Created by Julie Goucher using wordclouds.com March 2020

For today’s post I am sharing some back story, leading to my interest, in cricket, for which I am a very unlikely candidate!

Having traced my maternal Grandfather’s family back to Puttenham in Surrey, where I was introduced to the Budd family by researching in the parish and poor law records, I found a further reference to them in the Manuscripts of Rev Charles Kerry which I wrote about HERE. Charles Kerry wrote on the Pedigree, “first of the Budds” which implied that like me he had looked back through the parish records and found no trace of them prior to 1724. In those early records, it was as if Henry Budd and his wife Martha had relocated to the village and began raising their family there. Martha had originally been living in Chobham, Surrey but Henry, he was no where to be found.

I began searching the records of nearby villages, both those in Surrey and across the border in Hampshire. Then I had a small breakthrough. Firstly I attended the funeral of Great Aunt. She was buried with her husband, my uncle in Shackleford, Surrey. A small parish joined with the parish of Peper Harrow. As we drove to the Church along the Country roads, it was easy to see how folk of previous generations could arrive in a parish, Peper Harrow was merely 3 miles from Puttenham. I made a mental note to research in that parish again, making an assumption, from memory that I had already searched there. I got home and checked my notes. The parish records of Peper Harrow had not survived in detail. I then came across a file, published by the Sussex Family History Group, of Sussex men married in Surrey and there, in 1704 was this entry:

Surrey, Peper Harow, Parish Record Transcripts, 1704 15 September BUDD, Daniel, Ssx, Lurgashall, WILLSON, Alice

Two things jumped at me, to be a transcript there must have been a record at some time and secondly, the parish of Lurgashall where I already had family members and I wrote about Lurgashall in an earlier A-Z post (A in the 2020 series)

I revisited the records for the Peper Harrow (Harow), little had survived, but I worked on a hypothesis that Daniel and my Henry could be related. Daniel would have been born circa 1683 or so, whereas Henry was likely to have been born around 1699, they could have been brothers, or cousins.

As I began working on the never ending trawl of Surrey records for Henry and Daniel, I came across the website for the village for Peper Harrow where it recorded:

A report of one of the earliest cricket matches ever recorded in England, played in 1727, the rules of that match which formed the basis of the modern cricket rules we know today. Source Info

As I read the details, which comprised of this:

The Articles of Agreement by and between His Grace the Duke of Richmond and Mr Brodrick (for two cricket matches) concluded the 11th of July 1727………

And then this, in the last paragraph:

…….Who scored the notches we do not know, but in the Duke’s team his groom Thomas Waymark was the outstanding all-rounder. Described as ‘the father of all professionals’, he was perhaps the best cricketer in England at that time. Other good players employed by the Duke included Stephen Dingate – who was also a barber – Joseph Budd, Pye and Green.

Alas, we do not even know who won the game, though it would be safe to say that the Duke had the stronger side.

I do not know the first thing about Cricket, but from an historical context and a genealogical one, this was fascinating. Joseph Budd was employed by the Duke of Richmond, there was a further opportunity to research. Was Joseph a connection to Daniel? or to Henry? or both? or none?

I will likely write more on the topic of Daniel and Henry Budd, but before I close, here are a selection of sport databases that might assist genealogists or those pursuing a One-Name Study:

• Football Club History Database
• English National Football Archive
• Historical Football Kits
• Historical Database and Statistics of Spanish Football League
• Cricket Archive
• Baseball Register
• Baseball Archive
• Australian Football Database
• Guide to Researching Aussie Rules Football

Taking part in the A-Z Challenge for 2020