William Stearman (1813 – 11 April 1846) was an English

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 who played during the 1830s and 1840s. He made 15 first-class appearances, mainly for Kent sides immediately before the formation of

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

. Stearman was born at Aldborough in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

in 1813,William Stearman
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2022-08-16. Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), p. 503.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)William Stearman

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. Retrieved 2024-04-14.Moore D (1988) ''The History of Kent County Cricket Club'', p. 255. London: Christopher Helm. the son of John and Sarah Stearman (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Muniment). Professionally he worked as a cooper and is believed to have been recruited to play for Kent by

Fuller Pilch Fuller Pilch (17 March 1804 – 1 May 1870) was an English first-class cricketer, active from 1820 to 1854. He was a right-handed batting (cricket), batsman who bowling (cricket), bowled at a slow pace with a Roundarm bowling, roundarm action. ...

, a Norfolk player who had been persuaded to move to Town Malling in 1836. On his first-class debut for Kent against

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

in 1836, Stearman scored 26

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

in his second innings, the highest score of the match. A right-handed batsman, he played in a total of 15 first-class matches, 11 for Kent sides and four for England XIs, scoring a total of 244 runs and frequently opening the batting for Kent. The 26 he scored on debut remained his highest first-class score. in 1839 he was the first man dismissed by Sam Redgate during a four-ball over in which he took three wickets. Stearman had scored 15; both

Alfred Mynn Alfred Mynn (19 January 1807 – 1 November 1861) was an English first-class cricketer during the game's "Roundarm Era". He was a genuine all-rounder, being both an attacking right-handed batsman and a formidable right arm fast bowler. Cricket ...

and Pilch were dismissed for

ducks Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

.Heaton T (2014
Top-hatted star who put Norfolk on the sporting map
''

Eastern Daily Press The ''Eastern Daily Press'' (''EDP'') is a regional newspaper covering Norfolk, northern parts of Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to ...

'', 28 June 2014. Retrieved 2024-04-14. By 1843 Stearman had returned to Norfolk. He played for Norfolk sides between 1842 and 1845 in matches which do not have first-class status. He died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in 1846 and is buried at

Thurgarton Thurgarton is a small Village#United Kingdom, village in rural Nottinghamshire, England. The village is close to Southwell, Nottinghamshire, Southwell, and Newark-on-Trent and still within commuting distance to Nottingham. It is served by Thur ...

, the neighbouring village to Aldborough.

Notes

References

1813 births 1846 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers Non-international England cricketers People from North Norfolk (district) Cricketers from Norfolk {{England-cricket-bio-1810s-stub