Frederick William Lillywhite (13 June 1792 – 21 August 1854) 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 during the game's roundarm era. One of the main protagonists in the legalisation of roundarm, he was one of the most successful bowlers of his era. His status is borne out by his nickname: ''The Nonpareil''. Lillywhite's known first-class career spanned the 1825 to 1853 seasons, and he played for Sussex County Cricket Club as well as 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 ...

, and also represented

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

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 ...

, and

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

in the period before the formation of the current county clubs. Detailed bowling figures for many of his matches are not known: he took 1576 wickets in 237 matches, and took 155

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Takin ...

s and 55

ten-wicket haul In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bowle ...

s. He was an original member of William Clarke's

All-England Eleven In English cricket since the first half of the 18th century, various ''ad hoc'' teams have been formed for short-term purposes which have been called England (or sometimes "All-England"; i.e., in the sense of "the rest of England") to play against, ...

. Part of a cricketing dynasty, he was the father of

John Lillywhite John Lillywhite (born 10 November 1826 at Hove, Sussex; died 27 October 1874 at St Pancras, London) was an English cricketer and umpire during the game's roundarm era. John Lillywhite was part of a famous cricketing family, his father bein ...

and

Fred Lillywhite Frederick Lillywhite (7 July 1829 – 15 September 1866) was a sports outfitter and cricketing entrepreneur, who organised the first overseas cricket tour by an English team and published a number of reference works about cricket. Cricketing dyn ...

, and uncle of James Lillywhite.

Career

Early days

Lillywhite was born on 13 June 1792 in

Westhampnett Westhampnett (or West Hampnett) is a village and civil parish in the district of Chichester in West Sussex, England, located northeast of Chichester on the former A27 road, now by-passed. The village is pre-Norman and is home to many listed bui ...

, near

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

. Little is known of his early life, with no references to him in a cricketing sense until 11 July 1822, when he is noted in the records of a cricket match which took place in Goodwood Park, in the grounds of Goodwood House near his birthplace. He is recorded later that year as moving to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

where he appeared for a local cricket club for two years. He features on a scorecard for West Sussex v East Sussex which took place at

Petworth Park Petworth Park at Petworth, Sussex was used as the venue for three first-class cricket matches between 1824 and 1826. His chance came in part due to a desire to test the emerging roundarm bowling style against established players, and his first matches were the so-called

Roundarm trial matches The roundarm trial matches were a series of cricket matches between Sussex and All-England during the 1827 English cricket season. Their purpose was to help the MCC, as the game's lawgivers, to decide if roundarm bowling should be legalised or ...

, in which he was permitted to bowl roundarm. Lillywhite played his first of these games in Brighton on 13 June against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Batting first, Lillywhite made 41 to complement the 70 made by opener

George Brown George Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter * George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist * George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor * G ...

and career-best 85 by

Charles Pierpoint Charles Joseph Pierpoint (born 1 September 1795 at Lindfield, Sussex; details of death unknown) was an English amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1825 to 1827. He was mainly associated with Sussex, and he made 4 known appear ...

. He then took two wickets in his first outing with the ball, and a third in Kent's second innings as Kent were dismissed for 40 and 43, losing by 243 runs. Lillywhite made two more appearances for his county that season, and finished the year with thirteen wickets. He made four more appearances in 1826, while continuing to play West Sussex against East Sussex matches in Brighton and Petworth. He took 27 first-class wickets that summer, including sixteen wickets – seven in the first innings and nine in the second – as part of a combined Surrey and Sussex team against Hampshire in

Bramshill Bramshill is a civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. Its name has become synonymous with the Police Staff College, Bramshill located in Bramshill House. Bramshill forms part of the district of Hart. It is bordered by the Rivers Whit ...

on 7 August. Though he only features in five matches in 1827, eight the following season, and seven more the year after that, Lillywhite's wicket tallies continued to grow from twenty to thirty-four and then forty-two wickets including four five-wicket hauls in 1829, both representing then-career best return. He thus established himself in the county side, and was rewarded with twelve matches in 1832 in which he took seventy-one wickets. He was also invited to play for the Marylebone Cricket Club from 1830 onwards, for whom he would go on to take over 400 wickets.

1833 to 1842

Lillywhite's cricket in the 1833 season was reduced to only six first-class appearances, though he took thirty-seven wickets. He continued to occupy his time with further appearances at West Sussex v East Sussex games. He took thirty-eight wickets in 1834 and forty-two more in 1835. Lillywhite's success was now leading to further controversy of the status of roundarm bowling, and he was becoming well known throughout the country. The MCC Had altered the laws twice during the early years of Lillywhite's career with regards to what height the bowler could raise his arm. That year the MCC governing body, in light of the growing success of roundarm bowling by Lillywhite and fellow Sussex player

Jem Broadbridge James "Jem" Broadbridge (1795–1843) was an English professional cricketer who is widely considered the outstanding all-rounder in England during the 1820s. He played mainly for Sussex teams and made 102 known appearances in first-class cri ...

