NationMaster - Encyclopedia: A. E. J. Collins

Arthur Edward Jeune (James) Collins (18 August 1885–11 November 1914), typically known by his initials AEJ Collins, was a British cricketer and soldier. He is most famous for achieving the highest-ever recorded score in cricket: as a 13-year-old schoolboy, he scored 628 not out over four afternoons in June 1899. Collins' record-making innings drew a large crowd and increasing media interest; spectators at the Old Cliftonian match being played nearby were drawn away to watch a junior school house cricket match. Image File history File links AEJ Collins Image from the collection of Brookie This is an altered image of a picture in the public domain on the internet and as a result of the various changes to the image this version is copyright but issued as fairuse File history Legend... Image File history File links AEJ Collins Image from the collection of Brookie This is an altered image of a picture in the public domain on the internet and as a result of the various changes to the image this version is copyright but issued as fairuse File history Legend... August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... A cricketer is a term used to refer to a person who plays cricket. ... The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majestys Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. ... Cricket is a team sport played between two groups of eleven players each. ... See also: 1898 in sports, 1900 in sports and the list of years in sports. Boat race Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - Cambridge Cricket County Cricket Championship - Surrey The Ashes - Australia beat England 1–0 Cycling Bordeaux - Paris road race won by Constant Huret Football (Australian Rules) Victorian Football League... An innings, or inning, is a segment of a game in any of a variety of sports â€“ most notably baseball and cricket â€“ during which a side takes its turn to bat. ... The House System is a traditional feature of British schools, similar to the collegiate system of a university. ...

Collins joined the British Army in 1902. He studied at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, before becoming an officer in the Royal Engineers. He served in France during World War I, where he was killed in action in 1914. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Royal Military Academy was founded in 1741 in Woolwich, south-east London. ... Woolwich (pronounced Woolitch) is a town in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich (which is now part of the London Borough of Newham) is on the north side of the river. ... In military organizations, an officer is a member of the service who holds a position of responsibility. ... The Corps of Royal Engineers (RE), commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... KIA is a three-letter acronym (TLA) for killed in action. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Early life and education

Collins was born in Hazaribagh, India, to Arthur Herbert Collins, a judge in the Indian Civil Service, and Mrs Esther Ida Collins. Both of his parents had died by the time he began his education at Clifton College, Bristol, where he held a scholarship. Hazaribagh, is one of the districts of Jharkhand state, India. ... A judge or justice is an appointed or elected official who presides over a court. ... Indian Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym ICS, is the elite civil service of the Indian Government. ... Founded in 1862, Clifton College is a major coeducational public school in Clifton, Bristol, England. ... Bristol is an English city and county and one of the two administrative centres of South West England (the other being Plymouth). ...

He joined Clifton College in September 1897, becoming a member of Clark's House, although he later moved to North Town house. He was an excellent sportsman, being in the football XI (eleven being the number of players in the team), the rugby XV, and the cricket XI , and he represented the school in the racquets pair in 1902 with R. P. Keigwin. He won a bronze medal for boxing at Aldershot in 1901, along with E. A. Hughes and H. P. Hewett. 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The House System is a traditional feature of British schools, similar to the collegiate system of a university. ... Football is a ball game played between two teams of eleven players, each attempting to win by scoring more goals than their opponent. ... Rugby Union is a team sport that was developed from the rules used to play football at Rugby School in England. ... Racquets (also Rackets or Hard Racquets) is a game played in a 30 foot by 60 foot enclosed court, using a long wooden racquet and a small, hard ball. ... 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Richard Prescott Keigwin (8 April 1883, Lexden, Essex, England - 26 November 1972, Polstead, Suffolk, England) was an academic, England cricketer & hockey player. ... A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests (typically athletics competitions) such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Map sources for Aldershot at grid reference SU8650 Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, on a moorland 55 km (35 miles) southwest of London, and is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. ... 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Tim Rice, in an article for the Electronic Telegraph to celebrate the centenary of the score entitled "On the seventh day AEJ Collins rested" (9/6/1999), described him thus: "He was an orphan whose guardians lived in Tavistock, Devon. He was a reserved boy, short and stockily built, fair-haired and pale. He was remembered by contemporaries as one who led by example, rather than by inspiration, although paradoxically he was regarded as likely to fall short of the highest standards as a cricketer because of his recklessness at the crease." Sir Tim Rice (born November 10, 1944, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, and educated at St Albans School and Lancing College) is a lyricist for musical theater, a radio presenter, television gameshow panelist and an author. ...

The famous match

In 1899, whilst a 13-year-old schoolboy, Collins scored the highest ever recorded cricket score of 628 not out. This feat took place during a junior school house cricket match between Clarke's House and North Town house. The match was played on an outfield off Guthrie Road, Bristol, now named Collins' Piece. The ground had both a poor surface and a very unusual shape: it was very short (only 60 yards long), with a wall only 70 yards away forming the boundary on one side, while the other side was a gentle slope falling away towards the school sanatorium in the distance. All hits to the long boundary, down the slope, had to be all-run, but the three short boundaries only counted for two runs. 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the unit of measure known as the yard. ... Boundary has two distinct meanings in the sport of cricket. ... Sanatório Heliantia A sanatorium refers to a medical facility for long-term illness, typically cholera or tuberculosis. ...

On Thursday, 22 June, Collins, a right-handed batsman, won the toss for Clarke's House and chose to bat first. Collins hit his first stroke at 3.30 p.m. By the close of play at 6 p.m., he had scored 200 runs. Image File history File links Plaque_AEJCollins Image from the collection of Brookie . ... Image File history File links Plaque_AEJCollins Image from the collection of Brookie . ... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... Cricket batsman A batsman in the sport of cricket is a player whose speciality in the game is batting. ...

