Surrey CCC was founded on the evening of 18 August 1845 at the Horns Tavern in Kennington, South London, where around 100 representatives of various cricket clubs in Surrey agreed a motion put by William Denison (the club's first secretary) "that a Surrey club be now formed". A further meeting at the Tavern on 22 October 1845 formally constituted the club, appointed its officers and began enrolling members. A lease on Kennington Oval, a former market garden, had been obtained from the Duchy of Cornwall – which owned the land – by a Mr Houghton, and the ground's first game had been during the 1845 season. Mr Houghton was of the old Montpelier Cricket Club, 70 members of which formed the nucleus of the new Surrey County club. The Honourable Fred Ponsonby, later the Earl of Bessborough was appointed as the first vice-president.