William Beaumont Burns (29 August 1883 – 7 July 1916) 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 who played more than 200 first-class matches in the early 20th century, the great bulk of them for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, for whom he filled in as captain on a number of occasions when the usual incumbents were not available. Burns' obituary in '' Wisden'' described him as a "dashing, hard-hitting batsman" but added that his bowling – which he scarcely pursued until the middle of his career – had to be considered suspect: "the fairness of his delivery was often questioned – and not without good reason".Deaths in the war. ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 1917.

Early years

Born in

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, Burns played for that county in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

while aged just 16, but his first-class debut came in May 1903 when he represented Worcestershire against

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 the ...

The Parks The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, thoug ...

, making 3 and 35. He also played that season against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and the Philadelphians, but could not appear 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 ...

because he had not yet qualified. He attended King's Ely.

Career

In 1904 Burns became a near-regular, appearing 19 times, and he finished with 834 runs at 26.00, including an innings of 165 in 180 minutes against Oxford University. In 1906 he hit 1,206 first-class runs at 43.07, with ''another'' innings of 165 against Oxford among his three centuries. That winter he visited

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

with a Marylebone Cricket Club team: he twice passed 50 in 11 innings and dismissed

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

's Harold Monaghan. In the four summers after the 1907 season, he passed 1,000 first-class runs, in 1908 hitting three centuries as he had done two years earlier. In 1909, he scored over 500 runs in five matches and he made his career-best score of 196 against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. He and

Ted Arnold Edward George Arnold (7 November 1876 – 25 October 1942) was an English cricketer who played in ten Test Matches from 1903 to 1907, and most of his 343 first-class matches for Worcestershire between 1899 and 1913. His ''Wisden'' obituary ...

shared a fifth-wicket stand of 393, which as of 2017 remains a Worcestershire record for this wicket. The innings-and-233-run victory margin remained Worcestershire's widest until 2002. Burns also developed his bowling. In 1908 he sent down 633 deliveries, almost twice the number he had bowled in his first-class career up to that point, and claimed 16 wickets at 28.50 including a haul of 6–110 against

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 ...

. In the following three seasons he bowled around 2,000 deliveries each summer, claiming a total of 145 first-class wickets, and recording career-best figures of 7-58 for the

Gentlemen against the 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 ...

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

in July 1910. This was the first of three appearances he made in such matches. In 1912, Burns scored only 599 runs and took only six wickets in his 22 matches, but he recovered his form, with the ball especially, the next season and ended with 42 first-class wickets at 30.81, as well as 866 runs at 27.06. He made his last hundred, 102

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

against

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 ...

, in June, while he claimed six wickets in an innings twice: once against Hampshire in July, and once in his very last first-class game, Worcestershire's innings victory over

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in late August. He took one final wicket in the second innings of that game: that of

Len Braund Leonard Charles Braund (18 October 1875 – 23 December 1955) was a cricketer who played for Surrey, Somerset and England. Len Braund was an all-rounder, a versatile batsman who could defend or attack according to the needs of the game and a l ...

.
According to

David Frith David Edward John Frith (born 16 March 1937) is a cricket writer and historian. Cricinfo describes him as "an author, historian, and founding editor of ''Wisden Cricket Monthly''". Life and career David Frith was born in Gloucester Place in Lo ...

's book ''The Fast Men'', Burns was an exceptionally quick bowler – Frank Chester, who played against him before the war, named him the fastest bowler, ahead even of

Harold Larwood Harold Larwood, MBE (14 November 1904 – 22 July 1995) was a professional cricketer for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team between 1924 and 1938. A right-arm fast bowler who combined unusual speed with great a ...

, that he ever saw – but he was handicapped by suspicions that he threw. He then emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In the First World War, he joined the

Worcestershire Regiment The Worcestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment in the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot and the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot. The regimen ...

of 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 ...

and served 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 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Death

He was killed in action at

Contalmaison Contalmaison () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Contalmaison is situated on the D147 and D20 crossroads, some northeast of Amiens. History As with many towns in this part of France, Contal ...

during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, William 1883 births 1916 deaths English cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Worcestershire Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme People from Rugeley Gentlemen cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Staffordshire cricketers Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers Military personnel from Staffordshire People educated at King's Ely Cricketers from Staffordshire