William Edmund Wood Collins (16 June 1848 – 7 January 1932) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

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 author. The son of the essayist

William Lucas Collins Rev William Lucas Collins (baptised 23 May 1815 – 24 March 1887) was a Church of England priest and essayist. Life and career William Lucas Collins was born in 1815 at Oxwich, near Swansea, Glamorgan, south Wales. He was sent to be educa ...

, he was born in Glamorgan at Cheriton in June 1848. Collins was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...

, before going up to

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship S ...

. He did not feature in

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 ...

, at a time when the side was dominated by players from

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

. He married Margaret Elizabeth Stepford Sackville in 1882. He eventually played first-class cricket in 1884, when he played for the

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey ...

against Oxford University at

Oxford 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 ...

. He played again for the Gentlemen of England in 1886, this time against

I Zingari I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the ' ...

in the

Scarborough Festival {{No footnotes, date=July 2011 The Scarborough Festival is an end of season series of cricket matches featuring Yorkshire County Cricket Club which has been held in Scarborough, on the east coast of Yorkshire, since 1876. The ground, at North Ma ...

of 1886. Held in high regard by C. I. Thornton, Collins was invited by him to play for Lord Londesborough's XI 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) ...

at the festival. In the Lord Londesborough's XI first-innings total of 558, Collins came into bat at number eleven, scoring 56 runs. He played again at the 1887 Scarborough Festival in two first-class matches, for the Gentlemen of England against I Zingari and for the South in the

North v South The North of England and South of England cricket teams appeared in first-class cricket between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often in matches against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, Marylebone Cricket Club ( ...

fixture. He was invited to play for the Oxford University Past and Present cricket team against the touring Australians at

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

in 1888, taking figures of 6 for 35 in the Australians first-innings. His final first-class appearance came three years later for H. Philipson's XI against Oxford University. Across seven first-class matches, Collins scored 157 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 19.62, while with the ball he took 19 wickets at a bowling average of 23.57. He played below first-class at county level for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, Hertfordshire and, in one match in 1903, 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 ...

.Published under Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Away from playing cricket, Collins was a regular contributor to ''

Blackwood's Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...

'' and published two works of fiction set in Oxford: ''The Don and the Undergraduate'' (1899) and ''A Scholar of his College'' (1900). Collins died in January 1932 at Summerhill, Heacham, Norfolk.''Shropshire Cricketers 1844-1998'', page 10. He was described by

A. J. Webbe Alexander Josiah Webbe (16 January 1855 – 19 February 1941) was a cricketer who played for Oxford University and Middlesex. He also played one Test match for England. After being schooled at Harrow School, he went on to Trinity College, Oxfo ...

at the time of his death in a letter to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' as "a very fine left-handed bowler, essentially the man for a hard wicket, as he was very fast off the pitch and came a lot with his arm. Also a great hitter."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, William 1848 births 1932 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Cricketers from Swansea County Borough Gentlemen of England cricketers H. Philipson's XI cricketers Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers North v South cricketers Oxford University Past and Present cricketers People educated at Radley College Welsh cricketers Welsh novelists