In its first full season after foundation, William Clarke's All-England Eleven played a programme of fixtures across the north and midlands — the first systematic national cricket tour ever organised. Sides of 18 or 22 local players were engaged at Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool, Stockton and Derby; the eleven won the great majority of fixtures and drew crowds of three to five thousand at most venues.
Cricket's geographical reach in 1847 was uneven. London, Kent, Sussex and parts of Hampshire had a thriving cricket culture; the north, the midlands and the west had clubs and grounds but rarely saw the leading players. The new railway network was beginning to make cross-country travel possible for the first time.
After the success of the 1846 inaugural matches, Clarke spent the winter writing to ground proprietors and clubs across the country. By the spring of 1847 a fixture list of around 25 matches had been compiled.
The 1847 tour established the pattern that the AEE would follow for the next decade. Clarke arranged each fixture in advance with a local club, which guaranteed a fee of £55 to £70 and provided the ground; in return the local club fielded an 18 or 22 (the eleven faced numerical odds in every match) and took the gate. The eleven travelled by stage-coach and the new railway network — the Midland Railway had just been formed and was opening up cross-country routes — and played two or three matches a week. Clarke himself, bowling lobs at the age of 49, took the bulk of the wickets; Pilch, Felix and Guy carried the batting; Tom Sewell senior and George Parr (joining the side in 1847) provided the support. The eleven won the great majority of its fixtures, often by an innings, but the local sides occasionally pulled off upsets that fed the gate at the next encounter. The crucial outcome was the spread of high-class cricket: Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Stockton and a dozen other towns saw the leading professionals play for the first time. The tour seeded the formation of local cricket clubs in every town it visited.
Winter 1846-47: Clarke arranges fixtures across the north and midlands
Spring 1847: 25-match fixture list confirmed
May-Sept 1847: AEE plays at Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool, Stockton, Derby and other venues
Eleven wins majority of fixtures, often by an innings
Crowds of 3,000-5,000 at most northern venues
Local clubs founded or strengthened in towns that hosted the eleven
Winter 1846-47
Fixture list compiled
May 1847
Tour begins
Summer 1847
Fixtures across northern and midland venues
Sept 1847
Tour ends with majority of matches won
The tour was a financial success. Clarke expanded the schedule for 1848 and 1849, and by 1850 the AEE was playing 30 matches a season. The seeded clubs grew rapidly: Manchester Cricket Club, Stockton, Newcastle and others trace their first golden age to AEE visits.
The tour that turned cricket from a southern English game into a national one and proved that a country-wide professional fixture list could be financially viable.
The 1847 tour is the conventional starting point for cricket's spread beyond the south of England. Lancashire CCC (1864), Yorkshire CCC (1863), Derbyshire (1870) and most other northern county clubs descended in part from the local enthusiasm AEE visits had generated.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.