Walter Lancashire (28 October 1903 — 7 June 1981) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 of the 1930s and a schoolteacher. Lancashire was born in October 1903 at Hemsworth, Yorkshire. He was educated at Rotherham Grammar School, before matriculating to

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, where he captained the

and

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 ...

teams. After graduating from Sheffield, he became a schoolmaster, and was initially a sports and maths master in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

at Taunton's School. He played football for

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

, having been signed in 1927. A

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he played only for the reserves. In Southampton, he also played

club cricket Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are obs ...

for Deanery Cricket Club. Following success at club level, he began playing as an

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

's club and ground team. Lancashire eventually made his debut in

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 Hampshire against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in the

1935 County Championship The 1935 County Championship was the 42nd officially organised running of the County Championship. Yorkshire County Cricket Club won the championship title. Table *A minimum of 24 matches *15 points for a win *7.5 points to each side in a match ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, debuting alongside Arthur Holt. He made six appearances in 1935, before making a further eight in the

1936 County Championship The 1936 County Championship was the 43rd officially organised running of the County Championship. Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket str ...

. He played for Hampshire until the

1937 County Championship The 1937 County Championship was the 44th officially organised running of the County Championship. Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure o ...

, in which he made four appearances. In eighteen first-class matches for Hampshire, he scored 471 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 16.82; he made two half centuries, with a highest score of 66. With the ball, he took 7 wickets with his

medium pace bowling Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

, with best figures of 2 for 49. During 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 opposin ...

, he was evacuated along with the pupils of Taunton's School to

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

. He would return to Southampton during the war to play club cricket for Deanery. Following the war, he took up a teaching post at

The Thomas Hardye School The Thomas Hardye School is a secondary academy school in Dorchester, Dorset, England. It is also part of the DASP group. History Grammar school The school is named after Thomas Hardye of Melcombe Regis and later Frampton. Hardye was a p ...

in Dorchester. Lancashire began playing

minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

for

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

in 1946, with him being elected Dorset

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1947. He remained captain until his final season in 1950, having represented Dorset in 45

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

matches. In Dorset, he played his club cricket for Dorchester. Lancashire died in Dorchester on 7 June 1981.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lancashire, Walter 1903 births 1981 deaths Sportspeople from Hemsworth Schoolteachers from Yorkshire Cricketers from West Yorkshire People educated at Rotherham Grammar School Alumni of the University of Sheffield English cricketers Hampshire cricketers Dorset cricketers Dorset cricket captains