Henry Attfield
Henry Attfield (1756 – c. 1829) was an English cricketer who is recorded in a total of 27 matches between 1773 and 1789, 20 of which have been given retrospective first-class status. He played mainly for Chertsey and Surrey sides.
Born at 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]
Cricket career[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.He scored seven runs out of Surrey's total of 131 in their first innings and three in their second. Later in the year he played twice more for the side, this time against a Hampshire team.[4][5][6][7]
Attfield is known to have played regularly as his name appears on more than 20 surviving scorecards.[note 2] 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.[9]
End of career[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.[10] 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]
- ^ 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.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Waghorn 1899, pp. 22–23.
- ^ ACS 1982, p. 23.
- ^ a b Haygarth 1862, p. 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.
- ^ "First-class matches played by Henry Attfield". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
- ^ Haygarth 1862, pp. 91–92.
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.
- Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN 978-19-00592-23-9.
- Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, &c. From 1730–1773. Edinburgh: Blackwood. ISBN 978-09-47821-17-3.