Chartism, cricket,1848 & The Oval
Kennington in South London is known for a number of things including the Oval cricket ground and Kennington Common. The Common was the scene of the Chartist protest for the vote on Monday 10th April 1848, the first demonstration in history for which photographic evidence exists.
There is no direct connection between the Chartists and the Oval but there are links.
The Oval cricket ground was built on part of the Common in 1845 and matches were played there in succeeding years. I can find no record of a game played in April 1848 but Surrey played (and won) a three day game against an All England X1 in early August 1848. A painting exists of the game being played and the position of the current ground in relation to the Common can clearly be seen.
The Chartists certainly played cricket themselves. The Chartist paper the Northern Star has a report played on Chorleywood Common in July 1847 where the bricklayers team beat the carpenters team by 28 runs
The link between Chartism and cricket in London is certainly worth some further research
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