George Parr Takes Command of the All-England Eleven After Clarke's Death — 1856

Clarke had run the AEE as a personal fiefdom for a decade, refusing to consult his players and keeping a disproportionate share of the gate money. His death created both a leadership vacuum and an opportunity to heal the split.

Clarke's death left the AEE without its founder and sole manager. Parr, already the dominant professional in the side and the natural successor in terms of cricketing authority, took over the management. He was not Clarke's legal heir — the AEE was not a formally incorporated body — but he had the respect of the players and the contacts with the provincial clubs that put on the exhibition matches. His first major decision was to drop Clarke's blacklist of UAEE players, which had been a source of bitterness for four years. Parr wrote to Wisden and Dean proposing an annual match between the two bodies, and the first AEE v UAEE fixture was played at Lord's on 1 June 1857, to great public interest. Parr managed the AEE for the rest of its existence, and it was under his leadership that the body arranged the 1859 North America tour and the 1861–62 Australian tour. He was not a flamboyant manager — his strength was the confidence the players had in him as a cricketer — but his decade of leadership stabilised a body that Clarke's death might have destroyed.