CHAPTER VII.
THE MARYLEBONE CLUB AND UNIVERSITY CRICKET.
MY connection with the Marylebone Club dates from the 13th of May, 1869, when I was not quite twenty-one years of age. I have said elsewhere that I considered it a very high compliment to be thought worthy of a place in the club which has done more than any other to develop the game, and I have nothing but the very pleasantest recollections of the twenty-two years I have played for it. The M.C.C. had been in existence 82 years when I joined it; there were 1,200 members, and the number of matches played during the season was something under 40. To-day it is 104 years old; the list of members has swelled to 3,500, and as many as 160 matches were played last year, of which 84 were won, 40 lost, and 36 drawn. It will be of interest to touch briefly upon the growth of the old club, which is now acknowledged to be the authority on cricket, not only in England, but wherever the game is played.
About the year 1780 the White Conduit Club was the most important in London, and Thomas Lord, a kind of half-attendant, half-ground bowler, was in the habit of bowling to the members. The White Conduit Club, like most cricket clubs, had to contend against internal dissensions, and some of the members decided to go elsewhere. But the difficulty in the way was a suitable spot for a ground, for there were at most only two of any importance in London at the time. Lord was asked to look about in the neighbourhood of Marylebone, and
