Cecil Herbert Bodington (20 January 1880 – 11 April 1917) was an English
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 educator.
The son of The Reverend Herbert James Bodington, he was born in January 1880 at
Suffield, Norfolk
Suffield is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is south of Cromer, north of Norwich and north of London. The village lies east of the A140 between Cromer and Norwich. The nearest railway station is at G ...
. He was educated firstly at a
national school in
Overstrand
Overstrand is a village (population 1,030) on the north coast of Norfolk in England, two miles east of Cromer. It was once a modest fishing station, with all or part of the fishing station being known as Beck Hythe. In the latter part of the 19t ...
, before going to
Charterhouse School
(God having given, I gave)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, president ...
on a junior scholarship in 1893. Three years later he went up to
The King's School, Canterbury
The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...
on a senior scholarship, where he played both
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
and cricket for the school.
From there, he matriculated to
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...
.
At Cambridge, he was a member of
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club, first recorded in 1817, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. Depending on the circumstances of each individual match, the club has always been recognised as holding ...
but did not play at
first-class level for the university. However, he did play first-class cricket during his studies in 1901 and 1902 for
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
on ten occasions, making nine appearances in the
County Championship
The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...
and a further appearance against the touring
Australians
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...
. In these matches, he scored 154 runs at an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
of exactly 11, with a highest score of 36. With the ball, he took 9 wickets at a
bowling average
In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...
of 31.88, with best figures of 3 for 19.
After graduating from Cambridge, he went to
The Cape. From there, he went to
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, where he was tutor to three sons of the
Maharaja of Kapurthala.
He later returned to England, where he became an assistant master at
Elstree School
Elstree School is an English preparatory school for children aged 3–13 at Woolhampton House in Woolhampton, near Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. The school has announced plans to become fully co-educational from September 2020.
H ...
and Stanmore Park Preparatory School.
Bodington served in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, being commissioned as a temporary
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 November 1914, the same month in which he was appointed to the
Household Battalion
The Household Battalion was an infantry battalion of the British army during the Great War. It was formed in September 1916 from the reserves of the Household Cavalry regiments (the 1st Life Guards, 2nd Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards) to ...
. He was made a temporary
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
in April 1916, before being appointed a temporary
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 September of the same year. Bodington was killed in action on 11 April 1917 during the
Battle of Arras.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodington, Cecil
1880 births
1917 deaths
People from North Norfolk (district)
People educated at Charterhouse School
People educated at The King's School, Canterbury
Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge
English cricketers
Hampshire cricketers
Schoolteachers from Norfolk
British Army personnel of World War I
Royal Horse Guards officers
British military personnel killed in World War I
Cricketers from Norfolk
Military personnel from Norfolk