Rowland Powell-Williams (8 January 1872 – 16 December 1951) was an English

cricketer 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 ...

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 officiall ...

between 1897 and 1905 for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, London County and the Gentlemen of England. He was born in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

and died in Yelverton,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. Up to 1900, which includes the whole period when he played for Warwickshire, he was known as Rowland Williams. Powell-Williams was the son of Joseph Powell Williams, a close political associate of Joseph Chamberlain, councillor and alderman in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Birmingham South from 1885 to his death in 1904. Powell-Williams was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, where he was in the school cricket team, and he played for Warwickshire's "Club and Ground" side from 1890 as a middle-order right-handed batsman. He played for Warwickshire in 1893, before the club was accorded first-class status, and then reappeared in five games in 1897 and 1898; he had limited success, with his highest score being 38 when he opened the second innings in the game against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in 1897. Further appearances were limited by his career as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

in London, where he lived and played club cricket at Beckenham: two of his five Warwickshire games were away matches against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and his two single first-class appearances for London County in 1902 and MCC in 1905 both took place at London County's ground at

Crystal Palace Park Crystal Palace Park is a Victorian pleasure ground located in the South London suburb of Crystal Palace which surrounds the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building. The Palace had been relocated from Hyde Park, London after the 18 ...

, very close to his Beckenham home.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell-Williams, Rowland 1872 births 1951 deaths English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers London County cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham