Joseph Rowbotham (8 July 1831 – 22 December 1899) was an English first-class cricketer, who played six matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, in their pre-county incarnation from 1861 and 1862, and 94 for them as a full county club from 1863 to 1876.[1] He played for the MCC in 1856, and also appeared for Sheffield (1854), All England Eleven (1862-1868), The Players (1864-1869), England (1864), Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire (1864), Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire (1872), United North of England Eleven (1870-1875), North of England (1857-1875) and Players of the North (1874-1876), all in first-class games. He played non first-class cricket for an All England Eleven in 1865.
Rowbotham was born in Highfield, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. He was Yorkshire's captain in 1873 and 1875. In 141 first-class matches, he scored 3,694 runs at 15.92, with three centuries and a best score of 113 against Surrey. An occasional wicket-keeper, he took seventy catches and completed five stumpings. He also took 3 for 37 against Gloucestershire, in his only first-class bowling spell.
He umpired in one Test Match; England versus Australia at Manchester from 10 to 12 July 1884.
Rowbotham died in December 1899 in Morecambe, Lancashire