by The Ashes is cricket’s most famous contest, played between England and Australia. Less well known is the birthplace of the Ashes: Sunbury.
Cricket is England’s primary summer sport, with a history stretching back to at least the 17th century.
During the colonial period, it spread throughout the British Empire. It arrived in Australia shortly after the First Fleet, with matches recorded in Sydney in 1804.
From the 1860s, professional English cricket teams began touring Australia, playing exhibition matches in front of large crowds. In 1877, teams representing the two countries met at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
This was the first international cricket match. Played over five days, this long-form version of the game would later be called ‘Test Cricket’.
Australia won the first test match, but lost a second game in Sydney a few weeks later. The popularity of these games, and even nature of the contest, would lead to regular fixtures between the two countries in the following years.
While cricket was popular in Australia, the English held their team to be superior. England’s population was much greater, giving them more talent to pick from, and they had access to better coaches and facilities.
Australia fared well when playing at home. After the first test matches of 1877, they won the next two series played here.
But success was elusive when they toured England. The very different conditions proved challenging for Australia’s players, and England were able to field their strongest team (not always possible on tour).
The British sporting press confidently predicted Australia would never beat England at home. The colonial cricketers from Australia had raw talent, but they simply weren’t skilful enough.
Australia’s low prospects of success were reflected when they toured England in 1882: only one test match was scheduled. This took place at The Oval, London, on August 28 and 29.
It was a game that would change cricket history.
Played on a difficult wicket, the match was low scoring. Australia batted first and scored a lowly 63; England fared a little better, and responded with 101.
England’s low total was due to Australia’s gun fast bowler, Fred Spofforth.
Six foot three and strongly built, Spofforth was a cricketer ahead of his time. In an era dominated by medium pace bowlers and spinners, relying on accuracy, Spofforth was an offensive weapon.
The fastest bowler of his day, he defeated batsmen with sheer pace. Fiercely competitive, with a thick moustache, his was an intimidating presence; his nickname was, ‘The Demon’.
In the English first innings he took 7/46.
Australia struggled again in its second innings, and was bowled out for 122. England needed only 85 runs to win.
The legend is that Spofforth snatched up the ball for the English second innings, and told his teammates ‘This thing can be done!’
He quickly dismissed both openers, but was then stymied by stubborn batting. England edged their way to 4/53, with victory now only 30 runs away; a huge crowd hung on every delivery.
Spofforth responded with a devastating burst.
He took three wickets in one over, and 4/0 in nine deliveries, three of the batsmen bowled. He would end with 7/44 and 14/90 in the match, figures that would not be beaten by an Australian test bowler until 1972.
England were bowled out for 75; Australia had won the game by 7 runs.
The British press responded with hyperbolic devastation, lamenting their loss from a strong position. Several commentators called it, ‘the death of English cricket’.
Writing in the popular ‘Sporting Times’, journalist Reginald Brooks published a mock obituary. The piece ended with, ‘The body will be cremated and the Ashes taken to Australia.’
This sardonic joke is what gave us the term, ‘The Ashes’.
Brooks’ bit struck a chord with disappointed English fans, and the term entered the sporting lexicon. When the next English team was headed for Australia, at the end of 1882, captain Ivo Bligh told the press he was going to ‘reclaim those Ashes’.
He was speaking metaphorically, but that was about to change.
An international cricket tour in colonial times was an epic undertaking. Teams travelled by boat, the passage from England to Australia took around 4 months.
The players were professionals, playing cricket to earn a living. To bolster their income, they crammed in as many games as possible, playing international, state, local and amateur teams.
Including travel time the tours would last for 12 months, sometimes longer.
In 1882, Ivo Bligh set out with a small party, his touring squad comprising only 13 players. The number was kept low to maximise the financial return for each member.
Setting sail from England mid-year, by October they had reached Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). There they broke their journey for a fortnight, and played two matches against teams taken from the local colonial administration, and British garrison.
The touring party arrived in Australia in early November.
The first game was on November 10, when Bligh’s team played South Australia in Adelaide. They then worked their way east, playing seven games over the next month, visiting Tamworth, Maitland, Sandhurst and Castlemaine, as well as Sydney and Melbourne.
All of this was in preparation for a 3-match series against Australia, set to start on December 30 at the MCG.
After arriving in Melbourne, the President of the Melbourne Cricket Club, Sir William Clarke, invited Bligh’s team to spend Christmas with him. Clarke owned a country estate known as Rupertswood, near Sunbury, on the fringe of the city.
