628 not out.

[Sgt_Hazell_Great_Grandson]

Any information on A.E.J. Collins , officer Royal Engineers, K.I.A. November 11th 1914.

He scored 628 not out at the age of 13 in 1899 for his school, then a cricket world record highest score.

Kind regards,

Roland.

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Roland

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._J._Collins

Dave

[Sgt_Hazell_Great_Grandson]

Thanks for that Dave.

There is quite a bit on the www about A.E.J. mostly about his cricket feat making those famous runs but wondered if anybody had some in-depth info about his time during WW1.

When he was killed he had been promoted to the rank of captain.

Regards, Roland.

[Steven Broomfield]

5th Field Coy, RE, part of 2nd Division. On 11th November, 1914, the Division was involved in the Battle of Nonne Boschen; at 7.30 a.m. the Germans attacked the line held around Polygon Wood. The 5th fd Coy and 1st Connaught rangers were holding the line to the north west corner of Nonne Boschen Wood, and joined a counter-attack together with the 2nd Ox & Bucks (and details of cooks, orderlies, etc gathered from 1st Divn) which cleared the wood after the enemy had taken it.

In the fighting, 5 Fd Coy lost 3 officers killed (Collins, Maj A H Tyler and Lt HFT Renny-Tailyour), and 15 o.r.s killed or wounded.

Collins was born on 18th August 1885, and his undefeated 628 was scored in 1899 in a junior house match at Clifton College, in an innings of 6 hours 50 minutes, spread over 4 afternoons. It is still the highest recorded score in any form of cricket. He seems never to have played First Class cricket.