Editing Croquet (section)

===Irish origin theory===
The second theory is that the rules of the modern game of croquet arrived in [[Ireland]] during the 1850s, perhaps after being brought there from [[Brittany]], where a similar game was played on the beaches. Regular contact between Ireland and France had continued since the [[Norman invasion of Ireland]] in 1169. By no later than the early 15th century, the game ''{{lang|frm|jeu de mail}}'' (itself ancestral to pall-mall and perhaps to indoor [[Cue sports#History|billiards]]) was popular in France, including in the courts of [[Henry II of France|Henry II]] in the 16th century and [[Louis XIV]] of the 17th.

At least one version of it, ''{{lang|frm|rouët}}'' ('wheel'), was a multi-ball lawn game.  Records show a game called "crookey", similar to croquet, being played at [[Castlebellingham]] in County Louth, Ireland, in 1834, which was introduced to [[Galway]] in 1835 and played on the bishop's palace garden, and in the same year to the genteel Dublin suburb of Kingstown (today [[Dún Laoghaire]]) where it was first spelled as "croquet".{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} There is, however, no pre-1858 Irish document that describes the way the game was played; in particular, there is no reference to the distinctive croquet stroke,<ref name="prichard">{{cite book |last=Prichard |first=D. M. C. |title=The History of Croquet |publisher=Cassell |date=1981 |isbn=0-304-30759-9}}</ref> which is described above under "[[#Association|Variations: Association]]". The noted croquet historian Dr. Prior, in his book of 1872, makes the categorical statement, "One thing only is certain: it is from Ireland that croquet came to England and it was on the lawn of the late Lord Lonsdale that it was first played in this country."<ref>{{cite book| title=A Brief History of Croquet in Ireland |first1=Clive |last1=Martin |first2=Simon |last2=Williams |year=2004}}</ref>

John Jaques apparently claimed in a letter to [[Arthur Lillie]] in 1873 that he had himself seen the game played in Ireland, writing, "I made the implements and published directions (such as they were) before Mr. Spratt [mentioned above] introduced the subject to me."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Croquet: Its History, Rules, and Secrets |first= Arthur |last=Lillie |page=29 |publisher=Longmans, Green |date=1897  |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=irBDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA29}}</ref> Whatever the truth of the matter, Jaques certainly played an important role in popularising the game, producing editions of the rules in 1857, 1860, and 1864.