William Armitstead

William George Armitstead (22 March 1833 – 12 March 1907) was an English first-class cricketer. A right-handed batsman, Armitstead was a member of a cricketing family: his brother Henry played first-class cricket, while brothers John and Robert, and nephew William, all played school cricket.^[1] Armitstead played fourteen first-class matches between 1853 and 1862, the majority for Oxford University with solitary appearances for the Gentlemen of the North, Manchester Cricket Club, and the Marylebone Cricket Club.^[2]

Armitstead was also a founding member of the Free Foresters Cricket Club, along with his brother Henry.^[3] It was during a match between a United England XI and the Free Foresters in 1861 that he is credited with the introduction of the white coat for cricket umpires.^[1] Armitstead requested that the umpires wear something white, as their existing garments were causing him to lose sight of the ball and the bowler's hand during delivery.^[4][5]

Armitstead had a modest batting record, scoring only 293 runs in twenty-five innings at a batting average of 12.20.^[6] 249 of these runs were made for Oxford, for whom he made eleven appearances.^[7] His best was a score of 38, made opening the batting against the Marylebone Cricket Club on 3 June 1853.^[8] He took six catches, and is noted as having bowled however his bowling style or statistics are not recorded.^[1][6]

He also played non-first-class at county level for Oxfordshire, Cheshire (while also playing at club level for Sandbach), and one match in 1863 for Shropshire.^[9]

Armitstead was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford where he graduated B.A. in 1857 and M.A. in 1862.^[10] After graduating at Oxford he was ordained as a Church of England deacon in 1859 and priest in 1860 by the Bishop of Chester.^[10] He was vicar of Goostrey, Cheshire, from 1862 until his death there in 1907.^[11]