   #copyright

A. E. J. Collins

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports and games people

   A. E. J. Collins
   Enlarge
   A. E. J. Collins

   Arthur Edward Jeune (James) Collins ( 18 August 1885– 11 November
   1914), typically known by his initials AEJ Collins, was an English
   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.

   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.

Early life and education

   Collins (left) with R. P. Keigwin at Clifton College, as the school
   racquets team in 1902.
   Enlarge
   Collins (left) with R. P. Keigwin at Clifton College, as the school
   racquets team in 1902.

   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.

   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.

   Tim Rice, in an article for the Electronic Telegraph on 9 June 1999 to
   celebrate the centenary of the score, entitled "On the seventh day AEJ
   Collins rested", described him thus:


   A. E. J. Collins

    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.


   A. E. J. Collins

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.
   Plaque at Clifton College, fixed in 1962.
   Enlarge
   Plaque at Clifton College, fixed in 1962.

   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.

   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.

   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 was 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 Victor 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.

   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.

   The scorebook hangs in the pavilion at Clifton to this day. The scorers
   faced a difficult task in accurately recording the innings. One of
   them, Edward Peglar, is said to have remarked 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.

   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.

   The full scorecard is available here.

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.

   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 younger brother Herbert (also an old Cliftonian) was
   killed in action on 11 February 1917.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._J._Collins"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
