Hugh Spottiswoode

William Hugh Spottiswoode (12 July 1864 – 20 August 1915) was an English printer, businessman and amateur cricketer.

Early life Spottiswoode was born at Belgravia in London, the eldest son of William Spottiswoode and his wife Eliza in 1864. His father was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a mathematician and a physicist and was on the board of printers Eyre & Spottiswoode, the Queen's Printer. His grandfather, Andrew Spottiswoode, had been MP for Saltash and, briefly, Colchester and had taken over the printing business from his uncle Andrew Strahan in 1819.

The family lived in Bexley in Kent and Spottiswoode grew up there before being educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he captained his college cricket team. He did not play for either Eton or Oxford University.

Business career Spottiswoode became a partner in Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1885, soon after the death of his father in 1883. The firm continued as Kings' Printer following the death of Queen Victoria and accession of King Edward VII. He was a director of the Royal Academy of Music, a committee member of the Royal Literary Fund and managed the Royal Institution for a period. He played three times for the County Club in 1890, including twice in first-class matches against Yorkshire and Gloucestershire.

Spottiswoode's son-in-law Gerry Crutchley and uncle Reginald Arbuthnot both played first-class cricket, Arbuthnot for Kent.

Family and later life Spottiswoode married Sylvia Tomlin at Westminster Abbey in 1893.

He died of heart failure at Llandrindod Wells, Radnorshire in August 1915 aged 51.