William Clarke's All-England Eleven

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This article is about William Clarke's team. For the definition of the expression "All-England Eleven", see Non-international England cricket teams.

All-England Eleven
William Clarke's All-England Eleven
Team information
Established1846
Home venueno home venue (nomadic team)
History
Notable playersWilliam Clarke
George Parr
William Caffyn
John Wisden
William Lillywhite
Alfred Mynn
Nicholas Felix

The All-England Eleven (AEE) was an itinerant all-professional

WG Grace
.

Clarke, as well as being the manager, was the

tour North America
.

With the rise of county cricket and the introduction of international cricket, the travelling elevens lost influence and popularity. The AEE gradually faded from the scene and had disappeared by 1880.

History

William Clarke in 1845.

In the late 1840s, Nottinghamshire CCC player William Clarke recognised that a professional touring eleven could enhance the local and fragmented popularity of cricket.[1] In 1846, he founded what would become known as the "All-England Eleven"[2] as an all-professional team that played a few games in the North of England against more-than-eleven local teams.[3] He originally called his side "Eleven of England".[4] The squad arguably comprised the best English professional players of the time,[3] as well as two nominally "amateur" cricketers, Alfred Mynn and Nicholas Felix.[5] The All-England Eleven was inundated with requests for fixtures [1] and received a payment from its opponents[3] (who could in turn hope for a large attendance). During the following years, helped by the development of railways, the team regularly toured Great Britain, doing much to increase the popularity of the game in areas that had previously not seen high class cricket.

The first overseas English tour, in North America, comprised six "All-England Eleven" players as well as six "United All-England Eleven" professionals.

The players were better paid by Clarke than they were by the Marylebone Cricket Club or the counties, but Clarke, who was captain as well as manager of the team, received by far the largest part of the profit.[3] In 1852 some of the professionals, led by John Wisden and Jemmy Dean, were dissatisfied by Clarke's ungenerous and undemocratic behaviour and sought larger wages. They broke away from the team and created the United All-England Eleven.[6] Other similar teams appeared from the late 1850s.[7]

overseas touring English team, which played several games in the United States and in Canada.[8]

Notes and references

  1. ^
    Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    , Oxford University Press, 2004
  2. All-England Eleven
  3. ^ a b c d Birley (1999), p 85
  4. ^ Major (2007), p 179
  5. ^ Major (2007), p 178
  6. ^ a b Birley (1999), p 90
  7. ^ Birley (1999), p 96
  8. ^ Birley (1999), pp 96-97

Bibliography

  • Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
  • John Major, More Than A Game, HarperCollins, 2007
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