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{{Short description|English cricketer and soldier (1885–1914)}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
|birth_name = Arthur Edward Jeune Collins
|birth_date= 18 August 1885
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1914|11|11|1885|08|18|df=y}}
|birth_place= [[Hazaribagh]], India
|death_place= [[Ypres]], Belgium
|image= AEJ Collins 1899 postcard.jpg
|caption= Collins on an 1899 postcard
|nickname= James Collins
|allegiance= [[British Army]]
|serviceyears= 1902–1914
|rank= [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|Captain]]
|branch=
|commands=
|unit= [[Royal Engineers]]
|battles= {{Tree list}}
* [[First World War]]
** [[First Battle of Ypres]]
{{Tree list/end}}
|awards= [[Mention in Despatches]]
|spouse = {{Marriage|Ethel Slater|1914}}
|laterwork=
}}
'''Arthur Edward Jeune Collins''' (18 August 1885 – 11 November 1914) was an English [[cricket]]er and [[British Armed Forces|soldier]]. He held, for 116 years, the record of highest score in cricket: as a 13-year-old schoolboy, he scored 628 [[not out]] over four afternoons in June 1899. Collins's record-making [[innings]] drew a large crowd and increasing media interest; spectators at the [[Clifton College|Old Cliftonian]] match being played nearby were drawn away to watch the junior school [[house system|house]] cricket match in which Collins was playing. Despite this achievement, Collins never played [[first-class cricket]]. Collins's 628 not out stood as the record score till January 2016 when an Indian boy, [[Pranav Dhanawade]], scored 1009 in a single innings.

Collins joined the [[British Army]] in 1902 and studied at the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]], before becoming an [[officer (armed forces)|officer]] in the [[Royal Engineers]]. He served in France during the First World War, where he was [[killed in action]] in 1914 during the [[First Battle of Ypres]]. Collins had been [[mentioned in despatches]] and also represented the Royal Military Academy at cricket and [[rugby union]].

== Early life and education ==
[[File:Aejcollins rpkeigwin lr.jpg|thumb|alt=Two schoolboys holding racquets, standing on wooden steps either side of an arched wooden double door to a school building|Collins (left) with [[R. P. Keigwin]] at [[Clifton College]], as the school racquets team in 1902]]
Collins was born in [[Hazaribagh]], India,<ref name="cricinfo">{{cite web |title=Player Profile: A. E. J. Collins |url=http://www.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/11769.html |access-date=2 February 2007 |work=[[ESPNcricinfo]]}}</ref> to Arthur Herbert Collins, a judge in the [[Indian Civil Service]],<ref name="seventh">{{Cite web| url=http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/81184.html |title=On the seventh day AEJ Collins rested |first=Tim |last=Rice |work=[[ESPNcricinfo]] |access-date=2 February 2007}}</ref> and Mrs Esther Ida Collins. It had been thought that both of his parents had died by the time he began his education at [[Clifton College]], Bristol, where he held a scholarship.<ref name="Christie">{{Cite book |title=A History of Clifton College, 1860–1934 |first=Octavius Francis |last=Christie |year=1935 |publisher= J.W. Arrowsmith |page=185 |url=https://books.google.com/books?um=1&q=AEJ+Collins+boxing+aldershot}}</ref> However, the 1901 census shows that Arthur's mother was actually still alive.<ref name="The British Newspaper Archive">{{cite news|url=http://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2014/06/26/a-e-j-collins-and-the-highest-recorded-cricket-score/|title=A. E. J. Collins and the highest recorded cricket score|first=Amy|last=Sell|date=26 June 2014|work=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|access-date=26 June 2014}}</ref>

He joined Clifton College in September 1897,<ref>"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. ref no 5327: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April 1948</ref> becoming a member of Clark's [[house system|House]], although he later moved to North Town House. Clifton had an excellent reputation for sport. [[W.G. Grace]] scored 13 first-class centuries on the Close (Clifton's first XI ground), and he sent his sons to the school.<ref name="seventh" /> Collins played half-back for the [[rugby union|rugby]] XV, and was also in the cricket XI.  He won a [[bronze medal]] for [[boxing]] at the [[public school (UK)|public schools]] tournament in [[Aldershot]] in 1901.<ref name="Christie" />

