William Henry Brain (21 July 1870 – 20 November 1934) 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 and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

: a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper who played for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

(MCC) in the early 1890s; as well as keeping goal for Headington United (later Oxford United).''Obituaries in 1934''. ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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 ...

'', 1935. He is notable as the first man to perform the "wicket-keeper's hat-trick" (three dismissals off consecutive deliveries) and the only man to perform a hat-trick of stumpings. Born in

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, Brain was a member of the

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

XI, captaining it in 1889. He went up to

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

, in 1889 and made his first-class debut for Oxford University in 1891 against Lancashire, in the same year hitting his only half-century by making 65

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

(with no teammate scoring more than 13) in his only appearance for MCC, 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_ ...

. Playing for Gloucestershire in 1893, Brain made three stumpings from successive balls bowled by Charlie Townsend, removing Arthur Newton, George Nichols and

Ted Tyler Edwin ("Ted") James Tyler (13 October 1864 in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England – 25 January 1917 in North Town, Taunton, Somerset, England) was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club between 1891 Eng ...

to finish off the Somerset second innings. He played no more first-class games after that season, instead becoming involved with

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

and playing a number of minor matches for that county between 1894 and 1907, including two games in the

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 ...

. The second of these against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

Second XI, was his last significant match; he did not keep wicket, this role being taken by his older brother

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

. The two Brains opened the batting together in the second innings, but William was run out for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

. Later, Brain was instrumental in helping Glamorgan's drive for first-class status, which they eventually achieved in 1921. He died at the age of 64 in

Dinas Powys Dinas Powys (; also spelt "Dinas Powis" in English) is a small town and community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. Its name means "fort of the provincial place" and refers to the Dinas Powys hillfort, Iron Age hillfort wh ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. As well as the aforementioned brother Joseph, two of Brain's sons played first-class cricket. Pat made a handful of appearances for Glamorgan in the 1920s, while

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

had a single first-class outing for the same county, in 1930. Brain was the owner of

Vaendre Hall Vaendre Hall (or Faendre Hall) is a large detached house in the Cardiff suburb of St Mellons. Set in of grounds, it is bordered on three sides by St Mellons golf course. It was developed by the shipowner and industrialist John Cory in the mid 19 ...

in the village of

St Mellons St Mellons ( cy, Llaneirwg) is a district and suburb of southeastern Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. Prior to 1996 St Mellons was the name given to the community largely north of Newport Road (B4487) which included the old St Mellons village. ...

References

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Statistical summary
from CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Brain, William Henry 1870 births 1934 deaths People educated at Clifton College Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford English cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Oxford University cricketers Oxford United F.C. players Cricketers from Bristol Men's association football goalkeepers English men's footballers Footballers from Bristol Wicket-keepers