1st April 2015
Born 1804 Died 7th September 1876
Aged 72 years
Section 8, near to Chapel
Nicholas Wanostrocht (aka N Felix) was born in 1804 and was a celebrity cricketer of the generation before WG Grace. He was an excellent left-handed bat and invented cricketing equipment such as batting gloves and ‘longitudinal socks’ of linen filled with strips of rubber, worn under the trousers, later to become pads. He sold his patent to the ball and equipment maker to Duke & Sons in 1848. Wanostrocht also invented the automatic bowling machine, The Catapulta, as well as finding time to write an illustrated book on cricket called Felix on the Bat.
Following his retirement to Brighton, Wanostrocht moved to Wimborne in 1872 with his second wife. He had had a long association with Wimborne visiting many times as early as 1840 and on one occasion allegedly almost drowned in a local river! Despite deteriorating health, he still took an interest in cricket and in a field next to his house 1 Julian Villas (now 23 Julian’s Road) he coached the local boys. Nicholas Wanostrocht died in Wimborne on 7th September 1876 and is buried in Wimborne Cemetery in Section 8, near to the Chapel.
BACK TO NEWS