MCC and Travelex create historic 'Ashes Exhibition' tour of Australia

Date released: 20 September 2006

Original Ashes urn to tour six Australian cities for the first time ever

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Travelex today (Monday 11th September) announced an historic 94 day Ashes Exhibition tour to Australia. The exhibition will involve the original Ashes Urn itself and more than 30 historical artefacts dating back to 1882.

The tour marks only the third time in history that the Ashes Urn has left the MCC Museum at Lord’s and the first time it has ever toured around Australia. Many of the other artefacts in the exhibition are being exhibited away from Lord’s for the first time.

The Ashes Exhibition in association with Travelex has been designed to coincide with the England cricket team’s tour to Australia as they bid to retain the Ashes for the first time since 1986/7. The three month exhibition will visit seven museums across Australia with the following itinerary:

• The Museum of Sydney from 21st October until 8th November
• Queensland Museum, Brisbane from 12th until 22nd November
• South Australian Museum, Adelaide from 26th November until 6th December
• Western Australian Museum, Perth from 10th until 20th December
• Melbourne Museum, from 26th December until 7th January
• Melbourne Cricket Club Museum, from 9th until 14th January
• Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, from 18th to 21st January

MCC’s Curator, Adam Chadwick, will be personally taking the Ashes Urn to Australia, in one of the most ambitious operations ever undertaken by the Club. In addition to the Ashes Urn, the exhibition includes other unique items, including the actual scorebook, scorecard and handwritten team list from that match at The Oval in 1882, when Australia beat England for the first time in England. It was this match that sparked the ‘death of English cricket’ and from which Ashes contests may be dated.

Commenting on the tour, Keith Bradshaw, who becomes Secretary & Chief Executive of MCC on 1st October, said: “The Ashes Urn is a potent symbol of the competition that exists between the Australian and English cricket teams. It also represents all that is good between our two nations. As the Urn makes its 26,000 mile journey to and around Australia, I hope that as many cricket fans as possible will take this unique chance to view a remarkable reminder of our shared heritage.”

The Executive Chairman of Travelex, Lloyd Dorfman, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring MCC’s first ever Ashes Exhibition in Australia and proud to be involved in helping make this historic event happen. I sincerely hope that as many people as possible take up this fantastic opportunity to enjoy this original and fascinating exhibition on the history of the Ashes.”

The last England captain to retain the Ashes in Australia, Mike Gatting, said: “The Ashes Exhibition is a fantastic idea. There is no greater contest in sport than the Ashes and to be able to see the actual Ashes Urn and so many other priceless artefacts up this close is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope that it will inspire the England team to repeat the feat of our team 20 years ago by retaining the Ashes ‘down under’.”

The Australian wicket-keeper and Travelex non-executive director, Adam Gilchrist, said, “For Travelex and MCC to have put this much effort into making this tour happen means the world to every single Australian cricket fan and player. I hope thousands of Australians take up the chance to see the Ashes Exhibition in association with Travelex whilst it is here. To me, this is the history of cricket and to be able to see it this close is a very special moment indeed.”

Additional information

The phrase ‘Ashes’ came into being after a spoof obituary was published in an English newspaper (The Sporting Times) in 1882 following the match at The Oval, in which Australia beat England in England for the first time. The article stated that English cricket had died, and “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”.

The English media hyped the subsequent tour to Australia in 1882-83 as the quest to regain The Ashes of English Cricket. The Ashes Urn was then presented to the English captain Ivo Bligh - who later became the Earl of Darnley - during the 1882-83 tour as a personal memento by a group of Australian ladies, including Miss Florence Morphy. Ivo and Florence’s romance blossomed and they were married in 1884.

The Ashes Urn, which was never intended to be a trophy, remained with them as a reminder of their courtship. When Lord Darnley died in 1927, his widow bequeathed the Urn to MCC; it has been looked after at Lord’s ever since.

Exhibition contents

1. Scorebook: The Australian Eleven 1882. Paper and board; 246 mm x 310mm. Open at the page showing England’s second innings collapse during the 1882 Test Match at The Oval which gave rise to the term ‘the ashes’. MCC Collection.

2. Scorecard: England v. Australia, The Oval, 1882. Card; 440 mm x 260 mm (mounted). MCC Collection.

3. Handwritten team sheets. Paper; 440 mm x 310 mm (mounted). Team lists, written by England captain A.N. Hornby and Australian captain W.L. Murdoch and given to the umpire before the start of the match. MCC Collection.

4. Handkerchief depicting the 1882 Australians. Fine cotton lawn; 708 mm x 650 mm (framed). MCC Collection.

5. 'The Australian Cricketers: An Account of their Tour and Matches, 1882'. Published by H. Etherington, 1882. Newsprint pamphlet; 4 pages, 285 mm x 222 mm. MCC Collection.

