by Andy Mitchell

The discovery of documents signed by the man who gave his name to Lord’s Cricket Ground has shed new light on early cricket.
   The fascinating papers, found in Edinburgh, contain previously unknown material from over two hundred years ago signed by Thomas Lord, one of the most important figures in the history of English sport.
   Lord was an entrepreneur who established and managed a private cricket ground in London, where in 1787 the Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) was founded. It was effectively the governing body of the game but as the club’s records were lost in a disastrous fire in 1825 there are few surviving records of those early years, let alone examples of Lord’s signature. 

However, tucked away in a bundle of bills in the Buccleuch family archive, deposited at the National Records of Scotland, I discovered a series of receipts all signed by Thomas Lord. They relate to the Earl of Dalkeith, who became the fourth Duke of Buccleuch when he succeeded to his father’s title in 1812. The Buccleuchs are descended from the Duke of Monmouth - the illegitimate son of Charles II who tried to seize the British crown in 1685 –  and the family remains one of Britain’s largest private landowners.
   The treasure trove records the young Earl’s membership of the MCC and the expenses he incurred. In 1797, aged 25 and already a Member of Parliament, he joined the club and paid a subscription of two guineas. This was acknowledged by Lord:
 
Rec’d May 2nd 1797 of Earl Dalkeith, two guineas for his subscription to the Marylebone Cricket Club for this year. Thos Lord.

The Earl, who had learned to play cricket at Eton, took up his membership with gusto and that month he played in two matches at Lord’s Ground which are considered as ‘first class’. He scored ten runs In his first innings for Charles Lennox’s XI, which also featured Thomas Lord, and just one run in the second. A couple of days later, he remained in Lennox’s team but was bowled in both innings by Lord, who had switched to the Earl of Winchilsea’s XI.
   The second receipt from a year later is much more expansive, on two pages. The cover sheet reads:
 
Rec’d April 12th 1798 of the Earl Dalkeith, Seven pounds eight and six pence, for bill del’d. Thos Lord.  £7-8-6.

​This large sum, the equivalent of many thousands of pounds today, is broken down on a second piece of paper which specifies that on 9 June 1797 the Earl bought from Thomas Lord three ‘batts’ for 15 shillings, three balls for 18 shillings and one ‘sett of stumps’ for ten shillings and sixpence. 

Amazingly, two of the Earl’s bats have survived and are now in the collection at Lord’s Museum, very likely the same ones he purchased that year.
   To this was added four guineas for a match, and one guinea as a subscription to Nyren’s widow. This was a reference to the death in April 1797 of Richard Nyren, one of the game’s most prominent pioneers with the Hambledon club. He was clearly still held in high esteem despite having retired from cricket several years earlier and his widow Frances, whom he had married in 1758, was no doubt helped by the payments from club members as she lived on into her nineties with their son John, who made his name as a cricketing author.
   The final receipt was issued three years later and indicates that, while the Earl may have been an avid cricketer, he was not so adept at paying his bills. It covers three seasons’ membership of the MCC:
 
Rec’d March 12 1801, six guineas of Earl Dalkeith for his sub’n to the Cricket Club for the years 1798, 99 & 1800, & half a guinea lent at Swaffham.  Thos Lord.  £6-16-6

The final element is intriguing. Why did Thomas Lord lend the Earl of Dalkeith half a guinea? It was probably a reference to a week of cricket in July 1797 at Swaffham in Norfolk. The two men played on opposing sides as Earl of Winchilsea’s XI again took on Charles Lennox’s XI, a couple of days after a grand match between an all-England eleven and 33 men of Norfolk for stakes of a thousand guineas to the winners. Newspaper reports indicated that a further £10,000 changed hands in betting on the day, so it can be guessed that the Earl lost a bet and, finding himself a bit short, had to lean on his friend to help him out. If this is correct, it took four years for Lord to get his money back!
   That appears to be the end of the Earl’s active involvement in cricket, although he continued to be a keen sportsman in other fields. He was a member of the Royal Caledonian Hunt, a steward of Dumfries and Kelso Races, and Captain General of the Royal Company of Archers, the monarch’s bodyguard in Scotland which held regular archery contests. However, perhaps his greatest sporting legacy was to football, as in 1815 he acted as patron to the great Carterhaugh ball game on his estate in the Scottish borders. This is considered by many as the match which started football’s transition from disorganised mob game to the regulated sport we know today.  
   It was also his last sporting venture: in declining health, probably suffering from tuberculosis, he was sent by his physicians to Portugal to seek a warm weather cure. It was to no avail and he died there in 1817 within two months of his arrival, aged 46.
   Thomas Lord’s name lives on at the world-famous cricket ground, although it is not the same one that the Earl of Dalkeith frequented at Dorset Fields. That had to be vacated when it was sold for development and the present site – the third to carry his name – opened in 1814, since when it has remained the spiritual home of English cricket.
 
The Buccleuch archive is held at the National Records of Scotland, collection reference GD224.
 
Images reproduced by kind permission of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry KBE.

Thirty years ago I travelled to Gothenburg to see Dundee United in the UEFA Cup final. I wasn't a supporter of the team, but simply went to support a Scottish team in a European final - just as I had done to see Aberdeen lift the Cup Winners Cup in the same stadium in 1983.
   A couple of weeks later I went to the return leg at Tannadice. Sadly, the Swedes triumphed 2-1 on aggregate, and the only consolation for United was a fair play award to recognise their fans' outstanding behaviour.
   I took my camera to both games, and documented the supporters in Gothenburg. A few of them have been used in a new TV documentary, as BBC Alba have commissioned a film about Dundee United's exploits in 1987. Entitled Tannadice 87, it will be broadcast on 20 May at 9pm, and on iPlayer after that. 
   In advance of that, here are some of my photos, which have never been published before. I hope they bring back happy memories of a lost generation of Scottish football - a time when a small provincial club could beat Barcelona home and away, and dare to believe they could be European champions.
   All photos are copyright - no copying please!

One hundred years ago today, on 3 May 1917, two Dunblane footballers were killed in action in the First World War.  They were among no less than 19 footballers from the town who lost their lives in the conflict, all of whom are are recorded in my book Come Awa' the Heather, the story of Dunblane Football Club.
   Lance Corporal David McInroy, who lived in Bridgend, was a stonemason on the Kippendavie Estate when he signed up to the Lothian Regiment of the Royal Scots in 1915. He had played for Dunblane Rovers, the juvenile team, and was also a member of the town's angling and curling clubs. He was killed in France aged 34, leaving his wife Jeanie and four children. His nephew James McInroy DCM had already been killed in 1915, so it was a second tragedy for the family.​ 

Private Hugh Bruce had been a forward for Dunblane FC for a decade up to 1912, and was described in his obituary as 'a prime favourite with the followers of the team, a most gentlemanly, cool and clever exponent of the game.' Also a stonemason, working for a local builder, he lived in Well Place and enlisted with the Black Watch in 1916. However, he was seconded to the Royal Scots Fusiliers and was killed by a sniper while working behind the lines. He was 35 years old and left a wife and four children.
   One hundred years on, the memories of Dunblane's fallen is kept alive, not just by the ceremonies at the war memorial but also by the annual trips to the battlefields run by the High School.