The name Bancroft was synonymous with Swansea cricket for over a hundred years, with three generations of the family playing with distinction for the town club, and the early county sides.
William Bancroft (senior) – the patriarch of this sporting family- hailed from Cambridgeshire, and in his early teens took up a boot-making apprenticeship in Cambridge, before getting married and moving to live in Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. In the early 1850s, he moved to London, with their move to Shoreditch not entirely related to William’s desire to develop his boot-making business, as he had also shown great promise as a cricketer and held ambitions to become a professional cricketer and hoped to gain a trial as a professional bowler with the MCC.
There are no records of him having a trial at Lord’s, but legions of Welsh sportsmen were eternally grateful for Bancroft moving to London as during his time in the city, he became aware of a professional appointment with the Swansea. It is not known whether he was spotted by an official from the Welsh club, or whether he was personally recommended by someone who had seen him perform in the London area, but the 1861 Census dutifully records the expanding Bancroft family as being residents of Swansea, with William plying his trade as a bootmaker, and playing as a professional for the town’s cricket club.
The all-rounder subsequently became one of the leading professionals in South Wales, and was regularly chosen to play for the Glamorganshire side during the 1860s, including their inaugural fixture against Carmarthenshire at Llanelli in August 1861. Bancroft batted regularly in the top-order, and proved to be a consistent run-scorer in these days of round-arm and under-arm bowling. On several occasions, he also showed his own prowess with the ball, including a fine spell of 6/64 against Carmarthenshire at Neath in 1864.
Through his friendship with JTD Llewelyn, Bancroft also guested for the Cadoxton club of Neath in some of their prestigious matches, including the game in 1868 against the United South of England 1868 and the MCC the following year. In 1869 Bancroft was also chosen as captain of the Colts XXII which met Glamorgan in a two-day encounter at Neath as the Club sought fresh talent. 1869 also proved to be Bancroft’s final season in the county side as he subsequently devoted his efforts to Swansea CC, and tending their ground at Bryn-y-Mor. His skills as a groundsman were such that the wicket won many favourable comments, not least from the touring Australian Aborigines who had played the Gentlemen of Swansea at Swansea in 1868.
It was no coincidence that during this time cricket in Swansea went from strength-to-strength, with the young men of the club also deciding to diversify their sporting activities during the early 1870s by playing football and rugby during the winter – activities which also brought extra trade to William’s boot-making business. More work also came his way a year or so later following the acquisition by the Swansea Cricket and Football Club in 1873 of the reclaimed sandbanks at St.Helen’s. After they had been leveled and turfed, Bancroft oversaw the creation of a wicket in the new Field, besides moving with his family into a cottage built specifically for them on the Oystermouth Road and adjacent to the new ground, which was formally opened in 1875.
It was a reflection of William’s skills as a groundsman that the new wicket soon won great favour, as did the adjoining rugby pitch which in December 1882 hosted Wales’ first-ever home rugby international against England. Quite where William’s loyalties were was not recorded, but there was no prouder man at St. Helen’s than William Bancroft as the rugby players from Wales and England met each other on his beloved turf.