Edmund Henry Lacon Willes (7 July 1832 — 9 September 1896) 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, educator and clergyman. The third surviving son of

George Wickens Willes George Wickens Willes (1785 – 26 October 1846) was a British Royal Navy captain. Biography Willes was the son of Lieutenant John Willes of the navy (1753–1797), who lost a leg at Gibraltar in 1782, was born in 1785, and in 1794 entered on th ...

, a captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, by his wife Anne Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edmund Lacon, 1st Baronet, Willes was born in July 1832 at Dibden Purlieu, Hampshire. His elder brother was Admiral

George Ommanney Willes Admiral Sir George Ommanney Willes (19 June 1823 – 18 February 1901) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. Early life Born at Hythe, Hampshire in 1823, Willes was the son of Captain George Wickens Willes ...

, later to become Royal Navy

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Thomas Williams (Royal Navy officer), Si ...

.Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th Ed., 1969, vol. II, 'Willes formerly of Newbold Comyn' pedigree He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

, where he played for the college cricket team. From there, he matriculated to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, studying firstly at

Wadham College Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...

, before proceeding to

The Queen's College The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

as an exhibitioner. In the same year as his matriculation to Wadham College, Willes made his debut 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 a representative Hampshire team against an

All-England Eleven In English cricket since the first half of the 18th century, various ''ad hoc'' teams have been formed for short-term purposes which have been called England (or sometimes "All-England"; i.e., in the sense of "the rest of England") to play against ...

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, ...

. While studying at Oxford, Willes was a member of the

Oxford University Cricket Club Oxford University Cricket Club (OUCC), which represents the University of Oxford, had held first-class status since 1827 when it made its debut in the inaugural University Match between OUCC and Cambridge University Cricket Club (CUCC). Follo ...

, for whom he would also play first-class cricket for. From his debut for Oxford in 1851 against the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC), he would go onto make ten first-class appearances for the university to 1854, which included three appearances in

The University Match The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world. Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorga ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

and two seasons as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. His ten matches for the university, he scored 184 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 15.33. It was for the Gentlemen of Kent that he would record his highest first-class score of 69, which was to be his only half century. Alongside playing for Oxford during his studies, Willes also played first-class cricket for

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

on two occasions in 1852 and 1853, and for the

Gentlemen of Kent Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent. ...

from 1851 to 1854. Whilst studying for his

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

, he played two first-class matches in 1855 for a combined Surrey and Kent cricket team against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and for the Gentlemen of Kent and Surrey against the

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surre ...

. After graduating from Oxford, Willes took

holy orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and was appointed in 1856 to his first ecclesiastical post as curate at Swinbrook, Oxfordshire. In the same year he was appointed a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of Queen's College, a fellowship he would maintain until 1865. In 1857, he became curate at King's Sutton, Northamptonshire. In 1860, he became a college tutor at Winchester College and three years later he became rector of St Swithun's Church in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

. While engaged at Winchester College, Willes made one first-class appearance for the nascent

Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Hamp ...

in 1865, against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. He would make two further first-class appearances, both for the MCC at Lord's in 1866 and 1867. His overall appearances in first-class cricket amounted to 22, in which he scored 416 runs at an average of 13.86; with his right-arm roundarm fast bowling, he took 20 wickets. His ecclesiastical duties took him to

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

in 1865, with Willes spending a year as vicar at

Helston Helston () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: ...

. From there, he proceeded to

Ashby Magna Ashby Magna is a small English village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire. The parish has a population of 294, increasing at the 2011 census to 347. It is in the west of the district, and lies midway between junct ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

to become rector there in 1866. He would maintain the rectorship at Ashby Magna until 1887, having been appointed an

honorary canon Canon () is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct of ...

Peterborough Cathedral Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Church ...

in 1871. Willes returned to Hampshire in 1887, upon being appointed rector at

Monk Sherborne Monk Sherborne is a village in north Hampshire, England. Sherborne Priory is the burial place of William of Drogheda. Governance Monk Sherborne is a civil parish and is part of the Sherborne St. John ward of Basingstoke and Deane borough co ...

. He remained rector there until his death in September 1896, following a short illness. He had also been a justice of the peace in his latter years. He had been married to Helena Mitchell Willes since 1862; she was married to George Willes (1815–1862) until his death. His cousin, George Willes (distinct from his wife's deceased husband), was also a first-class cricketer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willes, Edmund 1832 births 1896 deaths People from New Forest District Cricketers from Hampshire People educated at Winchester College Teachers at Winchester College Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford English cricketers Hampshire cricketers Oxford University cricketers Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Kent cricketers Gentlemen of Kent cricketers 19th-century English Anglican priests Schoolteachers from Hampshire Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English justices of the peace