William Pitt Prest (28 May 1832 – 5 November 1877) was an English cricketer who played for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

Cambridge Town Club Cambridge Town Club (CTC) was a first-class cricket club established in Cambridge before 1817. Among notable players who represented CTC were Tom Hayward senior, Robert Carpenter and George Tarrant. It co-existed with Cambridge University Cr ...

(''aka'' Cambridgeshire) and other amateur teams between 1850 and 1862. He was born at Stapleford,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

and died at

East Molesey Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames. East and West Molesey share a high street, and there is a second retai ...

, Surrey. Prest was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and for a year only at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

; he did not remain at

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 The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

against

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 th ...

. 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 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 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