Wilfred Carter (19 June 1896 — 1 November 1975) was an English sportsman who played 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 ...

for

Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falcons ...

between 1920 and 1926 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 ...

for

Watford Football Club Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club’s original foundation is 1881, aligned with that of its antecede ...

at the same time.

Life and career

Carter was born in

Annesley Annesley is a village and civil parish in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Hucknall and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,162 (including Annesley Woodhouse to the west). Annesley Hall ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

but the family moved to

Bolsover Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover (borough), Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from London, from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby, Derbyshire, Derby. It is the main town in the Bols ...

, Derbyshire. He made his first-class cricket debut for Derbyshire in the 1920 season against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

in which match he scored 25 and 19. He played regularly throughout the year. Also in 1920, he joined

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

as left

wing half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. His arrival coincided with Watford's entry into the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for the first time in their history. He was one of 20 players to play for the club competitively at both

Cassio Road Cassio Road, also known as the West Herts Sport Ground, is a sports ground in Watford in England. It was the home ground of Watford F.C. between 1898 and 1922. History In the early twentieth century, Cassio Road was used for athletics, cricket ...

and

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of championship club Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, when the club moved from Cassi ...

. Carter scored his first half-century in the 1921 cricket season. In the 1922 season he achieved his record first-class score of 145 against Leicestershire when he and Anthony Jackson made an eighth-wicket partnership of 182, a record for the county which lasted until

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. He also headed the Derbyshire batting averages in 1922. In the 1923 season he made 100 not out against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. He left the Derbyshire staff after the 1924 season. However he returned to play four matches for Derbyshire in the 1926 season.Wisden Obituaries 1975
/ref> Carter was a right-handed batsman and played 112 innings in 65 first-class matches with an average of 17.76 and a top score of 145. He was a right-arm bowler of slow

donkey-drop Underarm bowling is a style of bowling in cricket. The style is as old as the sport itself. Until the introduction of the roundarm style in the first half of the 19th century, bowling was performed in the same way as in the sport of bowls, with ...

s and took 16 first-class wickets for an average of 44.18 and a best performance of 3 for 12.Wilfred Carter at Cricket Archive
/ref> Upon his retirement from cricket, Carter worked as a coach and scout for Watford. He was a coach at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, ...

in 1929 and 1930. He spent some years as professional at Drumpellier. Carter died at Shrodells Hospital,

at the age of 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Wilfred 1896 births 1975 deaths English footballers English cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Watford F.C. players English Football League players People from Annesley Footballers from Nottinghamshire Cricketers from Nottinghamshire Association football wing halves