, modified the playing rules to officially legalise roundarm bowling. After taking fifty wickets in a season for the first time in 1836, Lillywhite then enjoyed unprecedented success in the 1837 season. He played only ten first-class matches, two fewer than in 1832, however he took ninety-nine wickets. One of the first seasons of his career for which complete records survive, his bowling average is recorded at only 8.65, and his return included eleven five-wicket hauls and six ten-fors. Lillywhite's prowess also resulted in an increasing number of offers to play for invitational elevens. In the 1830s and 1840s he appeared for an England XI, Right-Handed XI, Married XI, several

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

teams – in which he appeared for both at difference times – a Slow Bowlers XI, North of England, South of England, Gentlemen of Sussex and

Fuller Pilch Fuller Pilch (17 March 1804 – 1 May 1870) was an English first-class cricketer, active from 1820 to 1854. He was a right-handed batsman who bowled at a slow pace with a roundarm action. Pilch played in a total of 229 first-class matches for a ...

's Invitational XI. He took 42 more wickets in 1838, before reaping great rewards in 1839 and 1840 with 78 and 83 wickets respectively. In 1842 he began playing for Hampshire and also for Cambridge Town. His wicket tallies passed one-hundred wickets for a season for the first time in 1842, when he took 103 from fourteen matches.

Hampshire, Middlesex and Sussex

By 1843 Lillywhite was consistently playing fifteen or sixteen first-class matches each season, appearing for Hampshire, the MCC and Sussex. He took over one-hundred wickets for three consecutive seasons between 1842 and 1844, and after taking eighty-four in 1845 he returned with 102 the following year. By now Lillywhite's ability with the ball was becoming infamous, and he acquired the moniker ''Non pareil'' – unrivalled or matchless (or "the non pareil bowler" to distinguish him from Fuller Pilch, "the non pareil hitter"). "It was seldom that he played without obtaining a wicket," noted cricket historian RJ Brown, "He was a short thick-set powerful man about 5' 4" in height, with a knack of detecting quickly any weak points in his opponents' defences." It was also in 1844 that he made his career-best with the bat, 44

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 ...

. He took sixty-five wickets in total in 1847, seventy-two in 1848 and sixty-seven more in 1849. By this time he was nearing sixty years of age, and despite playing thirteen games in 1849 by the next season he could manage only six matches for Middlesex, for whom he featured briefly, though he was still effective with twenty-seven scalps. Aware that his career was coming to an end, a benefit match was awarded to him in 1853 against an England XI. It began on 25 July at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

, and Lillywhite bowled eleven wicketless overs before succumbing to illness. He was replaced by a substitute cricketer and did not play first-class cricket again.

Later life

Frederick Lillywhite grave, Highgate Cemetery West

He died in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, only a year after his benefit match, in August 1854, and was buried on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

. His monument, which was paid for by public subscription, features below the worn inscription on the

pedestal A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

, a shield with crossed bats and stumps, with a ball removing a bail. On top of the

is a broken column and wreath symbolising "a life cut short".

References

;Notes ;Written sources * H S Altham, ''A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)'', George Allen & Unwin, 1926 *

Derek Birley Sir Derek Birley (31 May 1926 – 14 May 2002) was a distinguished English educationalist and a prize-winning writer on the social history of sport, particularly cricket. Life and career Born in a mining community in West Yorkshire, Birley attend ...

, ''A Social History of English Cricket'', Aurum, 1999 *

Rowland Bowen Major Rowland Francis Bowen (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a cricket researcher, historian and writer. Educated at Westminster School, Bowen received an emergency commission in April 1942 into the In ...

, ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development'', Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 *

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

, ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826)'', Lillywhite, 1862 *

, ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 2 (1827–1840)'', Lillywhite, 1862 *

, ''Scores & Biographies, Volumes 3–4 (1841–1855)'', Lillywhite, 1862 *

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

, ''More Than A Game'', HarperCollins, 2007 ;Online sources *

External sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lillywhite, William 1792 births 1854 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery All-England Eleven cricketers English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 Sussex cricketers North v South cricketers Hampshire cricketers Surrey cricketers Middlesex cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 Cambridge Town Club cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Married v Single cricketers Players cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers A to K v L to Z cricketers Gentlemen of Sussex cricketers Fast v Slow cricketers People from Westhampnett Lord Strathavon's XI cricketers