William Bolitho (cricketer)

William Edward Thomas Bolitho DSO JP (2 July 1862 – 21 February 1919) was an English first-class cricketer, banker and British Army officer.

The son of William Bolitho and his wife, Mary Hichens Yonge, he was born at Madron near Penzance in July 1862.[1] He was educated at Harrow School, before going up to Trinity College, Oxford.[2] While studying at Oxford, he made his debut in first-class cricket for Oxford University against Lancashire at Oxford in 1883. He played first-class cricket for Oxford until 1885, making a total of eight appearances. In addition to playing for Oxford, he also appeared for the Gentlemen of England in 1885 against Oxford,[3] during which he made his highest first-class score of 45 not out.[4] For Oxford, he scored 242 runs at an average of 18.61 and a high score of 32.[5] Bolitho later toured North America in September1885 with a team formed by the Devon amateur E. J. Sanders, making two first-class appearances on the tour against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia at Germantown.[3]

Graduating from Oxford in 1885, he enlisted in the Royal Devon Yeomanry in May 1889 as a second lieutenant.[6] Between May 1889 and March 1895, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, before he was promoted to the rank of captain in March 1895.[7] Bolitho served during the Second Boer War. He was made a temporary major during war,[8] with the rank converted to an honorary rank in the third year of the war.[9] During the course of the war he was wounded in action, mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order.[2][10] Following the war, he resigned his commission in November 1904.[11] Bolitho later served as the director of Barclays and was a justice of the peace for Cornwall.[2] During the 1890s he played cricket for Cornwall prior to their participation in minor counties cricket.[12] Bolitho died at Bath in February 1919. He had married Ethel Grace Macleod in June 1888, with the couple having three children.[1] His brother-in-law was the Irish cricketer Ronald McNeill, 1st Baron Cushendun.