William Octavius Moberly (14 November 1850 – 2 February 1914) was an English sportsman who played

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 officia ...

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 ...

and represented the England national rugby union team.

Early life and education

Moberly was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

, before going to Balliol College, Oxford. He won a

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

for rugby in 1872 and until 1874 played for the university. This included the first ever

Varsity Match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...

against Cambridge in 1872, with Moberly captaining Oxford to victory. He also played two first-class cricket matches for

Oxford 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 ...

, against the Gentlemen of England in 1870 and 1872.

Rugby career

As a wing-three-quarter, he took part in the second ever rugby international between England and Scotland, in

1872 Events January–March * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...

. The match, which took part at The Oval, was won by England. Although at club level he always played three-quarter, he was picked as a fullback for England. He was described as a clever runner, who could "drop with either foot, and was a good shot at goal." At club level, Moberly turned out for the

Ravenscourt Park Football Club Ravenscourt Park was a short lived 19th century English rugby union club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, as well as supplying a number of international players for the sport's early ...

. He was appointed as an assistant master at

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 , hea ...

in 1874 and began playing for the

Clifton Rugby Football Club Clifton Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club founded in Clifton, Bristol. Over the years the club's home games have been played in a variety of locations in northern Bristol, though never in Clifton itself; since 1976 they have ...

two years later.

Cricket career

Although his duties at Clifton restricted his appearances in first-class cricket, Moberly began playing with Gloucestershire in 1876 was a member of the teams which were the Champion County that year as well as the next. He was used as a top order batsman but would also fill in as

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

whenever fellow rugby union international and Clifton teammate James Bush was injured or unavailable. In a match against Yorkshire in Cheltenham 1876, Moberly scored 103 and his captain

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

an unbeaten 318 when they put on 261 runs for the fifth wicket. It remains to this day a Gloucestershire fifth wicket partnership record. He finished the season with 245 runs at 40.83, his best year in terms of average but he had his most prolific summer in 1883 when he amassed 351 runs at 29.25. The latter tally included his highest first-class score of 121, which he scored in a win over Somerset at Taunton.

References

External links

Cricinfo: William Moberly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moberly, William Octavius 1850 births 1914 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford England international rugby union players English cricketers English rugby union players Gloucestershire County RFU players Gloucestershire cricketers Oxford University cricketers Oxford University RFC players People educated at Rugby School Rugby union players from West Sussex Schoolteachers from Sussex Wicket-keepers Rugby union three-quarters