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1826-08-02
On 2 August 1826 George Finch-Hatton, ninth Earl of Winchilsea — co-founder of the MCC, principal patron of late-Hambledon cricket, and the most important supporter of major cricket between 1780 and 1810 — died at Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland. His death closed an era of aristocratic cricket patronage that had begun in the 1730s.
England XI vs Rutland & Leicestershire
1800-08-12
In August 1800 George Finch-Hatton, ninth Earl of Winchilsea — co-founder of the MCC and the most important patron of late-Hambledon cricket — staged one of his last great country-house matches at his Rutland seat, Burley-on-the-Hill. He brought down a near-Test-strength England XI to play a combined Rutland and Leicestershire side in front of a paying gallery on the lawn below the great house. The fixture is one of the clearest pieces of evidence we have that the patron-led model of major cricket survived into the new century, even as the MCC at Lord's was beginning to absorb its functions.