William Townshend (16 November 1849 – 19 July 1923) was an English first-class

cricket 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 ...

er and clergyman. The son of Edward Dupré Townshend, he was born in British India at

Sehore Sehore is a city and a municipality in Sehore district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the district headquarters of Sehore District and is located on the Bhopal-Indore highway, 38 km from Bhopal. History Sehore stands at the f ...

in November 1849. He was educated in England at

Rossall School Rossall School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College ...

, before going up to

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

where he graduated B.A. in 1872 and M.A. in 1879. While studying at Oxford, he made his debut in first-class cricket for Oxford University against the Gentlemen of England at Oxford in 1870. He played first-class cricket for Oxford until 1872, making fourteen appearances. He scored a total of 399 runs in his fourteen matches for Oxford, averaging 15.96 and making a high score of 55. He somewhat failed to live up the batting reputation he had gained at Rossall School, where he was considered the second best batsman at the school after F. W. Wright. He later played first-class cricket in 1874, appearing in two matches, making an appearance each for the Gentlemen of England and the Marylebone Cricket Club. He played county cricket for

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 ...

, Denbighshire, Herefordshire,

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

and Shropshire (appearing for two matches for the latter in 1869).Published under Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. After leaving Oxford he became a priest in the Church of England. He was the rector of Thurlaston in

in 1880. Townshend died in Leicestershire at Kirkby Mallory in July 1923.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Townshend, William 1849 births 1923 deaths People from Sehore People educated at Rossall School Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers 19th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English Anglican priests