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Lot Essay
John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (1745-1799), only son of Lord John Philip Sackville (1713-1765) and his wife Lady Frances, daughter of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower, was born on 25 March 1745 and baptised at St James's, Piccadilly. He was educated at Westminster School and became MP for Kent in 1768. This career was to be short-lived, for in January 1769 he succeeded his uncle Charles Sackville as 3rd Duke of Dorset. His activities centred largely around his local region as he was appointed lord lieutenant of Kent, a position he held for nearly thirty years, and colonel of the West Kent militia for over twenty years. He was further appointed captain of the yeomen of the guard and master of the horse in 1782 but upon his change of allegiance to Pitt he resigned and in December 1783 went to Paris as ambassador, taking with him an extraordinary supply of ambassadorial plate. In August 1789 he was recalled, having been created a knight of the garter the preceding year. Upon his return he served as steward to the Royal household, but seems to have spent more time and energy throughout his career in pursuing his two passions, cricket and affairs of the heart.
The Duke was one of the founding members of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1787, regularly employed men of cricketing ability on his estates, and in his will left Sevenoaks Vine as a cricket ground in perpetuity. He commissioned a portrait of the Hambledon player Lumpy Stevens, the first ever of a paid cricketer, and was himself immortalised by John Burnby in the Gentlemen's Magazine in 1773:
His Grace for bowling cannot yield
To none but Lumpy in the field
He firmly strikes with bat upright
And strikes with his athletic might
Sends forth the ball across the mead,
And scores six notches for the deed.
This may have been something of an exaggeration, but he played for England against Hambleton in 1783 and seems to have acquitted himself well generally on the field. Unusually for the time he was an advocate of women's cricket, saying 'What is human life but a game of cricket and, if so, why should not the ladies play it as well as we' (F. Haygarth, Frederick Lillywhite's Cricket Scores and Biographies, 1, 1862, xxii). His progressive attitude in this regard dovetails with his many flirtations and affairs, notably with Georgiana, the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire. His letters to her during his ambassadorship to France provide a revealing precis of the gathering political storm, although he does not seem to have let international crises deter him from attempting to bring a cricket side to play in France. That abortive attempt, in 1789, coincided with the initial skirmishes of the French Revolution and the plan had to be abandoned when the Duke retreated to Dover.
He married on 4 January 1790, Arabella (1769-1825), daughter of Sir Charles Cope, 2nd baronet, and his wife Catherine Bishopp. They had two daughters and a son. Known as a benevolent and slightly indolent employer, the Duke was considered kind and personable. He was a patron of the arts and a philanthropist, though his personal extravagances often outweighed these considerations subjecting him to occasional satirical treatment in the press. The Duke died at Knole on 19 July 1799 and was buried at Withyham church, Sussex. He was succeeded by his son, George John Frederick.
The Duke was one of the founding members of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1787, regularly employed men of cricketing ability on his estates, and in his will left Sevenoaks Vine as a cricket ground in perpetuity. He commissioned a portrait of the Hambledon player Lumpy Stevens, the first ever of a paid cricketer, and was himself immortalised by John Burnby in the Gentlemen's Magazine in 1773:
His Grace for bowling cannot yield
To none but Lumpy in the field
He firmly strikes with bat upright
And strikes with his athletic might
Sends forth the ball across the mead,
And scores six notches for the deed.
This may have been something of an exaggeration, but he played for England against Hambleton in 1783 and seems to have acquitted himself well generally on the field. Unusually for the time he was an advocate of women's cricket, saying 'What is human life but a game of cricket and, if so, why should not the ladies play it as well as we' (F. Haygarth, Frederick Lillywhite's Cricket Scores and Biographies, 1, 1862, xxii). His progressive attitude in this regard dovetails with his many flirtations and affairs, notably with Georgiana, the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire. His letters to her during his ambassadorship to France provide a revealing precis of the gathering political storm, although he does not seem to have let international crises deter him from attempting to bring a cricket side to play in France. That abortive attempt, in 1789, coincided with the initial skirmishes of the French Revolution and the plan had to be abandoned when the Duke retreated to Dover.
He married on 4 January 1790, Arabella (1769-1825), daughter of Sir Charles Cope, 2nd baronet, and his wife Catherine Bishopp. They had two daughters and a son. Known as a benevolent and slightly indolent employer, the Duke was considered kind and personable. He was a patron of the arts and a philanthropist, though his personal extravagances often outweighed these considerations subjecting him to occasional satirical treatment in the press. The Duke died at Knole on 19 July 1799 and was buried at Withyham church, Sussex. He was succeeded by his son, George John Frederick.