William Bedster
Encyclopedia
William Bedster was an English cricketer
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 of the late 18th century. He was a good batsman and a useful bowler.

William Bedster was famously the Earl of Tankerville’s
Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville
Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville , styled Lord Ossulston from 1753 to 1767, was a British nobleman, a collector of shells and a famous patron of Surrey cricket in the 1770s. He agreed a set of cricket rules that included the first mention of the Leg before wicket rule. His wife, Emma, was...

 butler. He had 62 known first-class appearances from 1777 to 1794. He played mainly for Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...

 till 1787 but he was frequently used as a "given man" elsewhere.

It is true that he was at one time Tankerville’s butler at Mount Felix, Walton-on-Thames. He subsequently moved to Chelsea, where he was an innkeeper, and in his later career played mostly for Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...

.

It is believed he died in 1805 but very little is known of his personal details.

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