Arthur Thomas (Cambridge University cricketer)

Arthur Thomas (14 February 1816 – 1 December 1895) was an English clergyman and a cricketer who played in four first-class cricket matches for Cambridge University in 1837 and 1838.[1] He was born in London and died at Great Malvern, Worcestershire.

Thomas was educated at Winchester College and at Trinity College, Cambridge.[2] As a cricketer, he was a batsman, sometimes used as an opener, and there is no evidence that he bowled in first-class cricket, though the full details of the matches in which he played have not survived. It is not known whether he batted right- or left-handed. He played in two matches in each of the 1837 and 1838 seasons that have since been designated as first-class; his final game was the 1838 University Match against Oxford University, in which he scored 6 and 3 not out.[3]

Thomas graduated from Cambridge University in 1839 with a Bachelor of Arts degree which automatically converted to a Master of Arts in 1842.[2] He was ordained as a Church of England deacon in 1840 and as a priest the following year.[2] He was successively a curate at Eastergate, West Sussex and then Whaddon and Shepreth in Cambridgeshire before becoming priest-in-charge at Milford, Surrey, from 1846.[2] In 1848, he became vicar at Rottingdean, East Sussex and remained there for the rest of his life.[2]