John Wolstenholme (1851 – 5 February 1914) was a cricketer who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region i ...

from 1887 to 1898.

Life and career

Wolstenholme was born in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. He became a school teacher, and married Mary Anne Leach in

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...

in July 1880. They moved in the 1880s to New Zealand, where he taught in the

area, conducting the school at

Norsewood Norsewood is a small rural settlement in the Tararua District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is situated east of the Ruahine Mountain range and is located 20 kilometres northeast of Dannevirke. Geography T ...

. Wolstenholme was an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

at cricket. In November 1892, he was described by the ''Hawke's Bay Herald'' thus: "has a good defence and splendid execution, and hits very hard when once set", and a fast bowler "with rather a low delivery" who "always gets wickets". He usually opened the batting, as he did when he made his highest first-class score of 103 in an innings victory over

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

in 1897–98. In Hawke's Bay's victory over Taranaki in 1891–92 he took 4 for 24 and 4 for 9. After his playing career ended, he umpired several of Hawke's Bay's home matches between 1899 and 1901. Wolstenholme was appointed headmaster of the school at Port Ahuriri, Napier, in 1890, and the school's academic and attendance records improved markedly under his stewardship. After retiring from the position after some years, he was the storekeeper at the small town of Ongaonga, in Central Hawke's Bay. In June 1906 he disappeared for several days before being found in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

living under an assumed name. He returned to Napier to live, working as a relieving teacher until his sudden death in February 1914. Mary Anne and several grown-up children survived him.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolstenholme, Jack 1851 births 1914 deaths People from Rishton Hawke's Bay cricketers New Zealand cricket umpires English emigrants to New Zealand Cricketers from Lancashire New Zealand schoolteachers Heads of schools in New Zealand