Height 5ft. 8 inches and weighting between 11 and 12 stone. He was a lower order batsman and a right-hand medium pace round-arm bowler. He usually fielded at long-stop.

He accompanied the Lancashire team to London in May-June 1867, playing his first match against Surrey at The Oval, where he scored 11 and bowled a couple of overs for 6 runs.

Moving on to Lord's for the next match, against the M.C.C. he scored 10 and 1. He was not selected again that year but found a place in the team from time to time during the next six years, making a top score of 39 in the match against Sussex at Brighton in 1869.

He played his club cricket for the East Lancashire Club, Blackburn, turning out regularly throughout the late 1860s and 1870s. He also played on occasion for Clitheroe.

He is usually referred to in the Lillywhite Annual as "junior" so presumably his father was also a cricketer. He played his club cricket as an amateur, but was apparently paid for his county appearances - not an unusual arrangement and mainly designed to cover lost earnings. He appears in some newspaper reports as Bill Burroughs

He lived at the Golden Lion Hotel, Blackburn, and was a dealer in hay, corn and straw.

There is a William Burrow, aged 36, born at Preston, a hat dealer, at 72 King William Street, Blackburn, in the 1881 Census, with his wife Martha, aged 30 born at Blackburn, a childrens milliner and outfitter. Mrs Jane Oddie, a 69 year old widow born at Downham, also lives there and is described as mother (whose?) and there is one domestic servant.

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Don Ambrose)

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