John Nyren (15 December 1764 – 30 June 1837) was an English

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 and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. Nyren made 16 known appearances in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

from 1787 to 1817. He achieved lasting fame as the author of '' The Cricketers of My Time'', which was first published in 1832 as a serial in a periodical called ''The Town'' and was then included in ''The Young Cricketer's Tutor'', published in 1833 by Effingham Wilson of London. Nyren's collaborator in the work was

Charles Cowden Clarke Charles Cowden Clarke (15 December 1787 – 13 March 1877) was an English author who was best known for his books on Shakespeare. He was also known for his compilation of poems as well as his edition of ''The Canterbury Tales'', which was rende ...

Family and background

Nyren was the son of

Richard Nyren Richard Nyren (1734 – 1797) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket during the heyday of the Hambledon Club. A genuine all-rounder and the earliest known left-hander of note, Nyren was the captain of Hampshire when ...

, the captain 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 ...

in its "glory days". He was brought up in the Bat and Ball Inn, where his father was the landlord, immediately opposite

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, ...

, about a mile from Hambledon village where he was born.Mote, pp. 140–142.

Cricket career

Nyren, who was a left-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and left-handed fieldsman, played for the Hambledon Club from 1778 until 1791. E. V. Lucas, "John Nyren", in ''Cricket All His Life'', Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1950, pp. 99–112. He was described as "standing nearly 6 ft, of large proportions throughout, big-boned, strong and active". He is first recorded in first-class cricket in 1787, around the time his father retired from the game, and he played occasionally until 1817. He played for the Gentlemen in the inaugural and second

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

matches in 1806.CricketArchive – Gentlemen v Players 1806 (II)
/ref> Although he was a fine fieldsman, his playing career was not distinguished and he would now be remembered only as the son of a famous father if he had not turned his hand to literature in his old age.

Writing career

In 1832, Nyren was living in London when he began his collaboration with Cowden Clarke, who recorded Nyren's reminiscences of the Hambledon era and published them serially in ''The Town'' as ''The Cricketers of My Time''. The following year, the series with some modifications appeared as part of an instructional book entitled ''The Young Cricketer's Tutor''. It became a major source for the history and personalities of Georgian cricket and also came to be regarded as the first classic in cricket's now rich literary history.Altham, p. 39–40.

Personal life

As well as being a devotee of cricket, Nyren was a talented musician who played the violin and composed music. Some of his compositions were published by

Vincent Novello Vincent Novello (6 September 17819 August 1861), was an English musician and music publisher born in London. He was a chorister and organist, but he is best known for bringing to England many works now considered standards, and with his son he cr ...

, who was a close friend. For 13 years Nyren was the choir master at St Mary's,

Moorfields Moorfields was an open space, partly in the City of London, lying adjacent to – and outside – its northern wall, near the eponymous Moorgate. It was known for its marshy conditions, the result of the defensive wall acting like a dam, ...

, where Novello was the organist. Nyren married Cleopha Copp, aged 17, in 1791. They had two sons and five daughters, as well as two children who died in infancy. They lived first in Portsea, then in 1796 they moved to

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

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 ...

, and later lived in Battersea, London, then

Cheyne Walk Cheyne Walk is an historic road in Chelsea, London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It runs parallel with the River Thames. Before the construction of Chelsea Embankment reduced the width of the Thames here, it fronted ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, and finally moved back to Bromley to live in Bromley Palace, where Nyren died.

References

Bibliography

* H S Altham, ''A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)'', George Allen & Unwin, 1962 *

Ashley Mote Ashley Mote (25 January 1936 – 30 March 2020) was a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2004 to 2009. Elected representing the UK Independence Party, he became a non-inscrit one month into his term after ...

: ''The Glory Days of Cricket'', Robson, 1997 * John Nyren, ''The Cricketers of my Time'' (ed.

), Robson, 1998

External links

*
''The Hambledon Men''
including Nyren's ''The Young Cricketer's Tutor'' and ''The Cricketers of My Time'', digitised at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

English cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 Gentlemen cricketers Hampshire cricketers 1764 births 1837 deaths People from Hambledon, Hampshire Cricket historians and writers Hambledon cricketers Kent cricketers Homerton Cricket Club cricketers Lord Frederick Beauclerk's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club and Homerton cricketers {{England-cricket-bio-1760s-stub