School lessons allowed another two-and-a-half hours' play on Friday, 23 June, and by then news of an exceptional innings had gone round the school. So brilliant was his play that even an Old Cliftonian match being played nearby lost its interest and a large crowd watched Collins' phenomenal performance. Collins' innings almost ended at 400 when an easy catch was dropped, but at around 5.30 p.m. – only some five hours after he started – he overtook Andrew Stoddart's then world-record score of 485 to rapturous applause. At the end of the second day, he remained unbeaten on 509. June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. ... Baseball In baseball, a catch occurs when a fielder gains secure possession of a batted ball in flight, and maintains possession until he voluntarily or negligently releases the ball. ... Andrew Ernest Stoddart (11 March 1863-4 April 1915) was an English cricketer and rugby union player. ...

The match resumed on Monday, 26 June, at 12.30 p.m., but the school authorities extended the hours available for play in a bid to speed the end of the match. As the crowds continued to grow and media interest escalated, the disruption to school life was considerable. Collins played his part: his approach described as "downright reckless" as he hit out, and he was dropped twice more when on 605 and 619. By the end of the day, Collins had reached 598 but he was rapidly running out of partners. On Tuesday, 27 June, after just 25 minutes' play, Collins lost his final partner, Thomas Redfern, caught by Elison Fuller-Eberle at point for 13, with Collins' score on 628. Collins had played less than seven hours' cricket, carrying his bat through his side's innings. June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... June 27 is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 187 days remaining. ... Fielding in the sport of cricket is what fielders do to collect the ball when it is struck by the batsman in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball or running the batsman... Cricket is a team sport played between two teams of eleven. ...

North Town house, demoralised, were bowled out for 87 in 90 minutes on Tuesday. The match resumed on Wednesday 28 June, when North Town's second innings went even worse, making 61 in just over an hour, so Clarke House won by an innings and 688 runs. Collins showed some ability as an all-rounder, with his right-arm medium pace bowling taking 11 wickets for 63 runs. (Some entries on this page have been duplicated on August 1. ... In the sport of cricket, an all-rounder is a player who is both a good batsman and bowler. ... A professional cricket match In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball towards the batsman. ... This article is about the cricket term. ... In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. ...

The scorebook still hangs in the pavilion at Clifton, but the task facing the scorers was unenviable. One of them, Edward Peglar, is reported to have said that Collins's score was "628, plus or minus twenty shall we say". The other scorer for the match was JW Hall, whose father in 1868 had batted with Edward Tylecote, who later played Test cricket for England and whose name is on a poem kept with the Ashes urn, when Tylecote had set an early world-record score of 404 not out, also at Clifton. 1868 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Edward Ferdinando Sutton Tylecote (born 23 June 1849 in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, England; died 15 March 1938 in New Hunstanton, Norfolk, England) was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Kent. ... It has been suggested that Test status be merged into this article or section. ... For more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal. ... For more coverage of cricket, see the Cricket portal. ...

Collins became public property for a long while after the match, forever associated with his great score. "Today all men speak of him," wrote one newspaper, "... he has a reputation as great as the most advertised soap: he will be immortalised." After leaving school, he never wanted to be reminded of his famous innings; nevertheless, he has been remembered well beyond his own lifetime.

Military career

Collins chose to follow an army career, passing his entrance exams to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in September 1901 and representing the Royal Military Academy at both football and rugby. He joined the British Army the following year, being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. Despite the limitations on his sport that the military service caused, he played at Lord's, scoring 58 and 36 runs in the two innings. He also joined Clifton Rugby Football Club in February 1905, but never rose above the 2nd XV. He served with the 2nd Sappers and Miners in India, and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1907. Image File history File links Collins with bat Image from the collection of Brookie This is an altered image of a picture in the public domain on the internet and as a result of the various changes to the image this version is copyright but issued as fairuse File history... The Royal Military Academy was founded in 1741 in Woolwich, south-east London. ... Woolwich (pronounced Woolitch) is a town in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich (which is now part of the London Borough of Newham) is on the north side of the river. ... 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Second Lieutenant is the lowest commissioned rank in many armed forces. ... The Corps of Royal Engineers (RE), commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. ... The Mound Stand The Grand Stand For more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal. ... Clifton Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Clifton, Bristol, England. ... 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A Lieutenant is a military, paramilitary or police officer. ...

He married Ethel Slater in the spring of 1914, and was sent to France when World War I broke out later that year. He was killed in action, as a Captain, on 11 November 1914 at the First Battle of Ypres, while serving with the 5th Field Company, Royal Engineers, at the age of 29. His body was never found, but his name is recorded at the Menin Gate Memorial in Belgium. Before his death, he had been Mentioned in Dispatches. His brother Herbert (also an old Cliftonian) was killed in action in 1917. World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... Captain is both a nautical term and a military rank. ... November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The First Battle of Ypres was the last major battle of the first year (1914) of World War I. This battle and the Battle of the Yser marked the end of the Race to the Sea where the Germans tried to reach the French Channel ports of Calais and Dunkerque... The Menin Gate Memorial at the eastern exit of the town of Ieper (usually known in English as Ypres) in Flanders, Belgium, marks the starting point for one of the main roads out of the town that led Allied soldiers to the front line during World War I. Designed by... Mentioned in Dispatches (MID) is a military award for gallantry or otherwise commendable service. ...

Contents

Early life and education

The famous match

Military career

See also

References

Contents

Early life and education GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

The famous match

Military career

See also

References

Early life and education