The earliest reference to cricket is contained in a document dated 1598, in the Borough archives of Guildford. This refers to cricket being played in the town at the grammar school
about 50 years earlier. It was in the 18th Century that cricket spread to the majority of the English counties. The troops who were sent to quell the 1745 Jacobite rebellion were instrumental in bringing the game to Scotland. The armed forces were also responsible for introducing the game to other parts of the world. Two developments in the 18th Century were the rise to fame of the Hambledon Club in Hampshire and the founding by Thomas Lord in 1787 of the cricket ground in Marylebone. The MCC soon took over where Hambledon had left off and Lord’s Ground became the centre of the game. Overseas cricket tours commenced with visits to North America in 1859 and to Australia in 1861-62. In 1868 an indigenous Australian team became the country’s first to tour with their visit to England. The team played 47 matches and surprised their opponents with their high level of ability. Australia’s all rounder Johnny Mullagh proved the star of the tour. In the early 1860’s British troops introduced cricket to South Africa. It was mainly played in military bases until 1889 when Sir Donald Currie introduced the Currie Cup. Perhaps the most famous Army cricket matches in South Africa were the games that took place during the Siege of Mafeking, Northwest South Africa (1899-1900). The first match in India was recorded in 1721 when a group of sailors gathered to play in Western India. The Calcutta Cricket Club is thought to be the oldest outside Britain and was founded in 1792 by members of the East India Company. At first Indians were only spectators to matches played between Army and Navy units, but by the late 19th century the game had acquired popular appeal. Both Hindu and Muslim native soldiers took up cricket with enthusiasm.

CROQUET
Although the Romans played a similar game called Paganica, the French are really the parents of this very popular game. Pall Mall was the original name but in the 1830s a French doctor developed a new version of the sport as an outdoor activity for his patients and named it Croquet. Via Ireland, John Jaques introduced the sport to England during the Great Exhibition 1851. By 1865, croquet had achieved wide acceptance and had spread throughout England and its colonies. One gentleman of the time, noted in a letter to a friend that the game was introduced into India ‘during the hot weather of 1864 at Simla, North West India’ (Simla was used for resting troops) and observed that ‘the Viceroy played with an entire mallet of ivory, as became his position.’

GOLF
With many of the merchants and officers of the East India Company from Scotland it is
perhaps not surprising that the first golf club outside Britain was in India, the heart of the
company’s greatest interest. The Royal Calcutta Golf Club was formed in 1829 on the
outskirts of the town at Dum Dum. This was followed by the Royal Bombay Golf Club in 1842 and the Bangalore Golf Club in 1876. To put this into context the first major golf clubs in America and mainland Europe were not formed until 1888. Golf also spread through out the rest of the Empire. The first reference to the game in New Zealand was in 1863 when the Otago Witness carried an advert from a gentleman seeking like minded others to form a club. However, the game didn’t take off until a Scot became involved. Charles Ritchie Howden was the driving force behind the Dunedin Golf Club which was formed in 1871. Australia’s first clubs were the Australian Golf Club at Sydney in 1882 and the Royal Melbourne Club in 1891. The army had a hand in forming South Africa’s first club when Lieut. General Sir Henry Torrens chaired a meeting to launch the Cape Golf Club in 1885. The club’s first real home was at Waterloo Green at the Wynberg Military Camp. Singapore’s first club was opened in 1891. Justice Sir John Tankerville Goldney had arrived 4 years earlier with his clubs only to find that there was no place to use them. He set about forming The Golf Club on land at the race course, owned by The Singapore Sporting Club. A club was opened in Kuala Lumpar in 1893. Of course when the game was in its infancy in these countries, equipment had to be ordered from back home. Many of the known Scottish makers exported clubs to the colonies and it became big business. Clubs and balls were both ordered directly by Golf Clubs and by retailer’s who would add their own marks. The Forgan niblick (No.158) is also stamped made for Wagle & Co. Bombay. Dunnett & Co., also of Bombay, advertised the Zodiac and Pal golf balls in their catalogue amongst the pages of equestrian tack. Other retailers include R. S. Sen Bros of Newmarket Calcutta and Robinson & Co of Singapore. Naturally in time indigenous makers appeared and perhaps the best known area for the making of sports equipment is Sailkote which is now in Pakistan. The town has already been noted in the description of No. 51, an Indian lawn tennis racket but golf clubs stamped Zutshi Bros Sialkote are also known. However, at the turn of 1900 perhaps the best way to show your peers, in a far off land, that you were a serious golfer was to own a set of clubs marked ‘Made in Scotland’.