14 Facts About Thomas Lord

Thomas Lord was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1787 to 1802.

Thomas Lord made a brief comeback, playing in one further match in 1815.

Thomas Lord was mostly associated with Middlesex and with Marylebone Cricket Club as a ground staff bowler.

Thomas Lord was born in Thirsk, Yorkshire, in what is the town museum.

Thomas Lord's father was a Roman Catholic yeoman, who had his lands sequestered for supporting the Jacobite rising in 1745 and afterwards he had to work as a labourer.

The Lord family later moved to Diss, Norfolk, where Thomas Lord was brought up.

Once he was out of childhood, Thomas Lord moved to London and got a job as a bowler and general attendant at the White Conduit Club in Islington.

Thomas Lord has never been given much credit as a player but the match records of the 1790s indicate that he was a very good bowler, although it is true that his opposition was not always of the highest standard.

In 1786 Thomas Lord was approached by George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea, and Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, who were the leading members of the White Conduit Club.

The lease on the first ground ended in 1810 and Thomas Lord obtained an eighty-year lease on two fields, the Brick and Great Fields at North Bank, St John's Wood.

Thomas Lord then moved his ground to the present site in St John's Wood, literally taking his turf with him.

Thomas Lord was not making enough money and therefore obtained permission to develop part of the ground for housing, a move which would have left only 150 square yards of playing area.

Thomas Lord remained in St John's Wood till 1830 when he retired to West Meon in Hampshire, where he died in 1832.

Thomas Lord is buried in the churchyard of St John's Church at West Meon.