Nottinghamshire played Derbyshire again after a two-year break, joining Yorkshire Hampshire, Lancashire and Kent as the fifth county to play Derbyshire In 1878, Derbyshire played two county games each against Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Kent and one match each against MCC and All England XI.
Henry Evans, a railway clerk, appeared occasionally over the next five years.
John Cartledge and Thomas Limb, a miner, played their only single career first class matches during the season.
Conrad Wallroth an Oxford graduate of independent means, and William Wood-Sims, a slater, appeared for the Uppingham match, although they did not make their first-class debuts until the following season.
These were Samuel Richardson, the club's first captain, William Hickton and John Smith.
Derbyshire scored 34 in the second innings with no player reaching double figures.
Against MCC Derbyshire made 36 in the first innings, losing eight wickets by WG Grace.
Robert Smith was also top scorer and W Mycroft took over 100 wickets for Derbyshire Smith played 1 match for North v South (36) Rigley played twice for Players v Australians (28) (27) W Mycroft played 10 innings in 6 other first class matches for a variety of sides scoring 19 runs.