{{short description|Irish cricketer, soldier and actor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = | image = | country = Ireland | fullname = Pascoe William Grenfell Stuart | birth_date = 25 October 1868 | birth_place = Woolwich, Kent, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1954|2|5|1868|10|25|df=yes}} | death_place = Cobh, Munster, Ireland | nickname = | family = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = | role = | club1 = London County | year1 = 1904 | club2 = Marylebone Cricket Club | year2 = 1906 | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 3 | runs1 = 67 | bat avg1 = 13.40 | 100s/50s1 = –/1 | top score1 = 50 | hidedeliveries = true | catches/stumpings1 = 2/– | date = 7 October | year = 2021 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/21094.html Cricinfo }}

'''Pascoe William Grenfell Stuart''' (25 October 1868 — 5 February 1954) was an Irish actor, colonial administrator, first-class cricketer and British Army officer.

The son of the British Army General William James Stuart, he was born at Woolwich in October 1868. Pascoe was educated at Sherborne School, where at the age of 15 he was the youngest member of the Sherborne cricket eleven.<ref name="CE">{{cite web|url=https://www.cricketeurope.com/CSTATZ/IRELANDBIOS/s/stuart_pwg.shtml|title=PWG Stuart|publisher=www.cricketeurope.com|access-date=2021-10-09|archive-date=9 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009092444/https://www.cricketeurope.com/CSTATZ/IRELANDBIOS/s/stuart_pwg.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> Upon leaving Sherborne, Stuart began a stage career as a solo sopranist, where he featured at The Crystal Palace in the 1880s. He also took up acting, starring alongside Charles Wyndham in the play ''David Garrick''.<ref name="CE"/> Stuart was also commissioned as a lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25574|date=2 April 1886|page=1596}}</ref> Alongside his acting commitments, Pascoe still found time to play cricket in Ireland for Cork County Cricket Club and played a minor match for Ireland against I Zingari in 1892, as a replacement for David Trotter.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/100/100517.html|title=Ireland v I Zingari, 1892|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=2021-10-09|url-access=subscription}}</ref> A change in career followed for Stuart, with him abandoning his stage career to pursue a career as a colonial administrator. He firstly served as the private secretary to the Governor of the Windward Islands,<ref name="CE"/> before being appointed as aide-de-camp in 1896 to the Governor of Queensland,<ref>{{cite book |title=The Australian Handbook|publisher=Gordon and Gotch|year=1899|page=421|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iR46AQAAMAAJ|language=en}}</ref> a role he held until 1902.

He returned to Ireland in 1902 and resumed playing for County Cork, where he regularly opened the batting alongside William Harman. Good form for Cork County saw Stuart recalled to the Ireland team as a late replacement for Oscar Andrews in their match against W. G. Grace's London County at The Mardyke in 1903. His batting in the match, during which he scored 55 in the Irish first innings, led to Grace inviting Stuart to come to England to play for London County.<ref name="CE"/> He did so the following year, making his debut in first-class cricket for London County against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's, with him also featuring in a second match in the same year against Surrey at The Oval.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/33/33095/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Pascoe Stuart|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=2021-10-09|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Although he failed to impress in his first match, in the second match against Surret he top scored in London County's second innings with 50.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/6/6406.html|title=Surrey v London County, 1904|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=2021-10-09|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In that same summer, Stuart captained Ireland against Cambridge University, following a number of late withdrawals which included the regular captain Sir Tim O'Brien.<ref name="CE"/> His Irish career came to an end that summer, but was almost resumed in 1910 when Stuart was selected to captain Ireland against Scotland, but he was unable to fulfill the fixture and was replaced as captain by Jack Meldon.<ref name="CE"/>

With the onset of the First World War, Stuart was called up for military service with the Remounts as part of the Royal Army Service Corps, where it was noted that Stuart and Sir Tim O'Brien, who was also serving in the Remounts, had a fractious relationship.<ref name="CE"/> He was a temporary captain by the latter stages of the war and was made an acting major in January 1918.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30468|date=8 January 1918|page=684|supp=y}}</ref> In August of the same year he was appointed a superintendent of a Remount Depot,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30885|date=3 September 1918|page=10515|supp=y}}</ref> a role he vacated in February 1919.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32198|date=18 January 1921|page=548|supp=y}}</ref> In the same month his war service came to an end, with Pascoe being granted the full rank of major.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32204|date=21 January 1921|page=679|supp=y}}</ref> Following he war, he returned to Ireland where he stayed following the Irish War of Independence, settling at Cobh.<ref name="CE"/> He died there in February 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228429.html|title=Wisden - Obituaries in 1954|date=4 December 2005 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo|accessdate=2021-10-09}}</ref> He had assumed the additional surname of French under Royal License in 1917.<ref>{{cite book |title=The County Families of the United Kingdom|publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company|first=Edward|last=Walford|date=January 1860 |page=1286|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuHIDwAAQBAJ|language=en}}</ref>

==Family== Stuart married Elizabeth Julia Soames, daughter of James Kolle Soames. Stuart and Soames had two children:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mosley |first1=Charles |title=Burke's Peerage |date=2003 |publisher=Burkes Peerage |location=Wilmington |page=3849}}</ref> *Lt Col. Robert Fitzroy Hamilton Pascoe Stuart-French of the 11th Hussars, married Eileen de Grey D'Arcy, widow of Henry Staveley-Hill. *Margaret Gwendolin Wanda Stuart-French, married Colonel Peter Wilson of the 1st Royal Dragoons (cousin of Sir Leslie Orme Wilson and of Cecil Wilson) and had one son, Leslie Peter Stuart Wilson also temporarily of the 1st Royal Dragoons who married Philippa Felicia Goldwyre Lester, widow of Cecil Davidge.

Pascoe Stuart-French died at Marino House, Cobh on 5 February 1954. Following his death Marino went to his only son, Lt Col. Robert Stuart-French.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{cricinfo|id=21094}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Pascoe}} Category:1868 births Category:1954 deaths Category:Actors from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Category:People educated at Sherborne School Category:King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Category:Irish actors Category:Irish sopranos Category:British colonial governors and administrators in the Americas Category:British colonial governors and administrators in Oceania Category:Irish cricketers Category:London County cricketers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Royal Army Service Corps officers Category:Male actors from Kent Category:People from Woolwich