C. B. Fry
Charles Burgess Fry was an English sportsman, teacher, writer, editor and publisher, who is best remembered for his career as a cricketer. John Arlott described him with the words: "Charles Fry could be autocratic, angry and self-willed: he was also magnanimous, extravagant, generous, elegant, brilliant – and fun ... he was probably the most variously gifted Englishman of any age."
Fry's achievements on the sporting field included representing England at both cricket and football, an FA Cup Final appearance for Southampton and equalling the then-world record for the long jump. He also reputedly turned down the throne of Albania. In later life, he suffered mental health problems, but even well into his seventies he claimed he was still able to perform his party trick: leaping from a stationary position backwards onto a mantelpiece.
Early life and education
Early life
Charles Burgess Fry was born at 144 St James's Road in Croydon on 25 April 1872, the son of a civil servant, Lewis John Fry, and his wife, Constance Isabella White. Both sides of his family had once been wealthy, but by 1872 were not as prosperous. At a young age, the family moved from Croydon to Chislehurst in neighbouring Kent. It was here, in the family home that overlooked a cricket ground, where Fry began his fascination with cricket. Fry began his education at Hove Lodge school, before being moved from there to Hornbrook House school, where his struggles with mathematics led to tensions with the headmaster and his wife. His treatment at the school caused great psychological trauma, leaving him feeling unfufilled. He returned to Holmbrook for a third year, finding that the headmaster and his wife had departed, with their reforms in the school having a positive effect on Fry's mental wellbeing, with Fry later remarking that it felt like he had entered "another and better world". Amongst the improvements at the school was a greater focus on cricket, allowing Fry to hone his early skills. He also demonstrated his athletic and footballing prowess whilst at the school. Academically, a switch in the curriculum toward the classics saw Fry rise toward the top of his class.Repton School
The family again relocated, this time to Streatham on account of his father's ill-health. It was the intention of his parents for Fry to progress to Aldenham School once he had left Hornbrook. To prepare for this, he was sent to Repton School for "practice", where he ended up winning a scholarship 'by mistake'. At Repton, he won the school prizes for Latin Verse, Greek Verse, Latin Prose and French. He was also runner-up in German. His weakest subject remained mathematics; he gained the headmaster's permission to study Thucydides instead and dispensed with maths for the rest of his academic career. He was a member of the school's debating society.His greatest success at Repton came in sport. He was a member of the cricket eleven, securing his place in the school team in 1888 and captaining it in 1890 and 1891. In his last season at the school, his average was nearly 50. His cricket coach in his six years at Repton was Arthur Forman. Fry also captained the school football team, having managed to get into the school's under-16 team at the age of 13. The Football Annual in 1891 praised Fry describing him as "the most brilliant back the school has ever had". In athletics, he ran the 100 yards in under 11 seconds and set a new school long jump record of 21 feet that would not be beaten until 20 years later by Harold Abrahams. Amongst his rivals in athletics were the brothers Lionel and Richard Palairet.
Studies at Oxford
In 1890, he attempted to win a scholarship to what he believed would be Trinity College, Oxford. Fry travelled to Oxford to sit the examination held in the great hall at Wadham College, only then realising that the exam was being held jointly on behalf of both colleges. He received offers from both colleges, but opted to attend Wadham as their senior scholar, beating F. E. Smith to the scholarship. Excelling at Oxford as a sportsman, Fry's status brought him into the orbit of people whose fame was already spreading far beyond Oxford, such as Max Beerbohm, the writer and caricaturist. His reputation was such at Oxford, that he was one of a select few students to be allowed to have breakfast with Cecil Rhodes. When Fry was only 21, the magazine Vanity Fair published a caricature of him in its issue of 19 April 1894, with the comment: "He is sometimes known as "C.B."; but it has lately been suggested that he should be called 'Charles III'." Notably, whilst a keen debater at Repton, Fry declined several invitations to join the Oxford Union, largely due to time constraints with other ventures, not withstanding his academic studies and sporting endeavours. He was a member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, causing controversy in its 1895 production of The Merchant of Venice with his use of the word "hell" in one of his lines; in the 1890s, "hell" was regarded as a risqué word.In his final term at Oxford in 1895, Fry experienced his first bout of mental illness, suffering a mental breakdown. Several factors contributed to this. During his time at Oxford, Fry had accumulated large debts. In an attempt to alleviate his financial difficulties, Fry capitalised on his reputation to make some much-needed money by writing articles, and some private tutoring. Although such activities reduced his debts, they did not clear them and further increased the intense pressure on his time. Fry's continuing indebtedness provides the most obvious explanation for his acceptance of an offer to do some nude modelling. These financial problems combined with his mother being seriously ill, placed an unbearable strain on him. Although he was able to sit his final exams, he was hardly in any fit state to do so, having hardly read a line for weeks. The result was Fry scraping a fourth-class degree in literae humaniores, bringing his studies at Oxford to an inglorious end. In the summer of 1895, only months after being the toast of Oxford, Fry found himself saddled with mounting debts and no way with which to repay them. In the short term, cricket came to his rescue. He was offered, and accepted, the chance to tour South Africa as a member of Lord Hawke's 1895–96 England touring party.
