Austin Carlos Bird (26 January 1884 — 4 January 1938) was an English first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

officer. The son of the cricketer George Bird, he was born at Croxteth Lodge in

Croxteth Croxteth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Although housing in the area is predominantly modern, the suburb has some notable history. At the United Kingdom 2011 Census it had a population of 14,561. ...

in January 1884. He was educated at

Malvern College Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...

, where he played for the cricket and

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teams. After leaving Malvern in 1902, Bird attended the

Royal Military College Royal Military College may refer to: ;Australia * Royal Military College, Duntroon, Campbell, Australian Capital Territory ;Canada * Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario * Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean, Quebec ;Mala ...

at Sandhurst, from which he graduated into the

as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in August 1904. Once in British India, Bird was attached to the 39th Prince of Wales's Own Central India Horse, in which he was promoted to lieutenant in November 1906. He gained the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in August 1913, at which point he was serving in the

73rd Carnatic Infantry The 73rd Carnatic Infantry was an infantry regiment originally raised in 1776 as the 13th Carnatic Battalion (using drafts of men from the 4th, 7th and the 11th Carnatic Battalion) as part of the Presidency of Madras Army which was itself p ...

. Bird returned to England in 1914, where he played a single first-class cricket match for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against Hampshire at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed in the MCC first innings for 3 runs by

Alec Kennedy Alec or Aleck is a Scottish form of the given name Alex. It may be a diminutive of the name Alexander or a given name in its own right. Notable people with the name include: People * Alec Aalto (1942–2018), Finnish diplomat *Alec Acton (1938– ...

, while in their second innings he was dismissed without scoring by Jack Newman. He continued to serve in the Indian Army following the First World War, where he played minor cricket matches for North-West Frontier Province in March 1919 and later Quetta in 1925 and 1926. By 1930, he held the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. Bird later retired to England, where he died suddenly on 4 January 1938 at his residence in Buxted, Sussex.Funeral. ''

Kent & Sussex Courier The ''Kent and Sussex Courier'' is an English regional newspaper, published in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The paper was the result of an amalgamation of a number of Kent and East Sussex local newspapers, and hence has always been published i ...

''. 14 January 1938. p. 10 His brother was the Test cricketer

Morice Bird Morice Carlos Bird (25 March 1888, in St Michael's Hamlet, Liverpool, Lancashire – 9 December 1933, in Broadstone, Dorset) was an English cricketer who played in 10 Tests from 1910 to 1914, all of them in South Africa. Bird's fame as a crick ...

. His own son,

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...

, was also a first-class cricketer, as were his uncles Walter Bird and Charles Clarke.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Austin 1884 births 1938 deaths People from Croxteth People educated at Malvern College Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst British Indian Army officers English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Indian Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from Liverpool