Thomas Spencer Curteis (10 March 1843 – 5 June 1914) 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 striki ...

er and clergyman. The son of The Reverend Jeremiah Curteis, he was born in February 1836 at Shelton, Norfolk. He was educated firstly at

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head_l ...

, before attending

King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds King Edward VI School is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The school in its present form was created in 1972 by the merging of King Edward VI Grammar School, with the Silver Jubilee Girls Scho ...

, leaving in 1862. He played for the cricket eleven at King Edward VI, where he was coached by

John Loraine Baldwin John Loraine Baldwin (1 June 1809 – 25 November 1896) was a prominent English cricket enthusiast who was a co-founder of the I Zingari nomadic cricket club. Early life and education He was born near Halifax, Yorkshire,Ivor Waters, ''Chepstow ...

. From King Edward VI he went up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. While studying at Cambridge, he 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 ...

for

Cambridge University Cricket Club Cambridge University Cricket Club, first recorded in 1817, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. Depending on the circumstances of each individual match, the club has always been recognised as holding ...

in 1864 and 1865, making seven appearances and playing both years in

The University Match The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

against

Oxford 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 the ...

. His bowling was described by ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' as being "very valuable" and his style as being "left-handed and very straight" and "exceedingly difficult to play". He took 24 wickets in his seven matches, with best figures of 4 for 23 and a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 19.43. Less accomplished as a batsman, he was described by ''Wisden'' as "a neat bat, but rather too fond of hitting"; his seven first-class matches yielding 65 runs. He was one of the treasurers of Cambridge University Cricket Club in 1865. His later cricket included minor matches for Norfolk and Suffolk. After graduating from Cambridge, he took holy orders in the Anglican Church in 1866. His first ecclesiastical post was as curate at

Rostherne Rostherne is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England (). To the north of the village is Rostherne Mere and to the south is Tatton Park. The A556 road passes to its ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, from 1866 to 1868. He held various other curacies until 1873, after which he became rector of

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

in 1873. He held this rectorship until his death at Brampton in June 1914.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curteis, Thomas 1843 births 1914 deaths People from Shelton and Hardwick People educated at Felsted School People educated at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers 19th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English Anglican priests