At the beginning of the 18th century AD, sports were often cruel (cock-fighting), combative (bare-knuckle prize-fighting), and usually involved gambling. They were also class-based, with villages having their own local events, while the upper classes went hunting and shooting. Over the century, sport became ‘gentrified’ and increasingly involved professional players and paying audiences.

Cricket was still played on village greens, but 20,000 people watched Kent play Hampshire in 1772. The MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) was founded at Lord’s cricket ground in London in 1787. People wagered huge sums on the results of matches, and bookmakers had to be banned from Lord’s in 1825. The early 19th century was the golden age of prize-fighting. Successful fighters became rich and set up gymnasiums, paving the way for boxing to develop in the 19th century.

Horse racing had been the ‘sport of kings’ since the Restoration but it gained a wider audience in the 19th century. New courses were opened all over the country. The Jockey Club was founded in 1752 to regulate the sport, and jockeys and trainers were professionals. Major races became ‘classics’, like the St Leger, the Oaks and the Derby. W.P. Frith’s painting Derby Day (1856-8) shows the mixture of people, fashionable, ‘respectable’, and poor who attended what had become a great popular sporting event.