Harry Peckham
Encyclopedia
Harry Peckham was a King's counsel and sportsman who toured Europe and wrote a series of letters which are still being published over 200 years later. Peckham was a member of the committee that drew up early laws of cricket
including the first inclusion of the Leg before wicket
rule. The diarist James Woodforde
makes reference to Peckham playing cricket at Oxford in 1760 and he was still playing in 1771.
in Sussex
. He was a contemporary of James Woodforde
at school ( Winchester College
) and at New College, Oxford
where he was also a friend of Francis Noel Clarke Mundy
.
The diarist James Woodforde
makes reference to Peckham playing cricket at Oxford in 1760 and 1761.
Peckham was a member of the private Markeaton Hunt. In 1762–3, his friend Mundy commissioned a set of six portraits. Each of the subjects was in the distinctive dress of the Markeaton Hunt, consisting of a blue coat over a scarlet waistcoat and yellow breeches. Peckham sat for one of these paintings. The paintings hung at Mundy's ancestral home, Markeaton Hall
.
Peckham entered Middle Temple
in 1764 and was called on 29 January 1768. In the same year he toured through Rotterdam
, The Hague
, Amsterdam
, Antwerp, Brussels
, Ghent
, Paris
, Rouen
, and Calais
. His letters home were published by George Kearsley amongst a number of travel books Kearsley published in London. Peckham's writings were and are still considered witty and interesting. His book records a view of Europe before the political upheavals and is considered to give a Whiggish view of how the Netherlands was a successful outcome of the union of liberty, commerce and Protestantism.
The following quotations from Peckham's Tour of Holland... give some idea of his wit and style:
Of a picture of St Anthony in the chapel of the Sorbonne, Paris, he wrote -
Also in Paris he visited "the miserable college of English Benedictines" where -
The Dutch language, he suggests -
And of the French -
Peckham continued to play cricket as it seems likely that he was the 'Mr Peckam (sic), jun' who played for the Gentlemen of Sussex against the Gentlemen of Hampshire
at Broadhalfpenny Down
on 20 August 1771.
In 1774, Peckham sat on the committee that formulated some early laws of cricket
. They were settled and revised at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall
on Friday 25 February 1774. The meeting was chaired by Sir William Draper and the committee included the Duke of Dorset
, the Earl of Tankerville
and other "Noblemen and Gentlemen of Kent
, Hampshire
, Surrey
, Sussex
, Middlesex
, and London
". This meeting agreed one of the earlier sets of cricket rules and is acknowledged as being the first where the Leg before wicket
rule was introduced.
In 1781 Peckham was junior counsel to the former attorney-general John Dunning
in the unsuccessful defence of François Henri de la Motte
accused of supplying naval secrets to the French. Dunning
was taken ill during the trial and Peckham found himself having to conduct the defence in a case which is said to have been the inspiration for the trial of Charles Darnay
in Charles Dickens
's novel A Tale of Two Cities.
On 22 May 1783 Peckham wrote to the prime minister 3rd Duke of Portland
from the Inner Temple
thanking him for his 'Interposition in my favour'. He was called to the bench on 20 June 1783.
Peckham died only two years after his father on 10 January 1787 at the age of forty-six and was buried in the Temple Church on 19 January 1787. According to Ben Nicolson, author of a major work on Joseph Wright of Derby
, Peckham suffered a broken neck whilst hunting. His name was added to a white marble monument erected on the north wall of Chichester Cathedral
, noting that he was Recorder for Chichester. This monument had been created for Peckham's parents by his sister Sarah Farhill.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
including the first inclusion of the Leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
rule. The diarist James Woodforde
James Woodforde
James Woodforde was an English clergyman, best known as the author of The Diary of a Country Parson.-Early life:James Woodforde was born at the Parsonage, Ansford, Somerset, England on 27 June 1740...
makes reference to Peckham playing cricket at Oxford in 1760 and he was still playing in 1771.
Biography
Peckham was the only son of Reverend Henry Peckham, a clergyman of ChichesterChichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. He was a contemporary of James Woodforde
James Woodforde
James Woodforde was an English clergyman, best known as the author of The Diary of a Country Parson.-Early life:James Woodforde was born at the Parsonage, Ansford, Somerset, England on 27 June 1740...
at school ( Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
) and at New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
where he was also a friend of Francis Noel Clarke Mundy
Francis Noel Clarke Mundy
Francis Noel Clarke Mundy 1739 – 1815 was a poet who published with Anna Seward and Erasmus Darwin. His most noted work was written to defend Needwood Forest which was enclosed at the beginning of the 19th century...
.
The diarist James Woodforde
James Woodforde
James Woodforde was an English clergyman, best known as the author of The Diary of a Country Parson.-Early life:James Woodforde was born at the Parsonage, Ansford, Somerset, England on 27 June 1740...
makes reference to Peckham playing cricket at Oxford in 1760 and 1761.
Peckham was a member of the private Markeaton Hunt. In 1762–3, his friend Mundy commissioned a set of six portraits. Each of the subjects was in the distinctive dress of the Markeaton Hunt, consisting of a blue coat over a scarlet waistcoat and yellow breeches. Peckham sat for one of these paintings. The paintings hung at Mundy's ancestral home, Markeaton Hall
Markeaton Hall
Markeaton Hall was an 18th century country house at Markeaton, Derby, Derbyshire. It is one of the Lost houses of Derbyshire.-History:The manor of Markeaton was held by the Tuchet family from the 13th century....
