Death of English Peer Recalls Origin of “The Ashes"

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 58, 31 May 1927, Page 12

Death of English Peer Recalls Origin of “The Ashes"

A CRICKET ROMANCE

THE origin of the now world-famous term, “The Ashes,” symbolical of the mythical trophy for which England and Australia meet at cricket, is recalled by the death in England of Lord Parnley, 'one of the great leaders of English cricket in the eighties.

r jPHE term “Ashes’ was first used in X “London Punch” in ISS2, in a quaintly humorous reference to England’s first defeat in England by an Australian cricket team. “Punch” dealt with the match on the lines of an In Memoriam notice concluding with the words: “The body will be cremated, and the ashes taken to Australia.” THE “ASHES” REGAINED In the following year, 1883, Lord Darnley (then the Hon. Ivo Bligh) captained the English team which regained the “Ashes.” As a memento of the English victory, some Melbourne ladies bought a small earthenware urn, filled it with the ashes made by the burning of the stumps used in the match, and presented it to the English captain. This urn became one of Lord

Darnley’s most prized possessions, and he would never part with it during his lifetime, although it had been suggested on many occasions that it would make -an admirable trophy for the “Tests” between England and Australia. Lord Darnley’s marriage was a romance cricket. One day in a match "Down Under,” a ball from Spofforth, “the demon bowler,” struck Ivo Bligh on the hand and split it so badly that the batsman had to leave the field. A girl in the enclosure preferred her handkerchief, which was gratefully accepted, and she hound up the injured hand herself. The girl was Miss Florence Morphy, of Beech wood. Victoria, and when the English captain returned to England he brought her back with him as. his bride.