | Kent |
| John Dampier | White Conduit only | |
| 5 | Gilbert East | Berkshire |
| 4 | G. Drummond | Surrey |
| Richard Newman | MCC, Essex, Kent | |
| George Talbot | MCC | |
| J. Wyatt | Essex | |
| 3 | Colonel Charles Lennox | MCC |
| John Peachey | White Conduit only | |
| Lumpy Stevens | Chertsey, Surrey | |
| Tom Taylor | Hambledon, Hampshire | |
| Tom Walker | Hambledon, Hampshire, Surrey |
The opening of Lord's and the foundation of (or reorganisation of the club as) MCC in 1787 ended what H. T. Waghorn called "The Dawn of Cricket". Cricket's day had begun. The small but great rural clubs like Dartford, Chertsey, Addington, Slindon, and Hambledon were forced to stand aside as progress swept the game beyond their horizons. 1787 was the first great watershed in the game's history, and White Conduit provided the route along which it flowed from Hambledon to Marylebone.
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