List of earliest references in English cricket

This is a list of the earliest known references to cricket being played in each of the historic counties of England.

• Surrey – c.1550 re John Derrick and the 1597 Guildford court case; the world's earliest definite mention of cricket^[1][2]
• Kent – c.1611 re the match at Chevening, the world's oldest known organised match^[3]
• Sussex – 1611 re an ecclesiastical court case^[4]
• Hampshire – 1647 at Winchester College^[5]
• London – 1617 re Oliver Cromwell^[6]
• Horsted Keynes - 1624 re Jasper Vinall First recorded death on a cricket pitch.
• Oxfordshire – 1673 at the University of Oxford^[7]
• Middlesex – 1680; also the first mention re umpires^[8]
• Cambridgeshire – 1710 at the University of Cambridge^[9]
• Essex – 1724 re the Chingford-Stead match^[10]
• Berkshire – 1727 at Eton College^[11]
• Gloucestershire – 1729^[11]
• Buckinghamshire – 1730^[12]
• Hertfordshire – 1732^[13]
• Dorset – 1738^[14]
• Bedfordshire – 1741^[15]
• Huntingdonshire – 1741^[15]
• Northamptonshire – 1741^[15]
• Suffolk – 1743^[11]
• Norfolk – 1745^[11]
• Durham – 1751^[16]
• Somerset – 1751^[17]
• Warwickshire – 1751^[18]
• Yorkshire – 1751^[16]
• Derbyshire – 1757^[19]
• Northumberland – 1766^[20]
• Wiltshire – 1769^[20]
• Nottinghamshire – 1771^[21]
• Leicestershire – 1776^[22]
• Cheshire – 1781^[22]
• Lancashire – 1781^[22]
• Rutland – 1790^[23]
• Lincolnshire – 1792^[23]
• Shropshire – 1794^[23]
• Devon – 1799^[24]
• Cornwall – 1813^[25]
• Staffordshire – 1817^[25]
• Herefordshire – 1823^[26]
• Westmorland – 1827^[26]
• Cumberland – 1828^[26]
• Worcestershire – 1829^[26]

• Glamorgan – 1780 re a match in Swansea
• Ireland – 1792 re a military match in Dublin^[23]
• Scotland – 1750 re a military match in Perth^[19]
• Wales – 1763 in Pembroke^[20]

Numerous sources list the foundation dates of the county clubs. Note that some clubs have been re-founded after earlier versions became defunct. The dates below are mostly taken from the 1982 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack:^[27]

• Bedfordshire – 1899
• Berkshire – 1895
• Buckinghamshire – 1891
• Cambridgeshire – 1844 to 1869; 1891
• Carmarthenshire – 1908 to 1911
• Cheshire – 1908
• Cornwall – 1894
• Cumberland (called Cumberland and Westmorland CCC until 1955) – 1948
• Denbighshire – 1930 to 1935
• Derbyshire – 1870
• Devon – 1867 to 1897; 1899
• Dorset – 1896
• Durham – 1882
• Essex – 1876
• Glamorgan – 1888
• Gloucestershire – 1871
• Hampshire – 1863
• Herefordshire – 1836 to unknown; 1992
• Hertfordshire – 1876
• Huntingdonshire – 1831 to 1895; 1948
• Kent – 1842
• Lancashire – 1864
• Leicestershire – 1879
• Lincolnshire – 1906
• Middlesex – 1864
• Monmouthshire – 1901 to 1934
• Norfolk – 1827 to c.1850; 1876
• Northamptonshire – 1878
• Northumberland – 1895
• Nottinghamshire – 1841
• Oxfordshire – 1921
• Shropshire – 1956
• Somerset – 1875
• Staffordshire – 1871
• Suffolk – 1932
• Surrey – 1845
• Sussex – 1839
• Wales Minor Counties – 1988
• Warwickshire – 1882
• Wiltshire – 1893
• Worcestershire – 1865
• Yorkshire – 1863

• Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
• Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
• Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978-1-900592-52-9.
• Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9330-8.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.