Arthur Paul Boissier (25 January 1881 – 2 October 1953) was an English schoolmaster who was headmaster of

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, and a wartime civil servant. He was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played first-class cricket for

Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falcons ...

in 1901 and 1906.

Life

Boissier was born at Bloxham,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, the son of the Rev. Frederick Scobell Boissier, M.A., who was then curate of neighbouring Deddington as well as a teacher at Bloxham School. The Boissier family were minor gentry with a strong tradition of clerical service, descended from Gaspard Boissier (c. 1640–1705), of Geneva. Boissier was educated at

St. John's School, Leatherhead Seek those things which are above , established = , closed = , type = Public SchoolIndependent school Co-educational day, weekly and flexi boarding , religious_affiliation = Church of England , p ...

. His father became vicar of St Mary the Virgin's Church, Denby in 1900 and in 1901 Boissier made his first-class debut for Derbyshire against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He went to Oxford University where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

against Cambridge University in 1904. He also played cricket for

in 1903. In 1906 he played again for Derbyshire against Essex. He played four innings in two first-class matches to make a total of six runs. He bowled six overs to take two first-class wickets for 32 runs. From 1905 to 1919 Boissier was Senior Master at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, on the Isle of Wight. In November 1939 he was elected headmaster of

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, where he had been employed as an assistant master specializing in Mathematics since 1919. In 1942 he became Director of Public Relations at the Ministry of Fuel and Power. Boissier married Dorothy Christina Leslie, daughter of Rev. Clement Smith, rector of Whippingham and canon of Windsor, on the Isle of Wight in 1909. Their daughter Beatrice Mary June BoissierVisitation of England and Wales, vol. 18, ed. Frederick Arthur Crisp, 1914, Additions and Corrections, p. x married David Gordon, 4th Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, an Old Harrovian, in 1939. Boissier died at Stockethill, Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1953.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boissier, Arthur Paul 1881 births 1953 deaths English cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Head Masters of Harrow School Instructors of the Royal Naval College, Osborne Oxfordshire cricketers English civil servants Alumni of the University of Oxford Oxford University A.F.C. players People educated at St John's School, Leatherhead People from Bloxham Association footballers not categorized by position English footballers