William George Armitstead (22 March 1833 – 12 March 1907) was an English

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 ...

er. A right-handed batsman, Armitstead was a member of a cricketing family: his brother

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

played first-class cricket, while brothers John and Robert, and nephew William, all played school cricket. Armitstead played fourteen first-class matches between 1853 and 1862, the majority for

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 the ...

with solitary appearances for the Gentlemen of the North,

Manchester Cricket Club Manchester Cricket Club was founded in 1816 and was a direct forerunner of Lancashire County Cricket Club which was founded in 1864. Manchester matches are classified with first-class cricket between 1844 and 1858, after which it was superseded by ...

, and 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 ...

. Armitstead was also a founding member of the

Free Foresters Cricket Club Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

, along with his brother Henry. It was during a match between a United England XI and the Free Foresters in 1861 that he is credited with the introduction of the white coat for

cricket umpire In cricket, an umpire (from the Old French ''nompere'' meaning not a peer, i.e. not a member of one of the teams, impartial) is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field according to the ''Laws of Cricket ...

s. Armitstead requested that the umpires wear something white, as their existing garments were causing him to lose sight of the ball and the bowler's hand during delivery. Armitstead had a modest batting record, scoring only 293 runs in twenty-five innings at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 12.20. 249 of these runs were made for Oxford, for whom he made eleven appearances. His best was a score of 38, made opening the batting against the Marylebone Cricket Club on 3 June 1853. He took six catches, and is noted as having bowled however his bowling style or statistics are not recorded. He also played non-first-class at county level for

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

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 ...

(while also playing at club level for

Sandbach Sandbach (pronounced ) is the name of a historic market town and a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements: Sandbach itself as the largest, Elworth, Ettiley Heath a ...

), and one match in 1863 for

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. Armitstead was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

where he graduated B.A. in 1857 and M.A. in 1862. After graduating at Oxford he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

as a Church of England deacon in 1859 and priest in 1860 by the

Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the C ...

. He was

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Goostrey Goostrey is an old farming village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located in open countryside, 14 miles NE of Crewe and 12 miles W of Ma ...

, Cheshire, from 1862 until his death there in 1907.

References

;Notes ;Sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Armitstead, William 1833 births 1907 deaths People from Holmes Chapel English cricketers People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford 19th-century English Anglican priests Oxford University cricketers Manchester Cricket Club cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Cricketers from Cheshire Gentlemen of the North cricketers