The birthplace of Thomas Lord

Lord’s Cricket Ground in London bears the name of a Yorkshireman, Thomas Lord, who was born in this house in Kirkgate on 23rd November 1755.

His father William was a labourer, impoverished, so the story goes, after supporting the Stuart cause in the 1745 rebellion. The family later moved to Diss in Norfolk, where the young Thomas went to school and from where he eventually set out to seek his fortune in London.

He prospered as a wine and provision merchant, but proving a useful cricketer, he was engaged by the White Conduit Club which counted a number of aristocratic players among its members. Lacking a ground of its own, the club commissioned Lord to find a suitable site. He leased land near Dorset Square where the first match was played in 1787. The ground became known as Lord’s Cricket Ground and the Marylebone Cricket Club was founded.

In 1809 the land was sold for development and Lord moved the ground to a new site in Regents Park. Five years later the cutting of the Regent Canal forced him to move again, this time to the site in St Johns Wood, where the MCC remains to this day. Legend runs that on each move, Lord rolled up the turf and re-laid it on the new ground.

Thomas Lord finally retired to Hampshire, where he died in 1832. His grave is in the churchyard at West Meon.