Richard Leigh (dates unknown) was an 18th-century

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

businessman and

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 ran his own R. Leigh's XI cricket team in nine first-class matches 1793–95. His son, also Richard Leigh, played first-class cricket in the 1800s but there is no record of Leigh senior having done so. Leigh, who resided at Wilmington, near

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

, was an elected (1793) member of the

Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England. Foundation The origin of the club, based near Hambledon in rural Hampshire, ...

and an early member of

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC).Ashley-Cooper, p. 152. He was such a prominent match organiser in the 1790s that the Duchess of Gordon reportedly said to him: "Though I am the first, you are the second match-maker in England, Mr Leigh".

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External links

CricketArchive re R. Leigh's XI
Cricket patrons English cricket in the 18th century English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 People from Wilmington, Kent Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{England-cricket-bio-stub