James Arthur Bush (28 July 1850 – 21 September 1924) was an English sportsman who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Gloucestershire. Founded in 1870, Gloucestershire have always ...

and represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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 ...

Family

Bush, the son of Major Robert Bush and his wife Emily, was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

, as were three younger brothers who played rugby for the

Clifton Rugby Football Club Clifton Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club founded in Clifton, Bristol. Over the years the club's home games have been played in a variety of locations in northern Bristol, though never in Clifton itself; since 1976 they have ...

. One of them, Robert Edwin Bush, also played cricket at Gloucestershire and later moved to Western Australia where he went exploring and became a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

. Another brother, John Edward Bush, had an accomplished military career where he reached the rank of

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

. The third brother to play rugby at Clifton was James Paul Bush, who also served in the military as a surgeon with the Bristol Royal Infirmary and was at one time the Deputy Lieutenant for Gloucestershire.

Cricket

Born in India, Bush played at

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

as an amateur. He was Gloucestershire's wicket-keeper in their strong side of the 1870s which won the only four championships in their history, one of them shared. Bush was a good friend of captain

W.G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

and was the

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...

at his wedding. He toured Australia with a W.G. Grace XI in 1873/74 which caused him to miss a rugby international against Scotland. Bush made just two half centuries in his first-class career, with a highest score of 57 against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in an 1879 County Match. Aside from playing at Gloucestershire, Bush also represented the Gentlemen cricket team in a couple of

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

fixtures and also played a match for the

South of England cricket team The South of England appeared in first-class cricket between 1836 and 1961, most often in the showcase North v. South matches against the North of England although there were also games against touring teams, MCC and others. Thinaugural North ...

Rugby

Bush was capped five times for

at international rugby, playing as a forward. All but one of those came against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, with games in 1872, 1873, 1875 and 1876. He won his only other cap when he lined up for England against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

at Leinster in 1875. Before his England debut, Bush had made five appearances for Blackheath. He also played some

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

matches as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Clifton F.C.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, James 1850 births 1924 deaths English cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Gentlemen cricketers People from Kanpur English rugby union players England international rugby union players People educated at Clifton College Gentlemen of the South cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers North v South cricketers Gloucestershire County RFU players Wicket-keepers Rugby union three-quarters