William Moule
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| Batting style | Right-hand bat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right-arm medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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William Henry Moule (31 January 1858 in Brighton, Victoria, Australia – 24 August 1939 in St Kilda) was a lawyer, a politician and a cricketer.
Moule's cricket career was short, and though he played a few times for Victoria, most of his first-class appearances were on the 1880 tour of England with the Australian team under Billy Murdoch. He played in the one Test match of the tour, a hastily arranged match at The Oval which was the first Test in England, mainly because Fred Spofforth was injured; he batted at No 11 and was the sixth bowler tried. That seems to have done little justice to his abilities, for with three wickets for 23 runs he was the most successful bowler in England's first innings and his 34 in Australia's second innings helped in a last-wicket partnership of 88 with his captain that avoided an innings defeat.
Moule resided at Clarence House now known as the old Mansion nightclub in 1876 whilst being educated at Melbourne Grammar School and took a law degree at Melbourne University, being called to the bar in 1879 and going into practice the following year. He rose to become a county court judge specialising in insolvency cases, retiring in April 1935, at which point he was the longest-serving member of the bench.
Moule had a short-lived but sensational career as a politician. Standing on a free trade platform in the Victoria state election of 1894, he beat the sitting member, the long-time minister and future premier of Victoria, Sir Thomas Bent. Bent was accused of various forms of corruption, and there had been some difficulty finding a candidate who would stand against him. As a member of the legislature until 1900, Moule chaired royal commissions on law reform and on factory and shop law.
Moule married Jessie Osborne in 1885. His son, Osborne Moule, was killed in the First World War at Lone Pine, one of the main actions of the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign.
See also
External links
- Cricinfo article on William Moule
- William Henry Moule (1858-1939) Gravesite at Brighton General Cemetery (Vic)