John Bligh, fourth Earl of Darnley, hosted a major England v Kent fixture on the lawn at Cobham Hall on 14-15 July 1807 — one of the last great patron-funded country-house matches of the underarm era. The young Ivo Bligh, who would as Lord Darnley a generation later bring the Ashes urn back from Australia, was a child of three watching from the terrace. The fixture is the Cobham Hall ground's most important first-class entry.
The Bligh family had hosted cricket at Cobham since at least the 1770s. The fourth Earl was the most active patron of his line.
The match was set up by correspondence between Bligh and Beauclerk in spring 1807. Both sides assembled in early July.
The Bligh family had patronised cricket on the Cobham estate since the eighteenth century, and the fourth Earl revived the practice in the early 1800s. The 1807 match was raised at his expense for stakes of 100 guineas. England, captained by Beauclerk, fielded a strong side; Kent, led by Bligh in person, included Tom Ray and the young John Hammond. The match was played on a strip below the south front of the hall — uneven by Lord's standards but well watered. England won by four wickets after Beauclerk's 41 in the second innings.
14 Jul 1807: Bligh wins the toss for Kent, elects to bat
Hammond top-scores for Kent with 35
Beauclerk takes three wickets with his lobs
15 Jul 1807: England 89 for 6, chase complete
Stakes paid out on the lawn at the close
Spring 1807
Match arranged by correspondence
14-15 Jul 1807
Match played at Cobham Hall
1882-83
Ivo Bligh, eighth Earl of Darnley, brings the Ashes urn home from Australia
Lord Darnley continued to host occasional matches at Cobham until his death in 1831.
A fine country-house match in the closing years of the patron-cricket era, and a piece of Cobham Hall's long cricketing history.
Cobham Hall remained an occasional cricket venue into the late nineteenth century. Ivo Bligh's later Ashes captaincy is sometimes traced to the family tradition of which the 1807 match is part.
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1811-07-04
The 1811 Lord's season was the leanest of the Middle Ground years. With the Napoleonic blockade at its tightest, willow scarce, professionals diverted to militia service and the betting public's purses thin, only fourteen major matches were played at Lord's all summer. The 1811 season is the clearest measure of cricket's wartime contraction.
Officers vs Civilians
1812-12-15
By the close of 1812 cricket was being played regularly in both Madras and Bombay — the earliest documented fixtures in either Presidency. Garrison officers and civilian East India Company servants ran the matches; the Madras Gazette and Bombay Courier preserved the earliest scoresheets. The Calcutta game (documented 1804) had been joined by all three Presidency capitals.
Kent vs MCC
1813-09-09
On 9-10 September 1813 Kent played the MCC at the Vine, Sevenoaks — the first post-war major match at the historic Kent ground and the start of the Vine's revival as a regular major venue. The Vine had hosted little major cricket since 1808; the September 1813 fixture marked its return to the front rank.