Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | 1752 Sevenoaks, Kent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 7 May 1820 (aged 67–68) Sevenoaks, Kent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1775–1788 | Kent XI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1791–1792 | Brighton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FC debut | 29 June 1775 Kent v Hampshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last FC | 5 September 1792 Brighton v Middlsex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricInfo, 28 June 2022 |
William Bowra (1752 – 7 May 1820) was an English cricketer who played in 50 first-class matches between 1775 and 1792.[2][3]
Bowra, whose name was pronounced "Borra",[4] was christened at Sevenoaks in Kent on 1 May 1752.[2] He was one of a number of cricketers employed by John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset at his Knole House estate near Sevenoaks, in Bowra's case as a gamekeeper.[b][4][5][6] John Nyren, in his The Cricketers of My Time, recounts that the Duke would sit on the railing round the Sevenoaks Vine ground, often exclaiming "Bravo, my little Bowra".[8]
Although he is known to have played for a team organised by Dorset as early as 1769, Bowra made his first-class debut in a 1775 match between a Kent XI and a Hampshire side at Broadhalfpenny Down, the ground used by the Hambledon Club.[2] In a Hampshire Chronicle report of the game, his name is spelt "Bower".[9] He went on to make 50 appearances in matches which have been given first-class status, 19 of which were for Kent sides and 15 for England teams.[c] He played for West Kent twice, for a combined Hampshire and Kent side once and three times for teams put together by Dorset in first-class matches against teams organised by Sir Horatio Mann, another Kent cricket patron.[d] He played twice for Surrey sides against Hampshire in 1776 as a given man and twice for Hampshire against England sides in 1779 in the same role. After making his final appearance for Kent in 1788, he played in five more first-class matches in 1791 and 1792 for Brighton Cricket Club.[2] His highest first-class score of 60 not out was made in one of these matches against MCC at Lord's Old Ground.[2] He scored 1,138 runs and took at least four wickets[a] in first-class matches.[2]
He returned to Knole in 1807, again as gamekeeper, and it is believed he stayed there[citation needed] until his death in 1820.[3]