# William Rodger

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{{short description|English cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}

'''William Wallace Rodger''' (13 January 1847 – 23 October 1888), known from 1887 '''William Wallace Rodger-Cunliffe''', was an English lawyer, [billiards](/source/billiards) player and [first-class cricket](/source/first-class_cricket)er who played for [Kent County Cricket Club](/source/Kent_County_Cricket_Club).

==Early life==
Rodger was born in 1847 at [Gloucester Place](/source/Gloucester_Place), [Marylebone](/source/Marylebone) in London. He was the son of Sir Robert Rodger and his wife Sophia and was educated at [Eton College](/source/Eton_College) and [Exeter College, Oxford](/source/Exeter_College%2C_Oxford). His father was a [Justice of the Peace](/source/Justice_of_the_Peace) and [High Sheriff of Kent](/source/High_Sheriff_of_Kent) who bought [Hadlow Castle](/source/Hadlow_Castle) in [Kent](/source/Kent) where the family lived.<ref name=carlaw>Carlaw, pp. 470–471. (Retrieved 21 December 2020.)</ref>

==Cricket==
Rodger did not play [cricket](/source/cricket) for the school XI or for the university, but made his first-class cricket debut for the [Gentlemen of Kent](/source/Gentlemen_of_Kent) in 1865 after graduating from Oxford. He played during the 1865 and 1866 [Canterbury Cricket Week](/source/Canterbury_Cricket_Week)s, a significant social occasion at the time, before going on to play 17 matches for the Kent county team between 1867 and 1873. His highest score of 32 runs was made against [Sussex](/source/Sussex_County_Cricket_Club) in 1873, the only time he passed 30 in an innings. Rodger played club cricket regularly until 1873, his teams including [Tunbridge Wells](/source/Tunbridge_Wells_Cricket_Club) and [The Mote](/source/The_Mote) as well as Gentlemen of Kent.<ref name=carlaw/><ref name=ca>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/32/32461/32461.html William Rodger], CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 June 2020. {{subscription required}}</ref>

==Family==
After being [called to the bar](/source/called_to_the_bar) at the [Middle Temple](/source/Middle_Temple) in 1874, Rodger played little club cricket and none at first-class level. He married Annie Kentfield in [Brussels](/source/Brussels) in 1874; the couple had two children and were divorced in 1880. He inherited Hadlow Castle on his father's death in 1882 and changed his surname to Rodger-Cunliffe in 1887 as a condition of his mother's will. He married Jeanne Schmedding, again in Brussels, in January 1888 but later in the year was committed to [Barming Asylum](/source/Barming_Asylum) where he died, after a short illness, in October aged 41.<ref name=carlaw/><ref name=ci>[https://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/19794.html William Rodger], [CricInfo](/source/CricInfo). Retrieved 3 August 2020.</ref> A daughter was born after his death.<ref name=carlaw/>

As well as playing cricket, Rodger was a notable billiards player, twice winning the Champion Cue.<ref name=carlaw/> His brother, [John Pickersgill Rodger](/source/John_Pickersgill_Rodger), played a single first-class match for Kent and was later [Governor of the Gold Coast](/source/List_of_governors_of_the_Gold_Coast).<ref>Carlaw, pp.413–414.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Carlaw |first=Derek |title=Kent County Cricketers, A to Z: Part One (1806–1914) |publisher=[ACS](/source/Association_of_Cricket_Statisticians_and_Historians) |location=Cardiff |year=2020 |url=https://archive.acscricket.com/books/Kent_Cricketers_A_to_Z_Part_One_Revised_Expanded.pdf}}

==External links==
* {{cricinfo|id=19794}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodger, William}}
Category:1847 births
Category:1888 deaths
Category:English cricketers
Category:Kent cricketers
Category:Gentlemen of Kent cricketers
Category:Deaths in psychiatric hospitals

{{England-cricket-bio-1840s-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [William Rodger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rodger) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rodger?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.