White Conduit Club

Although short-lived, it had considerable significance in the history of the game, as its members created the first Lord's venue and reorganised themselves as the new Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

The most significant members were Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond and George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea who employed Lord to find a new, private venue for the club after complaints that White Conduit Fields was too open to the public.

According to Pelham Warner, it was formed in 1782 as an offshoot from a West End club called the Je-ne-sais-quoi, some of whose members frequented the White Conduit House in Islington and played matches on the neighbouring White Conduit Fields.

The famous batsman Billy Beldham was hired while still a young professional in 1785 and in later life told James Pycroft, author of The Cricket Field (1851), that his farming employer concluded a deal with George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea to allow Beldham time off his agricultural duties to go to the cricket ground at White Conduit Fields and play for Hampshire against All-England.

[5] White Conduit Fields also disappeared as London expanded and absorbed the village of Islington.