History of Test cricket from 1877 to 1883
By 1883, the tradition of England-Australia tours was well established, that year having concluded the first Ashes series. When England lost at home for the first time in 1882, "The Sporting Times" lamented the death of cricket in the mother country and declared that "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". England captain Ivo Bligh promised that on the tour to Australia in 1882–83 he would regain "the ashes" and the term began to be established. During that tour a small terracotta urn was presented to Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. The urn is commonly, but erroneously, believed to be the trophy of the Ashes series, but it has never been formally adopted as such and Bligh always considered it to be a personal gift.
History of English cricket from 1919 to 1939
In the 21 seasons between the wars, England took part in 120 Test matches as part of fifteen home and thirteen away series. Several other first-class tours were organised by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and private individuals like Sir Julien Cahn and Lionel Tennyson. Having won The Ashes in 1926 and successfully defended them in 1928–29, England thereafter had to face the formidable challenge of Don Bradman, whose heavy scoring was the key difference between England and Australia through the 1930s. Under the captaincy of Douglas Jardine in 1932–33, England controversially deployed so-called "leg theory", better known as "bodyline", in order to regain the Ashes but nearly caused an international incident by doing so.