The unofficial history of Cribbage and Sir John Suckling

One of England’s greatest contributions to Western civilization is the Cribbage card game, at least in the opinion of avid Cribbage players. Sir John Suckling is responsible for bringing us the game we love today. Although there is no true proof that Sir John Suckling was the creator of Cribbage, he is, at the very least, responsible for publishing and spreading the game across the country.

Sir John Suckling, poet, playwright, master bowler/player, and notorious ladies’ man, was born at Whitton, between Twickenham and Hounslow, Middlesex, on February 10, 1609. He was born into a very prominent family in England, although after death from his mother when he was four years old, his father was in charge of raising the boy. His father was a member of the English Parliament and was the “controller” of the King’s household until his untimely death in 1627. Sir John was 18 when his father died and was old enough to inherit the property considerably great of his father. After receiving the inheritance, he spent countless amounts of money on travel, women, and of course, gambling.

In 1623 he enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge and then at Gray’s Inn in 1627. At the young age of 18, he pursued a military career, joining Gustavus Adolphus’s army during the Thirty Years’ War. At the age of 21, King Charles I knighted Suckling. The king quickly regretted the decision, so he left court and became involved in several different military adventures. It is said that he served in an expedition against France and that he fought in Lord Wimbledon’s regiments in the service of the Dutch. In October 1631 Sir John joined Sir Henry Vane, who was serving under Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. In 1632, Suckling returned quickly to the good will of King Charles after delivering the dispatches, on Vane’s orders, and after completing his mission, he returned and remained in England.

After that, he filled his time with gambling, womanizing, and serving in the military for the rest of the decade. This is where he is said to have invented the beloved game of cribbage, which had some similar features to the Noddy and One-and-Thirty games. Though when the Scottish War of 1639 began, he left his beloved letters and women to raise a troop of 100 horsemen and his army joined King Charles in the north. When the war ended, peacefully, in 1639, Sir John returned to London. He was elected to Parliament in 1640, but in May 1641 he became embroiled in a vain attempt to free a political prisoner, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Stratford, who was being held in the Tower of London. Sir John Suckling was charged with treason and had to flee to France with very few belongings and almost no financial help to avoid arrest.

In order to establish some form of financial security in one of his darkest hours, Suckling began selling large numbers of marked packs of cards and distributing them to the region’s wealthier population. He then he began to play cards where the marked cards were distributed. In 1642, Sir John Suckling was believed to have committed suicide by taking poison. It has been said that his greatest achievements were the lyrics to “why so pale” and “wan fond lover?” and for Cribbage, which has changed very little since the days of Suckling and is one of the most popular card games in the English-speaking world.