[[Tim Rice]], in a 9 June 1999 article for ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'' to celebrate the centenary of the score, entitled "On the seventh day AEJ Collins rested", described him thus:<ref name="seventh" />

{{blockquote|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.}}

== The famous match ==
{{further|Scorecard of A. E. J. Collins}}
In 1899, as a 13-year-old schoolboy, Collins scored what was then the highest ever recorded cricket score of 628 not out.<ref name="highest">{{Cite web|url=http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282840.html |title=Most runs in an innings – minor cricket |work=[[ESPNcricinfo]]|access-date=2 February 2007}}; {{cite web |url=http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/94177.html |title=Most runs in an innings – first-class matches |work=[[ESPNcricinfo]] |access-date=2 February 2007}}</ref> This feat took place during a junior school house cricket match between Clarke's House and North Town House. Such matches were timeless, played to a finish however long they took. 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 {{convert|60|yd|m}} long), with a wall only {{convert|70|yd|m|-1}} away forming the [[boundary (cricket)|boundary]] on one side, while the other side was a gentle slope falling away towards the school [[sanatorium]] in the distance. The pitch occupied the central {{convert|22|yd|m}} of the narrow field, with the boundary only {{convert|17|yd|m}} behind each set of stumps.<ref name="boy">{{cite web |url=http://www.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/291690.html |title=The boy who knew no boundaries |work=[[ESPNcricinfo]] |date=21 April 2007 |access-date=27 July 2009}}</ref> Hits to the long boundary, down the slope, had to be all-run, but the three short boundaries only counted for two runs.<ref name="history">{{cite web|url=http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/134961.html |title=AEJ Collins: a place in history |first=Martin |last=Williamson |work=[[ESPNcricinfo]] |date=31 July 2004 |access-date=2 February 2007}}</ref>

The match commenced on Thursday, 22 June, to take advantage of two half-day holidays while the college team played their annual match against Old Cliftonians nearby.<ref name="boy" /> Collins, a right-handed [[batsman]], won the toss for Clarke's House and chose to bat first. Collins hit his first stroke at around 3.30 pm. By the close of play at 6 pm, he had scored 200 runs, having been dropped on 50, 100 and 140.<ref name="boy" />

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 the crowd watching an Old Cliftonian match being played nearby lost its interest and a large crowd watched Collins's phenomenal performance.<ref name="history" /> Collins's innings almost ended at 400 when an easy [[Caught (cricket)|catch]] was dropped by the youngest player on the field, 11-year-old Victor Fuller-Eberle, but at around 5.30 pm, after batting for around five hours, rapturous applause broke out when he passed [[Andrew Stoddart]]'s world-record score of 485.<ref name="history" /> At the end of the second day, he remained unbeaten on 509 and the team on 680 for 8.<ref name="seventh" /> His innings was reported as a world record in ''[[The Times]]'' newspaper on Saturday 24 June; the paper, however, gave Collins's score by the close of play on Friday as 501, his age as 14 and mis-reported his name as "A. E. ''G.'' Collins".<ref name="timesjune24">{{cite news|title=Record Score|work=[[The Times]]|date=24 June 1899|page=14}}</ref>

