William Pitt Prest (28 May 1832 – 5 November 1877) was an English

cricketer 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 ...

who played for Cambridge University, Cambridge Town Club (''aka'' Cambridgeshire) and other

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

teams between 1850 and 1862. He was born at Stapleford, Cambridgeshire and died at East Molesey,

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. ...

. Prest was educated at Eton College and for a year only at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; he did not remain at Cambridge University and did not take a degree. As a cricketer, he played in the

Eton v Harrow The Eton v Harrow cricket match is an annual match between public school rivals Eton College and Harrow School. It is one of the longest-running annual sporting fixtures in the world and is the last annual school cricket match still to be pla ...

match in both 1849 and 1850 and made his first-class debut for a Gentlemen of England team in August 1850, taking four wickets in the game. At Cambridge University in 1851 he had limited success as a bowler and as a batsman, and he was not picked for the University Match against Oxford University. He reappeared for the Gentlemen of England in a single match in 1852, but then disappeared from senior cricket for five years. In 1852, having left Cambridge, Prest bought himself into the army, joining the

6th Regiment of Foot 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

as an ensign and being promoted the following year to lieutenant. He left the army in 1857 and returned to Cambridge where he played cricket irregularly up to 1862 for the Cambridge Town Club and for the Cambridgeshire team which was at that stage one of the leading county sides. Prest's brother

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

also played first-class cricket and appeared for Cambridge University in 1850, the year before William did.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prest, William 1832 births 1877 deaths English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Cambridge Town Club cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers People educated at Eton College People from Stapleford, Cambridgeshire