William Gilbert Grace

1848 - 1915

William Gilbert Grace was born July 18, 1848, Downend, Bristol and died October 23, 1915, Mottingham, Kent aged 67. Grace was a major celebrity in the late Victorian era and is still one of Britain's best known cricketers. He is known by his unmistakable bearded face and was called 'The Doctor', 'The Champion' or simply 'W.G'. He played sporadically for the Gentlemen against the Players for 41 years, during which time they only lost four games. Other major teams were England, Gloucestershire, London County, Marylebone Cricket Club and South of England. Grace was an outstanding all-rounder and was the first to score a Test century and led a variety of England XI's in 22 games from 1880 to 1899. He toured Australia twice and America once. With his two brothers they all played for England in 1880 and this was the first occasion three brothers had played together in Test cricket. E.M.Grace was his elder brother and Fred was the younger one.

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