Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield he presented a donation of £150 to the New South Wales Cricket Association which was used to purchase a plate and establish the competition known as the Sheffield Shield, the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. Lord Sheffield died in Beaulieu, France, in April 1909, aged 77. Rumoured to be homosexual, he remained unmarried, and on his death the earldom became extinct. However, he was succeeded in his junior title of Baron Sheffield, which had a special remainder that allowed it to be passed through female lines, by his first cousin once removed, Edward Stanley, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley.
Sheffield Park cricket ground Sheffield Park cricket ground Sheffield Park is a cricket ground at the Sheffield Park estate, located near Uckfield, East Sussex, England. From 1881 to 1896 it was the home ground of Lord Sheffield's XI, organised by Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, who in 1891 donated £150 to the New South Wales Cricket Association which was used to purchase a plate and establish the competition known as the Sheffield Shield. Cricket had been played at the ground for the previous 30 years before 1881, but these matches were unrecorded. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1881, when