.
Peckham entered Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
in 1764 and was called on 29 January 1768. In the same year he toured through Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Antwerp, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, and Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
. His letters home were published by George Kearsley amongst a number of travel books Kearsley published in London. Peckham's writings were and are still considered witty and interesting. His book records a view of Europe before the political upheavals and is considered to give a Whiggish view of how the Netherlands was a successful outcome of the union of liberty, commerce and Protestantism.
The following quotations from Peckham's Tour of Holland... give some idea of his wit and style:
Of a picture of St Anthony in the chapel of the Sorbonne, Paris, he wrote -
He is seated in an armed chair, not a very common convenience in a desert, nor a very proper attitude for a preacher; but his hair is greyish which I suppose to be an apology for the sitting.
Also in Paris he visited "the miserable college of English Benedictines" where -
...lies in state that silly fellow James [James II] not yet buried; for his followers, as weak as their master, think that the time will come when his family shall reign again in Britain; he therefore lies ready to be shipped off for England, to sleep with his ancestors in Westminster Abbey.
The Dutch language, he suggests -
....even from the mouth of a beauty would be an antidote to venery.
And of the French -
Their religion seems calculated for the vulgar, and is rather to amuse than to amend.
Peckham continued to play cricket as it seems likely that he was the 'Mr Peckam (sic), jun' who played for the Gentlemen of Sussex against the Gentlemen of Hampshire
Hampshire county cricket teams
Hampshire county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that...
at Broadhalfpenny Down
Broadhalfpenny Down
Broadhalfpenny Down, situated on a hilltop about a mile from the rural village of Hambledon in Hampshire, was the home venue for first-class cricket matches of the Hambledon Club from 1753 to 1781...
on 20 August 1771.
In 1774, Peckham sat on the committee that formulated some early laws of cricket
1774 English cricket season
Hampshire did much better in the 1774 English cricket seasonand were unbeaten in their known results to the end of July but then they lost twice to Kent in August....
. They were settled and revised at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall
Pall Mall, London
Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the...
on Friday 25 February 1774. The meeting was chaired by Sir William Draper and the committee included the Duke of Dorset
John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset
John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset was the only son of Lord John Philip Sackville, second son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. He succeeded to the dukedom in 1769 on the death of his uncle, Charles Sackville, 2nd Duke of Dorset...
, the Earl of Tankerville
Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville
Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville , styled Lord Ossulston from 1753 to 1767, was a British nobleman, a collector of shells and a famous patron of Surrey cricket in the 1770s. He agreed a set of cricket rules that included the first mention of the Leg before wicket rule. His wife, Emma, was...
and other "Noblemen and Gentlemen of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
". This meeting agreed one of the earlier sets of cricket rules and is acknowledged as being the first where the Leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
rule was introduced.
In 1781 Peckham was junior counsel to the former attorney-general John Dunning
John Dunning
John Dunning may refer to:* John Dunning , American writer of detective fiction* John Dunning * John Harry Dunning , British economist* John Dunning , American film editor...
in the unsuccessful defence of François Henri de la Motte
François Henri de la Motte
Francis Henry de la Motte, or François Henri de la Motte, was a French citizen and ex-French army officer executed in London for High Treason on 27 July 1781. He had been arrested in January 1781 on suspicion of being a spy, and held for six months in the Tower of London...
accused of supplying naval secrets to the French. Dunning
Dunning
Dunning is a small village in Perth and Kinross in Scotland with a population of about 1,000. The village is built around the 12th-13th century former parish church of St. Serf, where the Dupplin Cross is displayed . The building was used in the filming of the Scottish film Complicity...
was taken ill during the trial and Peckham found himself having to conduct the defence in a case which is said to have been the inspiration for the trial of Charles Darnay
Charles Darnay
Charles Darnay, or Charles St. Evrémonde, is a fictional character in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.-Overview:A French aristocrat by birth, Darnay chooses to live in England because he cannot bear to be associated with the cruel injustices of the French social system...
in Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's novel A Tale of Two Cities.
On 22 May 1783 Peckham wrote to the prime minister 3rd Duke of Portland
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, KG, PC was a British Whig and Tory statesman, Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Prime Minister. He was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title of every degree of British nobility—Duke,...
from the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
thanking him for his 'Interposition in my favour'. He was called to the bench on 20 June 1783.
Peckham died only two years after his father on 10 January 1787 at the age of forty-six and was buried in the Temple Church on 19 January 1787. According to Ben Nicolson, author of a major work on Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright , styled Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution"....
, Peckham suffered a broken neck whilst hunting. His name was added to a white marble monument erected on the north wall of Chichester Cathedral
Chichester Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, otherwise called Chichester Cathedral, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in Sussex, England...
, noting that he was Recorder for Chichester. This monument had been created for Peckham's parents by his sister Sarah Farhill.
Major works
- Harry Peckham's Tour, Harry Peckham & Martin Brayne (Editor), The History PressThe History PressThe History Press is one of the UK’s largest local and specialist history publishers, publishing approximately 500 books per year.Created in December 2007, The History Press has integrated core elements of the NPI Media Group within it, including all existing published titles, plus all the future...
ISBN 9781845886196