Harry Peckham (1740 – 10 January 1787) was a
King's Counsel, judge and sportsman who toured Europe and wrote a series of letters which are still being published over 200 years later. Peckham was a member of the committee that drew up early laws of
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 str ...
[ including the first inclusion of the ]leg before wicket
Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead in ...
(lbw) rule.[ The diarist ]James Woodforde
James Woodforde (1740–1803) was an English clergyman, mainly in Somerset and Norfolk, remembered as the author of ''The Diary of a Country Parson''. This vivid account of parish life remained unpublished until the 20th century.
Early life
Ja ...
makes reference to Peckham playing cricket at Oxford in 1760.[ and he was still playing in 1771.
]
Biography
Peckham was the only son of the Reverend Henry Peckham (1712-1795), then curate of Edburton but later rector of Amberley and of Tangmere, by his wife Sarah (1702-1784), daughter of Thomas Norton of Hurstpierpoint
Hurstpierpoint is a village in West Sussex, England, southwest of Burgess Hill, and west of Hassocks railway station. It sits in the civil parish of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common which has an area of 2029.88 ha and a population ...
. He had two younger sisters: Sarah (1742-1819), who in 1784 married the Reverend George Parker Farhill, and Fanny who only lived a few days in 1744. He was christened in his mother's church of the Holy Trinity, Hurstpierpoint, on 7 August 1740. Sir Thomas Peckham was his first cousin once removed and Henry Peckham (MP for Chichester) a first cousin three times removed.
He was a contemporary of diarist James Woodforde
James Woodforde (1740–1803) was an English clergyman, mainly in Somerset and Norfolk, remembered as the author of ''The Diary of a Country Parson''. This vivid account of parish life remained unpublished until the 20th century.
Early life
Ja ...
at school ( Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...
) and at New College, Oxford, where he was also a friend of Francis Noel Clarke Mundy
Francis Noel Clarke Mundy (15 August 1739 – 23 October 1815) was an English poet, landowner, magistrate and, in 1772, Sheriff of Derbyshire. His most noted poem was written to defend Needwood Forest which was enclosed at the beginning of ...
.[Harry Peckham & Martin Brayne (editor)]
''The Tour of Holland, Dutch Brabant, the Austrian Netherlands, and Part of France; in which is included a Description of Paris and its Environs''
(first edn 1772), October 2008; Woodforde makes reference to Peckham playing cricket at Oxford in 1760 and 1761.[R. L. Winstanley, ''The Diary of James Woodforde, Vol. 1 (1759-1762)'' (1979).]
Peckham was a member of the private ''Markeaton Hunt''. In 1762–63, his friend Mundy commissioned a set of six portraits. Each of the subjects was in the distinctive dress of the Markeaton Hunt, consisting of a blue coat over a scarlet waistcoat and yellow breeches. Peckham sat for one of these paintings. The paintings hung at Mundy's ancestral home, Markeaton Hall. As well as the Wright portrait, Peckham sat for Romney and one canvas in the possession of Chichester City Council which hangs in the Chichester Council House. Another canvas, now classed as « after Romney », is in the Royal Collection.
Peckham entered Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
in 1764 and was called on 29 January 1768.[ In the same year he toured through ]Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
, The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, Antwerp, Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
, Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, Rouen, and Calais. His letters home were published by George Kearsley among a number of travel books Kearsley published in London. Peckham's writings were and are still considered witty and interesting.[
His book records a view of Europe before the political upheavals and is considered to give a Whiggish view of how the Netherlands was a successful outcome of the union of liberty, commerce and Protestantism.
The first edition of his book in 1772 was anonymous and only the fourth posthumous edition of 1788 was attributed to Peckham.
