Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

42 Fate Takes a Hand week at Lord’s. The infamous Gentlemen v Players ‘Barn Door’ match was being played at Lord’s on the same date. The following week the advertised Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire with Cobbett and Box v England match took place at Lord’s. It was now titled North v South and was being played to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Lord’s first Ground in 1787. There is no doubt that 1837 was the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas Lord founding his original ground on the site of what is now Dorset Square, but the North v South match was also billed as the fiftieth anniversary of the Marylebone Club, a point that causes today’s historians heart-ache. The Cricket Club, which asked Lord to find a piece of land suitable for the Club, had its origins many years before. A year or two after it had been established on the Dorset Square site, the Cricket Club became known as the Marylebone Cricket Club, merely because it was now based in that parish. A more detailed explanation can be found in my book The History of Cricket: From The Weald to The World published by The Stationery Office in 1997. On 4 July 1835 J.H.Dark had taken over the lease of Lord’s Ground and, one suspects, was devising ways of attracting larger crowds to matches. One of the long-standing major Lord’s fixtures was Gentlemen v Players, but with the former side so weak, this was hardly a nail-biting contest. Clarke either declined or was not chosen for the North in the 1837 game, though he had played the previous year. Curiously the North team included Harry Hall, a very obscure player, who was later a groundsman at Trent Bridge. Was he playing in place of Clarke? The other Nottingham players were Garrat, Barker, Jarvis, Redgate and Rothera. Vincent, Marsden and Dearman represented Sheffield. The South won by five wickets due to Lillywhite’s bowling – Barker seemingly again did not bowl. A fortnight later Nottinghamshire played Sussex on Brown’s Ground. Clarke was absent, even though his name (at the head of the list and therefore most probably captain) was printed in the eleven on 21 July, three days before the game started. John Gibson replaced Clarke. Was this absence from away matches due to illness in the family? It is the most likely explanation. The Nottinghamshire team had squeezed in an extra match whilst in the South, going direct from Brighton to meet Kent at Town Malling, where Fuller Pilch was installed. This was for the first meeting of the two counties. The team lost to Sussex by three wickets and by nine wickets to Kent. Before the return with Sussex a practice match, County v Town, was played on The Forest. Clarke hit 43, the only innings over 15 on either side; Butler Parr (no relation of George) of Radcliffe on Trent made 14 not out and was given his place in the county side v Sussex. It was a third defeat – though the report stated 20,000 attended on the second day. Just over a week later William Clarke’s wife Jane died at the age of 39 – she was buried at St Nicholas’ Church in Nottingham on 3 September. The Stamford Mercury of 8 September 1837 carries the following death notice: ‘On the 30th ult, aged 39, Mrs Clarke, wife of Mr W.Clarke, Bell Inn, Market Place, Nottingham.’