The match resumed in the lunch hour on Monday, 26 June, at 12:30 pm, with a large crowd. By the end of play, Collins had been dropped again, on 556, to reach 598, but another wicket had fallen, and Collins was running out of partners.<ref name="history" /> On Tuesday, 27 June, the school authorities extended the hours available for play in an attempt to finish the match. The crowds grew and media interest escalated, as ''The Times'' again reported on the match on Tuesday,<ref name="timesjune27">{{cite news|title=The Record Individual Score|work=[[The Times]]|date=27 June 1899|page=11}}</ref> and the disruption to school life was considerable. Collins hit out, with his approach being described as "downright reckless".<ref name="history" /> He was dropped twice more, on 605 and 619. After just 25 minutes' play, Collins lost his final partner, Thomas Redfern, caught by Victor Fuller-Eberle at [[fielding (cricket)|point]] for 13, with Collins's score on 628.<ref name="history" /> Collins had played less than seven hours' cricket, [[carrying his bat]] through his side's innings. He had scored 1 six, 4 fives, 31 fours, 33 threes, 146 twos and 87 singles.<ref name="history" /> ''The Times'' once again ran a report, giving the final figures for Collins's innings in its Wednesday edition of 28 June—once again, however, they misspelled his third initial.<ref name="timesjune28">{{cite news|title=The Record Individual Score|work=[[The Times]]|date=28 June 1899|page=12}}</ref>

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 ability as an [[all-rounder]], with his right-arm medium pace [[bowling (cricket)|bowling]] taking 11 [[wicket]]s for 63 [[run (cricket)|runs]].<ref name="seventh" />

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".<ref name="seventh" /> The other scorer for the match was J. W. Hall, whose father in 1868 had batted with [[Edward Tylecote]], who later played [[Test cricket]] for [[English cricket team|England]] and whose name is on a poem kept with [[the Ashes]] urn. Tylecote had earlier set a world-record score of 404 not out in 1868, also at Clifton.<ref name="seventh" /> Hall later wrote that "The bowling probably deserved all the lordly contempt with which Collins treated it, sending a considerable number of pulls full pitch over the [[fives]] courts into the swimming baths to the danger of the occupants."<ref name="times1938">{{cite news|title=Big Scores at Clifton|first=J. W.|last=Hall|work=[[The Times]]|date=18 March 1938|page=12}}</ref>

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."<ref name="history" /> After leaving school, he never wanted to be reminded of his famous innings; nevertheless, he has been remembered well beyond his own lifetime.<ref name="lifetime1">{{cite news|title=Old master; Cricket|first=Simon|last=Barnes|work=[[The Times]]|date=18 May 1996|page=46}}</ref><ref name="lifetime2">{{cite news|title=Way back when: Frank Keating pays tribute to some of the sporting heroes who died in the 1914–18 war|first=Frank|last=Keating|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 November 1998|page=6}}</ref><ref name="lifetime3">{{cite news|title=100 Wisden Cricketer facts|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=11 May 2006|page=7}}</ref>

Within two years, 31-year-old Australian Test cricketer [[Charles Eady]] came close to breaking the record, when he made 566 for Break-o'-Day against Wellington in [[Hobart]] in less than eight hours spread over three weeks in March 1902.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cricinfo.com/australia/content/story/261666.html |title=Eady's three-week record innings |first=Martin |last=Williamson |work=[[ESPNcricinfo]] |date=7 October 2006 | access-date=2 February 2007}}</ref> This remained, for over a century, the closest challenge to Collins's record: his score was finally beaten in January 2016 by [[Pranav Dhanawade]], a 15-year-old Indian boy who scored 1,009 not out from 327 balls for KC Gandhi School against Arya Gurukul School in [[Mumbai]].<ref name="highest" /><ref>{{cite news
|title=World record: Indian boy makes 1,000 runs in school cricket match
|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-35230388
|publisher=BBC
|date=5 January 2016
|access-date=5 January 2016}}; {{cite news
|url=http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/mumbai-teenager-pranav-dhanawade-first-cricketer-score-1000-runs-innings
|work=sportskeeda.com
|title=Mumbai teenager Pranav Dhanawade becomes first cricketer in history to score 1000 runs in an innings
|first=Dipankar
|last=Lahiri
|date=5 January 2016
|access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/958397.html
|work=[[ESPNcricinfo]]
|title=Bhandari Cup, KC Gandhi English School v Arya Gurukul (CBSE) at Mumbai, Jan 4–5, 2016 – Scorecard
|date=5 January 2016
|access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref> Only five other players, [[Prithvi Shaw]] (546), [[Dadabhoy Havewala]] (515), JC Sharp (505 not out), [[Malhotra Chamanlal]] (502 not out), and [[Brian Lara]] (501 not out) have ever scored more than 500 runs in one innings in any form of cricket. Lara is the only person to have achieved a score of over 500 runs in [[first-class cricket]].<ref name="highest" />

