Richard Henry Colley (14 January 1833 – 3 July 1902) 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 str ...

er and

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 ...

officer. The son of Thomas Colley, he was born at

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in January 1833 and educated at

Bridgnorth Grammar School Bridgnorth Endowed School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in the market town of Bridgnorth in the rural county of Shropshire, England. Founded in 1503, The Endowed School is a state school and is a specialist ...

in Shropshire.Published under Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1851, graduating B.A. in 1855 and M.A. in 1859. While studying at Oxford, he 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 officia ...

for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. He made his debut against

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The University Match The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

of 1853, with Colley playing first-class cricket for Oxford until 1855, making a total of seven appearances. He scored a total of 166 runs in these matches, 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 13.83 and a high score of 68. He also played at county level for Oxfordshire and, between 1854 and 1866, for

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

. While playing for the latter he achieved a century in one match, when he made 118 runs. After graduating from Oxford, Colley later served in the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Shropshire Light Infantry, enlisting as an

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in May 1867. He was promoted to the rank of

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 ...

in March 1871, with promotion to the rank of captain in August 1872. He was granted the honorary rank of major in May 1886, before retiring from active service in December 1892. Colley also served as a justice of the peace for the county of Shropshire. He married in 1869 Mary Emily Pass, with the marriage producing a daughter. Colley died at his home, St James' Priory,

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. Histor ...

in July 1902.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colley, Richard 1833 births 1902 deaths Cricketers from Westminster Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers English justices of the peace Military personnel from London