6. Portrait of W.G. Grace. By Henry Scott Tuke ARA (1858-1929). Watercolour on board; 379 mm x 302 mm (framed).
Signed and dated H.S. Tuke, 1905. MCC Collection.

7. Portrait of F.R. Spofforth. By Henry Scott Tuke ARA (1858-1929). Watercolour on board; 375 mm x 300 mm (framed).
Signed and dated H.S. Tuke, 1906. MCC Collection.

8. Bat used by WG Grace. Circa 1873. Maker: R Dark & Sons, Lord’s Ground. Wood (cricket bat willow); length: 873 mm. Inscription on the bat reads “I played against the Australians with this bat. W.G. Grace.” MCC Collection.

9. Bat used by W.L. Murdoch. Used in the first England v. Australia Test Match to be played in England, The Oval, 1880. Maker: B Warsop, Marylebone. Wood (cricket bat willow). Length: 850 mm. Inscription on bat reads ‘W.L. Murdoch, Australia v England, 6,7,8 September, 1880, 153 not out. Australia v 18 of Newcastle, 117.’ MCC Collection.

10. Illustration of the match at The Oval. Published by The Illustrated London News, 1882. Printed paper; 425 mm x 588 mm (framed). MCC Collection.

11. 'Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game'. Published 31st August 1882. Bound magazine; 279 mm x 210 mm. Open at the page showing the obituary to English cricket written after England’s defeat at The Oval. MCC Collection.

12. 'Sporting Times'. Published 2nd September 1882. Facsimile; newspaper; 510 mm x 275 mm (framed). Page shows the famous obituary notice written by Reginald Brooks. MCC Collection.

13. ‘Ivo’: The Earl of Darnley. By Sir Leslie Ward (‘Spy’) (1851-1922). Watercolour on paper; 356mm x 198mm (unframed) Published in Vanity Fair magazine. (Statesman No. 766), 1904. Anonymous loan to MCC Collection.

14. The Ashes urn. Ceramic with wooden base; height 110 mm. Date of production circa 1882. Maker unknown. MCC Collection.

15. Decorative bag. Made by Mrs Anne Fletcher as a receptacle for the urn, 1883. Fabric (velvet); 208 mm x 180 mm. MCC Collection. Together with the design drawn by Mrs Fletcher for the decoration on the bag. Paper, 226 mm x 216 mm (mounted). MCC Collection.

16. Letter written by Ivo Bligh. Paper; 350 mm x 300 mm (mounted). The letter reads “The ashes shall be consigned to it forthwith and always kept there in memory of the great match.” MCC Collection.

17. Images of the urn. On display in the Ashes Exhibition will be a number of books and pamphlets which illustrate the various ways in which the ashes urn has been depicted over the years.

18. Gold Sphere. Presented to the England team manager Tom Pawley in honour of England’s victory against Australia in 1911/12. Hollow gold; 30 mm diameter. Inscription reads “The Ashes of Australian Cricket 1912.” MCC Collection.

19. MCC Minute Book. Leather bound paper; 342 mm x 230 mm. Open at the meeting held at Lord’s on July 2nd 1928 which reported the gift of the ashes urn from Lord Darnley to MCC.
MCC Collection.

20. The Ashes Trophy. Presented to the winning captain of the England v Australia Test series. Waterford crystal; wooden base; height 500 mm. Commissioned by MCC 1998.

21. The Women’s Ashes. Created following the burning of a miniature bat by the England and Australian captains, Karen Smithies and Belinda Clark at Lord’s in 1998. Wood, height 100 mm. Loan to MCC by the England & Wales Cricket Board.

22. The British Blind Sport Ashes Trophy. First presented to the winner of the England v Australia series in 2004. Silver plate on acrylic base; height 350 mm. Loan to MCC by British Blind Sport.

Exhibition partners

Travelex is the world's largest foreign exchange specialist, with over 700 retail branches and 15,000 business customers. There are retail branches at key airport, seaport and rail locations, in addition to tourist and business centres around the world. Over 40% of the world's airline passengers, over 1.3 billion people, pass through airports at which the business operates including the major gateways at London, New York, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and Sydney. Travelex is the world's largest non-bank provider of commercial foreign exchange services, providing integrated solutions for businesses. The Group is also one of the world's leading providers of outsourced travel money to banks, travel agencies.

MCC is the owner of Lord’s and the world’s most active cricket-playing club. From making and guarding the game's Laws to safeguarding its Spirit, and from promoting cricket to young people to looking after Lord's, MCC is committed to the good of the game. In 2006, the Club's teams will play around 500 matches and undertake numerous overseas tours - including a tour of Australia with fixtures in Melbourne and Sydney - to help increase cricket's international appeal.