Thomas Lord

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This page relates to the English cricketer. For software developer see Tom Lord.

Thomas Lord (born in Thirsk, Yorkshire on 23 November 1755; died in West Meon, Hampshire on 13 January 1832) was an English cricketer most famous for founding Lord's cricket ground, the ground that is now known as the Home of Cricket and the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Lord himself played mainly for MCC and for various Middlesex teams. He is known to have begun playing about 1780 but his first recorded game was on his "own ground" (on the site of Dorset Square) on 31 May 1787 when he played for Middlesex v Essex. Lord has never been given much credit as a player but the match records of the 1790s indicate that he was a very good bowler, although it is true that his opposition was not always of the highest standard.

Dorset Square was not the first location of the 'Lords' cricket ground, that claim goes to the 'White Lion tea house' part of White Conduit Fields in Barnsbury Road, Islington (which was then part of the county of Middlesex) Thomas Lord was an Employee and Groundsman at this establishment and frequently participated in some of the ball games (incl. cricket) that took place at the Barnsbury Road venue

With the help of some of the patrons and regular attendees of the Barnsbury road venue, he (Thomas Lord) set up a Cricket team and club, he became one of the bowlers and the captain was Lord Winchester, after a few years they were forced to relocate to a bigger venue due to the 'riotous' behavior of the venues spectactors.

for more info visit http://www.lords.org/history/mcc-history/

Contents 1 Early life 2 Lord's first ground 3 Lord's second ground 4 Lord's third ground 5 Retirement 6 References 7 References

[edit] Early life

Lord's father was a Roman Catholic yeoman, who had his lands sequestered for supporting the Jacobite rising in 1745 and afterwards he had to work as a labourer. The Lord family later moved to Diss, Norfolk, where Thomas Lord was brought up. Once he was out of childhood Lord moved to London and got a job as a bowler and general attendant at the White Conduit Club.

[edit] Lord's first ground

In 1786 Lord was encouraged to start his own private ground by the Earl of Winchilsea and Charles Lennox, who went on to become the fourth Duke of Richmond, who offered Lord a guarantee against any losses he might suffer. In May 1787 Lord acquired seven acres (28,000 m²) off Dorset Square, London and started his first ground, where the Marylebone Cricket Club played its home matches.

The lease on the first ground ended in 1810.

[edit] Lord's second ground

Knowing that his lease on the first ground was due to expire shortly, Lord obtained an eighty-year lease on two fields, the Brick and Great Fields at North Bank, St John's Wood. The ground was built by 1809, when the first games were played there by St John's Wood Cricket Club, which was later merged into the Marylebone Cricket Club. In 1813 Parliament decided that the Regent's Canal should be cut through the centre of the ground, thereby necessitating a further move.

[edit] Lord's third ground

Lord then moved his ground to its present site, where it opened in 1814. Lord was not, however, making enough money. Lord therefore got permission to develop the ground for a building site - a move which would have left only 150 square yards of playing area. Thankfully for cricket-lovers the world over, Lord was bought out for £5,000 by William Ward, a director of the Bank of England and future Member of Parliament in 1825.

[edit] Retirement

Lord remained in St John's Wood till 1830, when he retired to West Meon in Hampshire, where he died in 1832. Lord's son, also Thomas Lord, and born in Marylebone on 27 December 1794, was also a keen cricketer.

[edit] References

• Lord's 1787-1945 by Sir Pelham Warner ISBN 1-85145-112-9
• Cricinfo page on Thomas Lord
• Cricket Archive page on Thomas Lord's son, also called Thomas Lord

[edit] References

• A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley;
• Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications;
• At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 – 1751 by F S Ashley-Cooper in Cricket Magazine (1900) (ASW);
• Cricket: History of its Growth and Development by Rowland Bowen;
• Cricket Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS);
• Chertsey Cricket Club website;
• Dartford Cricket Club website (DCC);
• Early Kent Cricketers by John Goulstone (EKC);
• Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18);
• Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV);
• From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT);
• Hambledon Cricket Chronicle by F S Ashley-Cooper (HCC);
• Hambledon: Men and Myths by John Goulstone (HMM);
• Kent Cricket Matches by F S Ashley-Cooper (KCM);
• Pre-Victorian Sussex Cricket by HF & AP Squire (PVSC);
• Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn);
• Start of Play by David Underdown;
• Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century by Timothy J McCann (TJM);
• The Cricketer magazine (Cktr);
• The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC);
• The Glory Days of Cricket by Ashley Mote;
• John Nyren's The Cricketers of my Time by Ashley Mote;
• Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual): various issues