#william ward

5 incidents tagged

Thomas Lord Sells the Ground — William Ward Saves Lord's, July 1825

n/a

1825-07-28

In 1825 Thomas Lord, the founder of the ground that bears his name, decided that property development would pay him better than cricket and obtained planning permission to build housing across most of the playing field. The MCC member William Ward MP, a Bank of England director and noted batsman, bought him out for £5,000 to save the ground. Weeks later, on the night of 28 July 1825, the pavilion burned to the ground after a Winchester v Harrow match, destroying the club's records.

#thomas-lord#william-ward#lord-s

⭐Serious

William Ward Saves Lord's — The £5,000 Cheque That Kept Cricket at St John's Wood, 1825

n/a

1825-05-15

When Thomas Lord obtained planning permission in 1825 to redevelop most of his cricket ground for housing, the MCC member William Ward — a Bank of England director and the man who had scored 278 at the same ground five years earlier — wrote a personal cheque for £5,000 to buy out Lord's interest. The transaction preserved Lord's as a cricket ground and is the single most consequential financial act in nineteenth-century cricket.

#william-ward#thomas-lord#1825

⭐Mild

William Ward Elected MCC Treasurer — November 1820

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1820-11-08

On 8 November 1820 William Ward — banker, batter and rising MCC figure — was elected club treasurer. He held the office for fifteen years. The election placed Ward on the central committee and prepared the ground for his 1825 purchase of the Lord's lease that saved the ground from being sold for housing.

#roundarm-era#regency-cricket#william-ward

⭐Mild

William Ward's 278 — Cricket's First Double-Hundred, MCC v Norfolk, July 1820

MCC vs Norfolk

1820-07-24

On 24-26 July 1820 at Lord's, the MCC banker-amateur William Ward scored 278 against Norfolk — the first double-hundred in important cricket and the highest individual score yet recorded anywhere in the world. Ward batted into the third day for an MCC total of 473, with Lord Frederick Beauclerk supporting him with 82 not out. The score stood as cricket's individual record for 56 years until W.G. Grace passed it in 1876.

#william-ward#278#1820

⭐Mild

William Ward's First Major Match — Surrey v England at Lord's, June 1808

Surrey vs England

1808-06-13

William Ward — the City banker who would, twelve years later, score 278 at Lord's and, in 1825, save the ground itself by buying its lease — made his first major-match appearance for Surrey against England in June 1808. He scored 18 in a low-scoring defeat. The debut is the entry point of one of the great careers of the Regency era and of one of the most important administrators in the history of Lord's.

#regency-cricket#underarm#lord-s-old-ground