Peckham continued to play cricket as it seems likely that he was the "Mr Peckam ic jun" who played for the Gentlemen of Sussex against the Gentlemen of Hampshire at ]Broadhalfpenny Down
Broadhalfpenny Down (pronounced /ˌbrɔ:dˈheɪpniː/; '' brawd-HAYP-nee'') is a historic cricket ground in Hambledon, Hampshire. It is known as the "Cradle of Cricket" because it was the home venue in the 18th century of the Hambledon Club, ...
on 20 August 1771.
In 1774, Peckham sat on the committee that formulated some early 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 ...
. They were settled and revised at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall on Friday 25 February 1774. The meeting was chaired by Sir William Draper and the committee included the Duke of Dorset
Duke of Dorset was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1720 for the politician Lionel Sackville, 7th Earl of Dorset.
History
The Sackville family descended from Sir Richard Sackville. His only surviving son, Thomas S ...
, the Earl of Tankerville
Earl of Tankerville is a noble title drawn from Tancarville in Normandy. The title has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England, and once (in 1714) in the Peerage of Great Britain for Charles Bennet, 2nd Baron Ossulston. His ...
and other "Noblemen and Gentlemen of Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
, and London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
". This meeting agreed one of the earlier sets of cricket rules and is acknowledged as being the first where the leg before wicket
Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead in ...
rule was introduced.["Pall Mall, South Side, Past Buildings: Nos 94–95 Pall Mall: The Star and Garter"]
''Survey of London'': volumes 29 and 30: St James Westminster, Part 1 (1960), pp. 351–352. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
In 1781, Peckham was junior counsel to the former attorney-general John Dunning in the unsuccessful defence of François Henri de la Motte accused of supplying naval secrets to the French.
The trial can be accessed here.
Dunning was taken ill during the trial and Peckham found himself having to conduct the defence in a case that is said to have been the inspiration for the trial of Charles Darnay
Charles Darnay, Charles D'Aulnais or Charles St. Evrémonde is a fictional character in the 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities'' by Charles Dickens.
Overview
Darnay is a wealthy gentleman who spends time in both France and England during the time o ...
in the Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
novel ''A Tale of Two Cities''.
On 22 May 1783, Peckham wrote to the prime minister 3rd Duke of Portland
William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, (14 April 173830 October 1809) was a British Whig and then a Tory politician during the late Georgian era. He served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford (1792–1809) ...
from the Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...
thanking him for his 'Interposition in my favour'. He was called to the bench on 20 June 1783.[ Once eligible as a judge, he was appointed Recorder of Chichester, a post he held until his death on 10 January 1787 after a fall from his horse while hunting on the estate of the Duke of Richmond at Goodwood. His burial at the Temple Church was on 19 January 1787.
He was survived by his father, who was his executor, by his sister and by his illegitimate daughter, Sarah, born 3 May 1771. His will dated 29 September 1784 was proved on 12 April 1787.
In it, he appointed three guardians for his daughter, one being his sister Sarah. The young woman objected to being under the tutelage of her aunt and in the Chancery case of Peckham v Peckham Cox, 46the Lord Chancellor agreed. Her subsequent career is so far unknown.
His name was added to a white marble monument erected on the north wall of ]Chichester Cathedral
Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of ...
, noting that he was Recorder of Chichester. This monument had been created for Peckham's parents by his sister, Sarah Farhill.["Chichester cathedral: The eastern arm"]
''A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 3'' (1935), pp. 116-126. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
Mrs Farhill was anxious to keep the name of Peckham alive and made her second cousin once removed, Charles Peckham Smith (1801-1873), her legatee if he would assume the name and arms of Peckham. This he did in 1820, becoming Charles Peckham Peckham.[John Burke, Bernard Burke 1842 «A General Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland » at https://books.google.co.uk/books. Retrieved 17 October 2015]
Major works
''Harry Peckham's Tour''
Harry Peckham & Martin Brayne (editor), The History Press
The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...
,
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peckham, Harry
1740 births
1787 deaths
People educated at Winchester College
Alumni of New College, Oxford
English barristers
English cricket administrators
Paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby