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Suburbanization and cultural change: the case of club cricket in Surrey, 1870–1939

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2016

DUNCAN STONE
DUNCAN STONE*
Affiliation:
Huddersfield University, History Department, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, UK
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Abstract

This article examines the social, economic and political origins of what was a new, distinctly elitist, culture of ‘non-competitive’ sport, and how these values, which emerged from a small group of metropolitan elites, spread throughout the south-east of England. It argues that a long-term analysis of sport provides a valuable contextual tool for urban historians. In this case, how the gradual adoption of a distinctly ‘metropolitan’ culture throughout Surrey, and the associated changes in the social structure and purpose of cricket, may contribute towards a more nuanced assessment of that county's ‘suburbanization’, and how this region interacted with the urban core.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 44 - 68
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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