De Ville was born at
Uttoxeter,
Staffordshire. He began playing for Derbyshire in 1955, when he turned out for the Second XI in the Minor Counties Championship. In the
1963 season he was brought into the first team as a lower-order batsman. He played two games in the season. In the
1964 season he played one more game for the Derbyshire against
Oxford University. De Ville was a right-handed batsman who played five innings in three first-class matches with an average of 8.66 and a top score of 17. He was a leg-break bowler, but his lack of consistency saw him dropped in favour of quicker bowlers such as Brian Jackson. He took two wickets at an average of 73.00 and a best performance of 2 for 47. De Ville moved to
Staffordshire, where he played in the Minor Counties Championship until 1973. He played two ListA matches for Staffordshire. Later in his career, he played for
Marylebone Cricket Club, until 1977. After his cricket career de Ville became an antiques dealer, specialising in 18th and 19th century British pottery. He died at home in
Denstone in October 2021, aged 86. ==References==