Lord John Philip Sackville (22 June 1713 – 3 December 1765) was the second son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. He was a keen

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 ...

er who was closely connected with the sport in

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 ...

. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth from 1734 to 1747.

Cricket career

Sackville was first recorded as a cricketer in 1734 when he and his brother, Lord Middlesex, played for a Kent side against one from Sussex at

Sevenoaks Vine The Vine Cricket Ground, also known as Sevenoaks Vine, is one of the oldest cricket venues in England. It was given to the town of Sevenoaks in Kent in 1773 by John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (1745–1799) and owner of nearby Knole ...

H T Waghorn Henry Thomas Waghorn (11 April 1842 – 30 January 1930), was a cricket statistician and historian. He is best known for his two classic researches into cricket's early history: ''The Dawn of Cricket'' and Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730 - 1773 ...

, ''Cricket Scores, Notes, etc.'' (1730–1773), Blackwood, 1899 Timothy J McCann, ''Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century'', Sussex Record Society, 2004 In August 1735, Sackville captained Kent to victory against Sir William Gage's Sussex side on the same ground. He became the main patron of the Kent team and captained the side in many matches until 1745, but he is not mentioned after that. In 1739, he played for

London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed in 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades, holding important match status. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of i ...

. In 1744 Sackville challenged an England side to play against his team. Kent won, in part thanks to Sackville himself taking a catch to dismiss Richard Newland. The catch was eulogised in ''Cricket, An Heroic Poem'' (1745) by James Love. The match details were recorded and preserved in what is now cricket's second oldest known scorecard.

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

, ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 1'' (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862

Family and personal life

Sackville was a notorious rake in his youth. He was compelled to marry Lady Frances Leveson-Gower, daughter of

John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower, PC (10 August 1694 – 25 December 1754), was an English Tory politician and peer who twice served as Lord Privy Seal from 1742 to 1743 and 1744 to 1754. Leveson-Gower is best known for his political caree ...

and sister of the

Duchess of Bedford {{Notability, date=September 2022 Duchess of Bedford is a title given to the wife of the Duke of Bedford, an extant title in the peerage of England which was first created in 1414. Duchesses of Bedford ;1st creation (1414) * Anne of Burgundy (140 ...

in 1744, after she gave birth to his child at Woburn. They eventually had two sons and one daughter. The couple's parents were furious, and the Prince of Wales compensated Sackville for any loss of income, making him a lord of his bedchamber in 1745, and thus securing him as a recruit to his party.''History of Parliament'' Two of Sackville's children were: * John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (25 March 1745 – 19 July 1799). * Mary Sackville (b. 1 April 1746). Married Sackville Tufton, 8th Earl of Thanet in 1767. Sackville was also disappointed when Lord Wilmington the late Prime Minister (d. 1743) declined to leave him his Sussex estates, worth £3-£4,000 a year. It is not clear if Wilmington's decision was made because of Sackville's messy private life, or his political inconstancy. Commissioned a captain in the

37th Regiment of Foot The 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in Ireland in February 1702. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot to become the Hampshire ...

in 1734, he became a captain and lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd Regiment of Foot Guards on 1 May 1740. He disgraced himself by deserting from the Guards when they were sent on foreign service in 1746, and was forced to leave the Army in September. Finally, he was committed to a private lunatic asylum circa 1746, then sent abroad to exile on a very small allowance in Lausanne where Lord Shelburne met him in 1760, and commented on his dirty condition but lucid conversation. According to his descendant Robert Sackville-West, 7th Baron Sackville in his book ''Inheritance'' he became insane later in life, dying in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Switzerland, aged 52. However, his brother lived long enough to allow John Philip's son to inherit his title and become the next Duke of Dorset.

References

Bibliography

* F S Ashley-Cooper, ''At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742–1751'', ''Cricket'' Magazine, 1900 * G B Buckley, ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'', Cotterell, 1935 *

, ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 1'' (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862 * Timothy J McCann, ''Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century'', Sussex Record Society, 2004 *

, ''Cricket Scores, Notes, etc.'' (1730–1773), Blackwood, 1899

External links

SACKVILLE, Lord John Philip (1713–65
Published in ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715–1754'', ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sackville, John Philip 1713 births 1765 deaths Cricket patrons English cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 Kent cricketers Younger sons of dukes Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

18th-century philanthropists 37th Regiment of Foot officers Coldstream Guards officers