A cachet of croquet

The first thing many people think of when you mention croquet is the image from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ where Alice is playing croquet with a flamingo and a hedgehog. Lewis (real name Charles Dodgson) had learned to play croquet whilst at Oxford University, so the game was front of mind when he wrote his best known book in 1865. 

Hoops in South Australia

Croquet was considered a garden party game in its early years. Games and sports manufacturer John Jaques sold 65,000 sets in three years, many of which found their way to the colonies of Australia and New Zealand. In 1864, Jaques issued the first ‘laws and regulations of the game’ with his sets, making it the only sport other than cricket to have ‘laws’ rather than ‘rules’.

There were two accepted ways to play the game, tight and loose. In tight croquet, your ball would be very close, or touching, the other ball and you would place your foot on your ball before using it to hit the other ball away, allowing for a more accurate shot. Loose croquet however has the balls a distance apart and whilst being easier to play, doesn’t allow for much precision. 

The laws of Croquet

The laws of Croquet were the subject of heated debate among the men but alongside this, discussion also began about the fact that ladies were also able to join in with this game. An article in the journal The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature and Science, which rarely wrote about sport, said in September 1864:

“In English amusements as in French studies there is a bifurcation. Each sex has its own pastimes founded on instinct and suited to its natural capacities. But between these extremes are others which are suited to both sexes. Croquet is the best attempt which has yet been made to provide a game in which the two sexes can join, depending on dexterity rather than strength.”

This had a few implications for society at the time. 

“If there is one terror which haunts the British materfamilias and her daughters more than any other, it is asking people to what they call nothing. Croquet supplies that indispensable something which will justify an invitation. Neighbours are asked to croquet, as they are asked to luncheon or a picnic. We English need every possible aid to sociability. Anything which tends to thaw the coating of starch which overlies our real kindliness is deserving of encouragement.” 

However, another extract from the Saturday Review the same year stated that “Simple modest retiring accomplished girls are fewer in proportion than they used to be. They used to be graceful shy and dignified. Now they dress like a tulip, get up croquet parties and know all about the last murder, divorce and ecclesiastical squabble.” 

Women and Croquet

As croquet grew and increasingly allowed women to do their own thing, and men and women to mix together outdoors, the game began to graduate from garden parties to clubs, becoming more organised.