Ivo Bligh was 23 and a bachelor. Tired from the team’s journey, and the tight playing schedule, the thought of a few days recreation was appealing.
Clarke was a successful industrialist, and lavished hospitality on his guests. His estate provided a grand setting:
‘The mansion epitomised the Clarke family’s lavish tastes. It featured a ballroom, billiard room, breakfast room and lounge room. In addition, there were two reception rooms, six main bedrooms, nine bathrooms and servants’ quarters.’
– Museums Victoria
The grounds were lush and well kept, a haven for Bligh and his players.
During the day they relaxed, in the evening were banquets and light entertainment. They enjoyed themselves so much the stay stretched on to the eve of the first test, and they would return several times before the tour was complete.
Clarke was also a cricket fan, and prevailed on Bligh to play a social game against a local side, on his private oval. Bligh readily agreed, the match taking place on Christmas Eve.
While no scores from the game have survived, Bligh’s team unsurprisingly won. The victory became part of that evening’s celebrations.
Clarke and his circle were well aware of ‘The Ashes’, and Bligh’s stated intention to ‘reclaim’ them. As a humorous jest, to mark the social game victory, Clarke’s wife Janet decided to make him a presentation.
Lady Clarke and Florence Morphy, the estate’s music governess, constructed a small trophy. They took a clay urn, a perfume bottle brought back from a European holiday, and filled it with some ashes; these were then presented to the English captain during the evening.
His hosts told Bligh his mission was accomplished: the Ashes had been recovered!
Delighted with his gift, Bligh would take it with him when he departed Rupertswood, and keep it through the rest of the tour. Lady Clarke had a red velvet bag made, to carry the urn in.
Australia won the first test match at the MCG by 9 wickets. England bounced back at the same venue in mid-January, winning the second test by an innings.
A third test was held in Sydney at the end of January, England winning a hard-fought decider by 69 runs. Bligh had won the figurative Ashes, as well as the literal version in his suitcase.
In between times, his team played more games at regional centres, including excursions to Maryborough, Hobart and Launceston.
Bligh also found time to return to Rupertswood, spending New Years Eve there, and a few days at Easter when the tour was drawing to a close. He was not solely motivated by Clarke’s hospitality.
Bligh had taken a liking to Florence Morphy, co-creator of The Ashes, romance steadily bloomed over the summer. Bligh proposed in early January, and the pair were married in Melbourne.
After a honeymoon in Australia, Morphy would return with him to England.
Bligh’s family estate was Cobham Hall, Kent, which he inherited in 1900. He lived there as Lord Darnley, with his wife and family, until his death in 1927.
In his den, Bligh kept memorabilia from his cricket career, including the ashes urn. After his passing, the urn was presented to the Marylebone Cricket Club, who kept it at their ground, Lords, in London.
After the 1880s, ‘The Ashes’ had faded from memory again. But as cricket continued to grow in popularity in the 20th century, the story and term would be revived.
By the early 1900s, ‘The Ashes’ was being used regularly to describe the series between England and Australia. After the First World War, the label became ubiquitous.
Unlike many sporting icons, The Ashes are symbolic. The teams do not play for the actual urn kept at Lords: the item is too fragile to move, and rarely leaves the ground’s museum.
Players on the winning team are sometimes presented with a replica, at the end of a series.
As a figurative item, it seems fitting that the urn retains some elements of mystery.
There is speculation as to what the ashes in the urn, actually are; different accounts from witnesses indicate either a bail or a ball from the social match, or a veil of Lady Clarke’s, one of these burnt for the purpose. Some have also said they are just regular ashes from a household fireplace, scooped out of the hearth.
Testing is not possible due to the fragility of the item.
Similarly, it is not known exactly when the urn was presented to Bligh. Candidates include Christmas Eve, New Years Eve, and his Easter visit, near the end of the tour.
Vast quantities of text have been expended, trying to prove one or other of these theories.
Rupertswood is now owned by the Catholic Church, who operate a private college there.
Signs dotted around Sunbury refer to it as ‘the birthplace of the Ashes’, but the story remains a footnote. Any cricket fans visiting will find little to satisfy them: there is no museum, and access to Rupertswood is restricted.
A few statues of famous Ashes identities line one street, a large set of wickets doubles as a clock.
Local figures have pushed for more recognition of the town’s cricketing history. Councillor Jack Ogilvie said, ‘We have to take advantage of Sunbury being the birthplace of the Ashes’.
