Researching William Woof

Woof was born in Gloucester and was educated at Bedford School. He apprenticed as an engineer at Grantham, Lincolnshire. He played for the Gloucestershire colts in 1878 and among the five wickets he took was that of W G Grace. He was a professional cricketer at Stubbington House, Fareham, Hampshire in May 1878 and made his first-class debut for Gloucestershire in August 1878 against Surrey. Later in 1878 he was professional at Grantham cricket club and in 1879 was with Lancashire. W G Grace got him a post as professional at Cheltenham College from 1880 to 1881 and in 1882 recommended him for the ground staff at Lord's. Woof played twelve matches for MCC between 1882 and 1885 and coached Cambridge from 1883 to 1884 and Oxford in 1885. His best seasons were 1884 when he took 116 wickets and 1885 when he took 100 wickets. He was able to give less time to the county while he was cricket coach at Cheltenham College from 1886. He played 140 matches for Gloucestershire taking 644 wickets for them until 1902. He also played first-class matches for the United South of England XI, the South and Orleans Club. He was also a first-class umpire from with one match in 1880 and most between 1895 and 1899. In the winter of 1903 and 1904 he umpired matches in South Africa.

Woof was a left arm bowler and took 754 wickets at an average of 17.73 and a best performance of 8 for 70. He was a right-handed batsman and played 258 innings in 160 first-class matches with an average of 6.53 and a top score of 43.

Woof continued as coach at Cheltenham College until 1925. He was also managing director of W.A.Woof Ltd, which ran sports outfitting shops in Cheltenham.

Woof died in Montpellier, Cheltenham at the age of 78 and was buried at Cheltenham College Chapel.