Talk:John Dampier

2008 article

@BlackJack: hi, I see you started the article in 2008. so you may not remember all the details.

Do you have access to Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1? An IP editor changed the number of matches from three to five and added page numbers.

I have looked online for more information, but am wary of synthesis. I found The Eton College register, 1753-1790, https://archive.org/details/etoncollegeregis00austuoft/page/145/mode/1up?q=dampier So, the John Dampier who was born in 1750, studied at Eton and died at Ely in 1826 was the younger brother of Thomas Dampier and the son of Thomas Dampier (priest), Lower Master of Eton. The register omits that he was Rector of West Meon as well as of Wylye.

According to Cobbett's Rural rides This fellow, I believe, never saw the parish of Wyly but once, though it must have yielded him a pretty good fleece. https://archive.org/details/ruralrides02cobb/page/61/mode/1up?q=wyly

Also Start of Play: Cricket and Culture in Eighteenth-Century England. David Underdown 2000 says There were several parsons among the Hambledon members: John Ballard of Portsea, John Dampier of West Meon, Jonathan Rashleigh of Wickham, for example. TSventon (talk) 23:16, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

More Anecdotes in Hampshire Notes and Queries Volume 1, 1883 pages 114 and 115 Google books link. TSventon (talk) 15:19, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

Hi, TSventon. Sorry for not replying sooner. I had a quick look at this last night, and Dampier did play in five important matches, as recorded on CricketArchive. I think the IP edits were okay. I have got Haygarth's book.

Dampier played twice in 1785 for WCC against Gents of Kent, one in Sevenoaks on 20 June, and the other in Islington on 30 June. Haygarth has the 30 June match n pages 62/63. The source for the first match is Waghorn, page 65. Haygarth has WCC v Kent in June 1786 on pages 64/65, and Kent v WCC in August on page 68. Dampier's last known match was WCC v England at Lord's in June 1787. Haygarth has that on pages 71/72.

I'll be happy to add this one to my to-do list, but it might be some days before I can fit it in. Do please let me know if I can help further. All the best, Jack (talk) 16:42, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

@BlackJack: thank you for improving the article. My main question is, how reliable is the biographical information on CricketArchive and do you know any other sources that confirm it? According to The Eton College register, 1753-1790 there were only three boys named Dampier there in the period, all sons of a master there. Hence the John Dampier in CricketArchive is the Rector of West Meon, later a prebendary at Ely. If so I could add sections on "Ecclesiastical career" and "Cricket career" as for Lord Frederick Beauclerk. TSventon (talk) 12:01, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

Hi, TSventon. Apart from its scorecards, I don't rate CricketArchive at all highly up to 1825, after which the available source information becomes increasingly more comprehensive. These five scorecards are fine as CA have got them from Haygarth and Waghorn, who are both excellent sources. Unfortunately, John Dampier isn't one of Haygarth's biographies, and Waghorn only mentions him in the scorecard, probably because they could find little or nothing about him. All that CA says in biographical terms is that he was born in 1750, he died on 18 August 1826 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, and he was educated at Eton College. I would guess they got that information from the ACS, who probably accessed the Eton Register. I'm afraid I don't know of other sources that could be useful. Jack (talk) 15:23, 23 July 2026 (UTC)