William 'Billy' Thomas Alexander Gladdon (born 9 June 1880 — 17 February 1961) was an English first-class

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. Gladdon was born at

Peckham Peckham ( ) is a district in south-east London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vi ...

in June 1880. A professional

club cricket Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are obse ...

er for Freshwater on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, he made a single appearance in

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in the 1905 County Championship. Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed for a single run in Hampshire's first innings by Frank Field, while in their second innings he was dismissed without scoring by Sydney Santall. Across the match, he also bowled 28 overs in Warwickshire's first innings, but did not take a wicket. Outside of cricket, Gladdon was a prominent figure in Portsmouth League

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, playing for and captaining East Southsea F.C. In 1926, he was appointed groundsman and coach at

The Portsmouth Grammar School The Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS) is a co-educational private day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a boys' school, and is located on Portsmouth High Street. History In 1732 ...

(PGS) following the school's acquisition of land behind the

Hilsea Lines The Hilsea Lines are a line of 18th- and 19th-century fortifications built at Hilsea to protect the northern approach to Portsea Island, an island off the southern coast of England which forms the majority of the city of Portsmouth and its key nav ...

, where a

cricket ground 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 (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...

was constructed. During his time at PGS, he was credited with producing many of the school's best cricketers. Gladdon died at his residence in

Bedhampton Bedhampton is a former village, and now suburb, located in the borough of Havant (borough), Havant, Hampshire, England. It is located at the northern end of Langstone Harbour and at the foot of the eastern end of Portsdown Hill. Early mentions ...

in February 1961. Following his death, he was described by the ''

Portsmouth Evening News ''The News'' is the only local paid-for newspaper and website in Portsmouth, England, and covers a wide area of south Hampshire. It is produced by NationalWorld at their office at the Technopole building. Its official title is ''The News'', ...

'' as "an outstanding sportsman".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gladdon, Frederick 1880 births 1961 deaths People from Peckham English cricketers Hampshire cricketers English men's footballers English cricket coaches Groundskeepers