Frank Woolley
Cricket player of England. (1887-1978)
Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in the sport's history. He played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1906 to 1938, and represented England in 64 Test matches.
Woolley was a left-handed batsman and left-arm bowler who varied his pace and style between medium pace and slow left-arm orthodox. He was an outstanding close-in fielder, and remains the only non-wicket-keeper to have held more than 1,000 catches in a first-class career. Woolley was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1911 and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009.
Early life
Woolley was born in Tonbridge, Kent, in 1887, the youngest of four brothers. He was born in the family home at 72 High Street, which also included his father Charles's workshop and showroom. Having inherited a cleaning and dyeing business from his own father, Charles developed Woolley's Cycle and Engine Works, which made and repaired bicycles and, later, motor cars. Charles had originally trained as an engineer at a railway works in Ashford, where he met and married his wife, Louise Lewis, the daughter of the works' owner.
The family business was located close to the Angel Ground, the home of Tonbridge Cricket Club and a venue used annually by Kent County Cricket Club for festival matches.
“Frank Woolley” enters the record as cricket player of England. (1887-1978). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Frank, Woolley and Cricket can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Frank Woolley” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Frank, Woolley and Cricket provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3082866. VIAF identifies the subject as 53686266. The Library of Congress control number is nb2008026100. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1887, 1978, 1906 and 1938.
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This entry incorporates text from “Frank Woolley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.