The 1741 English cricket season was the 45th

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 ...

season since the earliest recorded eleven-a-side match was played. Details have survived of nine significant matches, including the first known appearance of Slindon Cricket Club. The earliest known tie in an eleven-a-side match occurred.

Recorded matches

Records have survived of nine significant matches:ACS, p.21.Other matches in England 1741
CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 January 2019. A single-wicket match was played on 8 June between five players of

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 ...

and five of Surrey at the

Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, cricket, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Com ...

for £20 a side. The result is unknown.

Other events

The earliest known match in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

took place on 10 August involving

and a team from

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. The match was hosted by

John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, (30 September 17105 January 1771) was an 18th-century British statesman.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peer ...

, who captained Bedfordshire. The Northants/Hunts team included its patrons

George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, (6 October 1716 – 8 June 1771) was a British statesman of the Georgian era. Due to his success in extending commerce in the Americas, he became known as the "father of the colonies". President of th ...

(Northants) and

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, PC, FRS (13 November 1718 – 30 April 1792) was a British statesman who succeeded his grandfather Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich as the Earl of Sandwich in 1729, at the age of ten. During his life ...

(Hunts).Maun, pp.106–107. A further match followed between the two teams at Cow Meadow, Northampton on 15 August which is the earliest known match in

.Man, p.106. There was a match at

Wotton Underwood Wotton Underwood is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, north of Thame, Oxfordshire. The toponym is derived from the Old English for "farm near a wood". It is recorded in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' of AD 848 as ''Wudotu ...

in Buckinghamshire that was reportedly attended by 6,000 people. Details, including the date, are unknown except that the patrons were the

Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...

(who lost) and Richard Grenville. Among the main primary sources for the events of the 1741 season are letters written by

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 ...

and his wife Duchess Sarah. The Duchess took a keen interest in all the Duke's doings including his cricket. Several references and letters written by her, including some financial accounts, have survived. In other letters to

Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, (21 July 169317 November 1768) was a British Whig statesman who served as the 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Great Britain, his official life extended ...

, the Duke spoke about a game on 28 July which resulted in a brawl with "hearty blows" and "broken heads." The game was at

Portslade Portslade is a western suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century. The arrival of the railway from Brighton in 1840 encouraged rapid de ...

between Slindon and unnamed opponents.McCann, p.20.

First mentions

Counties

* Buckinghamshire

Clubs and teams

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

* Slindon Cricket ClubMain, p.99.

Players

(Bedfordshire) *

(Northamptonshire) *

(Huntingdonshire) * Richard Grenville (Buckinghamshire)

Venues

Charlwood Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately northwest of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Surre ...

* Cow Meadow, Northampton *

Stansted Park Stansted Park (including Stansted House) is an Edwardian country house in the parish of Stoughton, West Sussex, England. It is near the city of Chichester, and also the village of Rowlands Castle to the west over the border in Hampshire. The ...

* Woburn Park

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *