Hambledon Club

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Monument about Hambledon Cricket Club at Broadhalfpenny Down

The origin of the famous Hambledon (Cricket) Club, of Hambledon in rural Hampshire, is shrouded in mystery and legend but the club had certainly been founded by 1768. Its basis was a local parish team that was in existence before 1750 and had achieved prominence by 1756 when it played a series of three matches versus Dartford, which had itself been a major club for at least 30 years. Hambledon's stature grew over the next 20 years till by the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.^[1] In spite of its relative remoteness, it had developed into a private club of noblemen and country gentry, for whom one of cricket's attractions was the opportunity it offered for betting. Although some of these occasionally played in matches, professional players were mainly employed. The club produced several famous players, for example: John Small, Thomas Brett, Richard Nyren, David Harris and Tom Walker. It was also the inspiration for the first significant cricket book: The Cricketers of My Time by John Nyren, the son of Richard Nyren.

1 County teams
2 The move from Broadhalfpenny Down to Windmill Down
3 The move from Hambledon to Marylebone
4 Club toast
5 New beginning
6 Notes
7 References

[edit] County teams

The Hambledon Club was essentially social and, as it was multi-functional, not really a cricket club as such. Rather it is seen as an organiser of matches. Arguments have taken place among historians about whether its teams should be termed Hampshire or Hambledon. A study of the sources indicates that the nomenclature changed frequently and both terms were applicable.

The subject is complicated by a reference in G B Buckley's FLPV re the Kent versus Hampshire & Sussex match at Guildford Bason on 26 & 28 August 1772. According to the source, "Hampshire & Sussex" was synonymous with "Hambledon Club”. It is interesting that Sussex cricket was not very prominent during the Hambledon period and this could have been because Hambledon operated a team effectively representing two counties. Certainly there were Sussex connections at Hambledon such as Bayton, Richard Nyren, William Barber and Noah Mann.

[edit] The move from Broadhalfpenny Down to Windmill Down

In 1782 the club moved from its original ground at Broadhalfpenny Down to Windmill Down. Richard Nyren, the club's captain, had moved from the Bat and Ball Inn to the George Hotel, the headquarters of the club moving with him, and the new ground was more conveniently located in relation to the new HQ.^[2]

[edit] The move from Hambledon to Marylebone

Hambledon's great days ended in the 1780s with a shift in focus from the rural counties of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire to metropolitan London where Lord's was established by the new Marylebone Cricket Club in 1787. The last meeting was held on 21 September 1796 where the minutes read only that "No Gentlemen were present".

[edit] Club toast

The club had a famous round of six toasts:

6. The Queen's mother

5. Her (His) Majesty the Queen (King)

4. The Hambledon Club

3. Cricket

2. The Immortal Memory of Madge

1. The President.

The enigmatic "Madge" is a "what", not a "who". Indeed, it is believed to be a common, but crude, contemporary reference to the vagina.^[3]

[edit] New beginning

In 1999 some people local to Hambledon restarted the club. A description of the revival and, indeed, the whole history of the Hambledon Club can be read in The Glory Days of Cricket by Ashley Mote.

The original ground is at Broadhalfpenny Down, opposite the Bat and Ball Inn, in Hyden Farm Lane, Clanfield, where now the Broadhalfpenny Brigands Cricket Club play.

The current 'Hambledon Cricket Club' ground is nearer Hambledon village at Ridge Meadow, just off the road to Broadhalfpenny Down, about half a mile from the village.

[edit] Notes

^ According to John Leach, In the Mists of Time (3rd ed., 2005), the Artillery Ground, home of "the original London Club" from 1730 or earlier, "became the featured venue of all London cricket until about 1765, after which the focus shifted to Hambledon and the London Club disbanded."
^ Hambledon village website
^ The meaning of "Madge" is explained by Rowland Bowen in his Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, pp. 63–64. According to John Arlott, the meaning of "Madge" was uncovered in the 1950s, from Francis Grose's A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), to be "the private parts of a woman". (Arlott on Cricket, edited by David Rayvern Allen, Fontana/Collins, 1985 edition, ISBN 0-00-637007-1, p10.)