William Draper ( British Army officer ) Sir William Draper KCB ( 1721 – 8 January 1787 ) , was a British military officer who conquered Manila in 1762 , but was involved in the unsuccessful defence of Minorca in 1782 . He was also involved in 1774 with a key meeting that agreed an early set of cricket rules including the leg before wicket rule . Biography . Draper was born in Bristol , then the second largest city in England , to a young Customs Officer . His father died the following year and the family struggled for money for many years , spending some time in India . Draper was educated at Eton , to which he won a scholarship in 1733 , and King ' s College , Cambridge . In 1744 , during the War of Austrian succession he became an Ensign in Lord Henry Beauclerk ' s regiment , adjutant in the 1st Foot Guards in 1746 , and a lieutenant and captain in 1749 . In 1756 he married his first wife , Caroline , daughter of Lord William Beauclerk . Seven Years ' War . In the Seven Years ' War he commanded the 79th Regiment of Foot , raised by himself , at the Siege of Madras in 1758 – 59 . A colonel in 1762 , he had his greatest triumph when he led together with Vice - Admiral Samuel Cornish an expedition against Manila , capturing the city on 6 October 1762 . The British occupation lasted until 1764 , after which it was returned to Spain . During the capture Draper had signed an agreement known as the Manila Ransom by which the Spanish would pay the British a large amount of money . A large amount of plunder had also been taken , as Manila served as a trading base . News of Manila ' s fall arrived too late to affect the Treaty of Paris , and under its terms the British were compelled to return the city would territorial compensation . Peacetime . Draper returned home expecting to receive comendations for his capture of Manila , but the reaction was more mixed . In 1765 he was colonel of the 16th Regiment of Foot . In December 1765 he became Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath and defended the Marquis of Granby against Junius in 1769 . In 1769 he lost his wife and went on a tour through the American colonies . At New York , he married Susanna De Lancey , daughter of Oliver De Lancey , the head of one of the leading families in the Province of New York . Draper entertained a hope that he might be appointed as a Royal Governor , but this came to nothing . In 1774 , Draper chaired the committee that formulated some early laws of cricket . They were settled and revised at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall on Friday 25 February 1774 . The committee included the Duke of Dorset , Charles Bennet , 4th Earl of Tankerville , Harry Peckham and other " Noblemen and Gentlemen of Kent , Hampshire , Surrey , Sussex , Middlesex , and London " . This meeting was one of the earlier sets of cricket rules and is acknowledged as being the first where the Leg before wicket rule was introduced . American War of Independence . A lieutenant - general in 1777 , he became lieutenant - governor of Minorca , 1779 – 82 , until the island was lost to the French and Spanish in the Battle of Minorca . He preferred unsubstantiated charges of misconduct against Lieutenant General James Murray , who had suspended him . He was reprimanded by a general court martial in 1783 . He died on 8 January 1787 and was buried in the old Abbey Church in Bath , where a monument has been erected to his memory .