Sir William Hargreaves Leese, 2nd Baronet, (24 August 1868 – 17 January 1937) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

first-class

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 str ...

er and barrister. The son of the cricketer and politician Sir Joseph Leese, he was born in August 1868 at

Send, Surrey Send is a village and civil parish in the Guildford borough of the English county of Surrey. Send acquired its name during the Great Vowel Shift from the word sand, which was extracted at various periods until the 1990s for construction and ...

. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

, where he played for the cricket eleven. From Winchester he went up to

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

. During his studies at Cambridge, Leese 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 the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

Fenner's Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground. History Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orchard ...

in 1889, and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

at Lord's in 1890. He scored 57 runs in these two matches, with a highest score of 35. Leese was an enthusiastic amateur actor when at Cambridge and was closely associated with the

Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

. A student of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

, he was called to the bar in 1893. In December of the same year he married Violet Mary Sandeman. He continued his interest in acting after leaving Cambridge. His association with

I Zingari I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the ' ...

led to him performing for the

Old Stagers The Old Stagers (OS) is an amateur theatre group, founded in 1842 by Hon. Frederick Ponsonby (later Earl of Bessborough) to perform during Kent's annual Canterbury Cricket Week. Originally the Canterbury Old Stagers, it took its current name in 1 ...

at the

Canterbury Cricket Week Canterbury Cricket Week is the oldest cricket festival week in England and involves a series of consecutive Kent home matches, traditionally held in the first week in August. It was founded in 1842, although a similar festival week was first hel ...

; he was additionally associated with the Windsor Strollers. By 1905, Leese was a partner in the legal firm Freshfields & Co., who were solicitors for the Bank of England. He succeeded to the Smyth baronetcy as the 2nd Baronet upon the death of his father in July 1914. He held the additional post of justice of the peace for Hertfordshire. Leese died in January 1937 at

Sidmouth Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 12,569 in 2011, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town h ...

. He was succeeded as the 3rd Baronet by his son, Sir Oliver Leese, who commanded the Eighth Army and

11th Army Group The 11th Army Group was the main British Army force in Southeast Asia during the Second World War. Although a nominally British formation, it also included large numbers of troops and formations from the British Indian Army and from British Africa ...

in the final years of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. From a cricketing family, his brothers Vernon and Neville both played first-class cricket, as did his uncle Ernest Leese.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leese, William 1868 births 1937 deaths People from the Borough of Guildford Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge 19th-century English male actors English male stage actors English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Members of the Inner Temple English barristers English solicitors English justices of the peace