Henry Attfield
Henry Attfield (1756 – c. 1829) was an English cricketer who is recorded in a total of 27 matches between 1773 and 1789, mainly for Chertsey (5 matches) and Surrey (14). Born in Bagshot, he lived for much of his life in Chertsey, where he was a sawyer by trade. Besides Chertsey and Surrey, Attfield played in three matches for England teams,[note 1] and once for the Duke of Dorset's XI. In addition, he was twice a "given man" for Hampshire. His name was usually shortened to 'Field' and this was often used on match scorecards.[3]
Debut season — 1773[edit]
Attfield made his first known appearance on 26 August 1773 when, aged just 17, he travelled to Hambledon, Hampshire with the Surrey team for a match against Hambledon Town on Broadhalfpenny Down. The scorecard for this match lists each batsman's score but does not give any dismissal information. Hambledon batted first and scored 103; Surrey replied with 131, of which Attfield made 7. In the second innings, Hambledon were all out for 51 to leave Surrey with a target of 24 to win. They scored 24/4 (Attfield 3) to win by six wickets. The Hambledon team was weaker than the Hampshire county teams that the Hambledon Club[note 2] managed as they were without their two best players, John Small and Thomas Brett, and there were only six recognised players involved. The Surrey team was moreorless full strength and included the likes of Lumpy Stevens, Will Palmer, William Yalden, and Thomas White.[5]
Attfield was then selected by Surrey for two matches against the full Hampshire team. These were played 16–18 September at Laleham Burway in Chertsey; and 27–28 September at Broadhalfpenny Down. Surrey won the first match by eight wickets after dismissing Hampshire for 38 in their first innings. Surrey replied to that with 120 (Attfield 4 not out). Hampshire then rallied somewhat to avoid an innings defeat. In their total of 145, the top scorer was James Aylward with 36 until he was caught by Attfield. Needing 64 to win, Surrey lost only two wickets and Attfield did not bat.[6][7] At Broadhalfpenny, Surrey won convincingly by an innings and 60 runs. Hampshire were dismissed for 83 and 82. Both their totals were beaten by William Yalden on his own as he scored 88 in Surrey's innings of 225 (Attfield scored 8). Yalden's score was the highest recorded in 1773 and it equalled the known record for the highest individual innings in a senior match — Richard Newland had scored 88 playing for England against Kent in 1745.[8][9]
1774–1788[edit]
Attfield is known to have played regularly throughout this period as his name appears in many surviving scorecards.[note 3] These show that he was usually a middle-order batsman and that he rarely bowled. It is not known if he was right- or left-handed; nor if he had any fielding specialism. His name appears only once in 1774 but then he is recorded five times in 1775. He was selected for England teams twice — against Hampshire at Laleham Burway in July 1777; and again at Broadhalfpenny Down in August 1779. In June 1780, he played for the Duke of Dorset's XI against Sir Horatio Mann's XI at Sevenoaks Vine.[11]
End of career — 1789[edit]
Attfield's last known match was for the Moulsey Club against Uxbridge on 8 June 1789. He scored 11 and 2 in his two innings and also took one wicket. Moulsey won by 53 runs.[12] There has been speculation that Attfield was a member of a team supposedly invited to visit Paris in August of the same year. According to this story, the team formed by Dorset and captained by Yalden had assembled in Dover prior to embarkation, but they were surprised to meet Dorset, the British ambassador to France, coming the other way to escape the French Revolution. It has been claimed that the tour was the first to be cancelled for political reasons[13][14] but, according to John Major in More Than A Game, "the whole story is nonsense".[15] Dorset had written to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on 16 July, two days after the Storming of the Bastille, confirming that he had warned British residents to leave Paris; he himself returned to England on 8 August. As Major points out, Dorset would hardly have invited a cricket team to come to France at the time of such a crisis.[16]
According to Arthur Haygarth, Attfield continued to live in Chertsey until his death in about 1829 when he was 73 years old. No tombstone was erected in his memory and so Haygarth was uncertain about the date of Attfield's death.[3]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Teams called England or All-England had been formed since the 1730s.[1] They were by no means international or even national. Top-class cricket in the 18th century was confined to the south-eastern counties around London and an England team of the time consisted of players from these counties. The teams were in the nature of "Rest of England" and were formed to play against a strong club or county team.[2]
- ^ Hambledon was a multi-faceted social club that organised county matches played by Hampshire but some top-class matches were played by the club itself and the team title was interchangeable. It is also believed that the county team was a combined Hampshire and Sussex XI during Hambledon's tenure.[4]
- ^ Surviving match records to at least 1825 are incomplete and any statistical compilation of a player's career in that period can only be based on the known details. Some eleven-a-side matches played 1772–1863 have been unofficially rated "first-class" by certain sources, particularly CricketArchive, but there was no such standard at the time. First-class cricket was formally defined in May 1894 by a meeting at Lord's of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season. However, pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' Important Match Guide may generally be regarded as top-class.[10]
References[edit]
- ^ Waghorn 1899, pp. 22–23.
- ^ ACS 1982, p. 23.
- ^ a b Haygarth 1862, p. 14.
- ^ Buckley 1937, p. 7.
- ^ Haygarth 1862, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Haygarth 1862, pp. 15–16.
- ^ "Match scorecard: Surrey v Hampshire, 16–18 September 1773". CricketArchive. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
- ^ Ashley-Cooper 1924, p. 179.
- ^ "Match scorecard: Hampshire v Surrey, 27–28 September 1773". CricketArchive. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
- ^ "Matches played by Henry Attfield". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
- ^ Haygarth 1862, pp. 91–92.
- ^ Goulstone, John; Swanton, Michael (8 August 1989). "Carry on Cricket – The Duke of Dorset's 1789 Tour". History Today. Vol. 39, no. 8. London: History Today Ltd. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
- ^ Keating, Frank (3 December 2001). "A pre-tour wrangle with India is par for the course". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
- ^ Major 2007, p. 86.
- ^ Major 2007, p. 87.
Sources[edit]
- ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS.
- ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS.
- Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1924). Hambledon Cricket Chronicle 1772–1796. Jenkins. ASIN B0008BXCH4.
- Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. ISBN 978-19-00592-49-9.
- Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN 978-19-00592-23-9.
- Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-00-07183-64-7.
- Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, &c. From 1730–1773. Edinburgh: Blackwood. ISBN 978-09-47821-17-3.
Further reading[edit]
- Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 978-04-13278-60-9.
- Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. ISBN 978-19-00592-48-2.
- Nyren, John (1998). The Cricketers of my Time. London: Robson Publishing. ISBN 978-18-61051-68-4.
- Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. London: Electric Press. ISBN 978-09-47821-17-3.