Greatest Cricket Moments

Earliest Documented Cricket at Christ's Hospital School — 1831

1831-06-25n/aChrist's Hospital house match, summer 18311 min readSeverity: Mild

Summary

The earliest documented cricket match at Christ's Hospital School — the historic 'Bluecoat' charity school in central London — was a house fixture played in the summer of 1831. Cricket had been informal at Christ's Hospital from the late eighteenth century; the 1831 match is the earliest preserved with a full account in the school's surviving records.

What Happened

Christ's Hospital had been founded in 1552 and occupied a substantial site in the City of London at Newgate Street through the nineteenth century. Cricket had been played informally on the school courts since the 1790s but no organised fixture record survives before 1831. The summer 1831 inter-house match — Grecian House v Modern House — is the earliest with a preserved scoresheet. Cricket at the school continued through the nineteenth century; the school moved to Horsham in Sussex in 1902 and continues to play first-class school cricket there.

Timeline

1552

Christ's Hospital founded

Summer 1831

Earliest documented cricket fixture

1902

School moves to Horsham

⚖️ The Verdict

The earliest documented cricket at one of London's historic schools.

Tags

#roundarm-era#early-victorian#christs-hospital#school-cricket#london#1831#iconic-moment

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