== Military career ==

Collins chose to follow an army career, passing his entrance exams to the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]], in September 1901 and representing the Royal Military Academy at both football and rugby as well as cricket, scoring a century in a match against the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]].<ref name="long">{{cite news|title=As it Happens – Long innings|work=[[The Times]]|date=10 September 1966|page=9}}</ref> He joined the [[British Army]] the following year, being commissioned as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[Royal Engineers]] on 21 December 1904.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27755|page=417|date=17 January 1905}}</ref> Despite the limitations on his sport that the military service caused, he played several matches for Old Cliftonians, his regiment, and the army, remaining a free-hitting batsman.<ref name="cricinfo" /> He played at [[Lord's]] in 1913 for [[Royal Engineers Cricket Club]] against [[Royal Artillery Cricket Club]], scoring 58 and 36 runs in the two innings,<ref name="cricinfo" /> but he never played [[first-class cricket]].<ref name="seventh" /> He also joined [[Clifton Rugby Football Club]] in February 1905, but never rose above the 2nd XV.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cliftonrfchistory.co.uk/1900s/1900s.htm |title=History of Clifton RFC |publisher=[[Clifton Rugby Football Club]] |access-date=2 February 2007}}</ref> He served with the 2nd Sappers and Miners in India, and was promoted to [[First Lieutenant|lieutenant]] on 23 June 1907.<ref name="cricinfo" /><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28036|page=4522|date=2 July 1907}}</ref>

Collins married Ethel Slater in the spring of 1914 and was sent to France when the [[World War I|First World War]] broke out later that year.<ref name="seventh" /> He was killed in action on 11 November 1914 at the [[First Battle of Ypres]], while serving as a [[Captain (land)|captain]] with the 5th Field Company, Royal Engineers, at the age of 29.<ref name="cricinfo" /> He was signalling for more men to protect the flank of his trench when he was wounded; he was dragged back into the trench by Sapper Farnfield (23900) but he died an hour later. The 5th Field Company carried out the burials of its Company on 12 November. Due to the continual fighting over this area for the next four years what remained of his grave and remains were never found, but his name is recorded at the [[Menin Gate]] Memorial in [[Belgium]].<ref>{{cwgc|id=1607348|name=Collins, Arthur Edward Jeune|access-date=24 August 2016}}</ref> Before his death, he had been [[mentioned in despatches]]. His younger brother Herbert (a lieutenant in the 24th Battalion of the [[Manchester Regiment]] and also an old Cliftonian) was killed in action on 11 February 1917, aged 27.<ref>{{cwgc|id=500057|name=Collins, Herbert Charles|access-date=24 August 2016}}</ref> Collins's wife, Ethel, lived as a widow for over fifty years, dying on 1 September 1966 in [[Haslemere]].<ref name="wife">{{cite news|title=Deaths|work=[[The Times]]|date=6 September 1966|page=2}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of cricket terms]]
* [[History of cricket]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== References ==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|AEJ Collins.ogg|date=13 August 2005}}
* {{cite book |title=Wisden Anthology 1864–1900 |publisher=[[Wisden Group|Wisden]] |editor-first=Benny |editor-last=Green |isbn=0-356-10732-9 |year=1987}}
* {{cite book |title=[[Clifton College - school register|Clifton College Register 1862–1947]] |publisher=[[Old Cliftonian Society]]}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|A. E. J. Collins}}

{{authority control}}
{{featured article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, A. E. J.}}
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:People educated at Clifton College]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]
[[Category:British military personnel killed in World War I]]
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1914 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Hazaribagh]]
[[Category:English cricketers of 1890 to 1918]]
[[Category:Schools cricket]]
[[Category:Cricketers from Jharkhand]]

A. E. J. Collins - Revision history

Delinker at 13:26, 31 July 2023