William Mycroft is a suggestion that Arthur Conan Doyle derived the name of Mycroft the older brother of Sherlock Holmes from William Mycroft. Conan Doyle was a first-class cricketer who later played for MCC and had a respect for fast bowlers. Mycroft played his last first-class match for MCC in 1886. He umpired four first-class matches before his retirement and later umpired two more during the 1891 season. He died of influenza at the age of 53 in Derby. Mycroft's half-brother, Thomas, played for Derbyshire between 1877 and 1885. William Mycroft William Mycroft (1 February 1841 – 19 June 1894) was an
William Mycroft and took five wickets in an innings eight times, but did even more deadly work for the MCC with 31 wickets at the extraordinary average of 7.29, and also was deadly in one innings for England against Kent and a powerful Gloucestershire team with W.G. Grace in his prime. In 1878, Mycroft played much less outside county cricket, taking only fifteen wickets, but took a career best 101 for Derbyshire. In the 1879 season he was down to 48 wickets for the club which was still the best total. He topped the wicket tally for Derbyshire in the 1880 season