Alan Brodrick, 2nd Viscount Midleton (31 January 1702 – 8 June 1747) was a British peer and significant

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

patron who was jointly responsible for creating the sport's earliest known written rules.

Cricket patronage

Midleton succeeded his father

Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton, PC (Ire) (c. 1656 – 29 August 1728) was a leading Irish lawyer and politician who sat in the Parliament of Ireland between 1692 and 1715 and in the British House of Commons from 1717 to 1728. He was Speake ...

in the viscountcy on 29 August 1728. Before succeeding he made his mark as a

patron by arranging important matches against his friend

Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duke of Aubigny, (18 May 17018 August 1750) of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was a British nobleman and politician. He was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmo ...

. Records have survived of two such games that took place in the 1727 season. These two games are highly significant because Richmond and Brodrick drew up Articles of Agreement beforehand to determine the rules that must apply in their contests. These were itemised in sixteen points. It is believed that this was the first time that rules (or some part of the rules as in this case) were formally agreed, although rules as such definitely existed. The first full codification of the

Laws of Cricket The ''Laws of Cricket'' is a code which specifies the rules of the game of cricket worldwide. The earliest known code was drafted in 1744 and, since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Lond ...

was done in 1744. In early times, the rules would be agreed orally and subject to local variations; this syndrome was also evident in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

until

the FA The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and ...

was founded, especially re the question of handling the ball. Essentially the articles of agreement were around residential qualifications and ensuring that there was no dissent by any player other than the two captains. One of Brodrick's matches against Richmond is believed to have been held at

Peper Harow Peper Harow is a rural village and civil parish in south-west Surrey close to the town of Godalming. It was a noted early cricket venue. Its easternmost fields are in part given up to the A3 trunk road. Location and history The name "Peper Haro ...

, the family seat of the Brodrick family, which is near

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settleme ...

. A local club still plays there and it is the location of a point-to-point racecourse.

Viscountcy and family

Brodrick was the son of

and his wife Lucy (''née'' Courthope), who died in 1703. His succession was unexpected since his elder half-brother

St John Brodrick (died 1728) The Honourable St John Brodrick (c. 1685 – 21 February 1728), was an Anglo-Irish politician who sat in the Irish House of Commons from 1709 to 1728 and in the British House of Commons from 1721 to 1727. Brodrick was a son of Alan Brodrick, ...

died only a few months before their father. He married Lady Mary Capel, daughter of

Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex PC (28 December 1670 – 10 January 1710, Watford) of Cassiobury House, Watford, Hertfordshire, was an English nobleman, a soldier and courtier. Origins He was the son of Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex ...

and Lady Mary Bentinck, on 7 May 1729. The 2nd Viscount was a Commissioner of the Customs and subsequently Joint Comptroller of British Army accounts.Marshall, p. 45. He in turn was succeeded by his son

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

as 3rd Viscount. The title is extant (in 2012) and held by Alan Henry Brodrick, 12th Viscount Midleton (b. 1949).

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brodrick, Alan 2nd Viscount Midleton 1702 births 1747 deaths Midleton, Alan Brodrick, 2nd Viscount Cricket patrons 18th-century philanthropists