Joseph Williams

Who was Joseph Williams?

Joseph Williams was an English cricketer who play a single first-class match for the Marylebone Cricket Club during the 1914 season. From Bromborough Pool, Cheshire, Williams began with the Bromborough Pool Cricket Club, and later played two seasons in the Liverpool and District league, taking "nearly 200 wickets". He went on to play for Cheshire in the Minor Counties Championship, debuting during the 1909 season. He began as a top-order batsman, but later often playing as an opening or first-change bowler. From the 1912 season, Williams also regularly turned out for the MCC in non-first-class matches, working as a groundsman at Lord's. His only first-class match came in May 1914, against Kent. In the match, he scored 11 not out in the MCC's first innings, which included a partnership of 39 runs for the ninth wicket with former Test player Jack Hearne. While bowling, he conceded 26 runs from his three overs, and the MCC lost by an innings and 19 runs. In the First World War, Williams served as a private in the 10th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment. He was killed in Thiepval, France, in July 1916, as part of the ongoing Battle of the Somme. His name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial.