Born at West Bridgford Hall on 26 October 1885, William Goodall Heymann was educated at Haileybury in Hertford, being in the Eleven from 1902 to 1904. He captained the School XI in his last year and against Cheltenham at Lord’s took 11-73; his all-round performance for Haileybury in 1904 was outstanding, his batting average being 46.45 and bowling average 14.70. Heymann was a right-hand bat and a left-arm medium-paced bowler. He appeared for the Amateurs v Professionals at Trent Bridge in 1902, in the Colts XXII of 1903 and his sole First-Class game was for Notts v Middlesex at Trent Bridge in August 1905, when he did not bat and bowled 23-6-48-2 over the two innings. In 1906 he was invited to play in six County matches but declined to do so. For many years Heymann was a member of Nottingham Amateurs CC.
The Heymann family was important to the development of Nottingham as a centre of lace-making. William’s grandfather, Lewis Heymann, moved to the UK from Germany and became a naturalised British citizen; he founded the lace firm Heymann and Alexander, which had its own staff cricket team at one time, and was Mayor of Nottingham in 1857. Lewis bought Bridgford Hall where William was born.
By occupation, William was a farmer residing at Framland Lodge, Long Clawson, Leicestershire, where he died on 27 November 1969, aged 84 years old
May 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 291