Sporting career
Cricket
Oxford University
After matriculating to Oxford, he played for a sixteen-man freshman team against Oxford University Cricket Club, scoring 92 runs. He followed up in his next match by scoring 66 of his teams 79 runs and taking six wickets. In his freshman year, he made his debut in first-class cricket for Oxford University Cricket Club against the Gentlemen of England at the University Parks in Oxford. He made nine first-class appearances for Oxford in 1892, meeting with modest success. Against Somerset at Oxford, Fry recorded his first century in first-class cricket, an innings that assisted Oxford to victory by 7 wickets. By playing in the 1892 University Match at Lord's, he gained his first blue. Oxford endured a tough season, failing win any of their matches, though Fry was considered one of the sides better players. The following season, he made eleven appearances in first-class cricket, scoring 398 runs, though his highest score was 59 runs. In 1893, he debuted for both the Marylebone Cricket Club and the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen versus Players fixture.Ahead of the 1894 season, Fry was elected captain of the cricket club, succeeding Lionel Palairet. He captained Oxford to victory in the 1893 University Match, scoring an unbeaten century in Oxford's first innings. Despite his century, he drew criticism for his slow scoring rate early in his innings. His captaincy in the match drew praise from the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, citing his good judgement in field placing and knowing when it was time to change bowlers. Earlier in the season against Sussex, he scored 119 runs and shared in a partnership of 153 runs for the fourth wicket with Gerald Mordaunt. After excluding himself from Oxford's early home matches in 1895, Fry encountered all-round success. With Oxford's bowling being weak in 1895, Fry was able to demonstrate his abilities as a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He returned his career best figures of 6 for 78 in the 1895 University Match, He also enjoyed success as a batsman, scoring 125 runs against Sussex on a flat wicket at Hove. Against Kent at Maidstone, he was dismissed one run short of his century.
Sussex and Test debut
Fry played for Surrey in 1891, Oxford University 1892–1895 Sussex 1894–1908, and Hampshire, 1909–1921. First selected by England for the tour of South Africa in 1895–96, he captained England in his final six Test matches in 1912, winning four and drawing two. He twice scored Test centuries: 144 v Australia in 1905 hitting 23 fours in just over hours, batting at number four, and 129 opening the batting against South Africa in 1907.File:England v Australia 1899.jpg|right|thumb|450px|England v. Australia at Trent Bridge, 1899. Back row: Dick Barlow, Tom Hayward, George Hirst, Billy Gunn, J. T. Hearne, Bill Storer, Bill Brockwell, V. A. Titchmarsh. Middle row: C. B. Fry, K. S. Ranjitsinhji, W. G. Grace, Stanley Jackson. Front row: Wilfred Rhodes, Johnny Tyldesley
And he twice took ten wickets in a match: 5–75 and 5–102 for the Gentlemen of England against I Zingari in 1895, and 5–81 and 5–66 for Sussex against Nottinghamshire in 1896. The late 1890s saw a re-emergence of the throwing controversy in cricket. Several professional bowlers including Arthur Mold and Ernie Jones were no-balled; Mold was forced to retire. Fry's bowling action was criticised by opponents and teammates, and it was only a matter of time before he too was no-balled by umpire Jim Phillips.
Fry scored 94 first-class centuries, including an unprecedented six consecutive centuries in 1901. No one else has scored more consecutive hundreds. On 12 September 1901, playing for the Rest of England against Yorkshire at Lord's, he scored 105, which was his sixth consecutive first-class century. He made his highest first-class score of 258 not out in 1911, a season which led to his recall to the England Test team as captain in 1912. In 1921 Fry was once again considered for the Test side. The Selection Committee asked him to play in the First Test match at Nottingham under the captaincy of Johnny Douglas, with a view to taking over the captaincy for the remainder of the series if, as they anticipated, things went wrong. Fry declined on the basis that there was no sense in recalling a forty-nine-year-old merely as a player, but stated that he would consider returning as captain. As England were badly beaten at Nottingham the Selection Committee again pressed Fry to return for the Second Test but once again he declined, due to poor form. Following another heavy defeat in the Second Test the Selection Committee made a further attempt to persuade Fry to return for the Third Test as captain, a job he was now keen to accept. He injured a finger taking a catch during Hampshire's match with the Australians. In the short term, the injury did not appear too serious: he scored a half-century in Hampshire's first innings and, when they followed on in reply to the Australians' massive total he top scored with 37. Furthermore, in his next match against Nottinghamshire he scored 61 in the first innings. It appears however that the injury was affecting his fielding more than his batting and, for last time, C.B. felt obliged to stand down from the side for the next Test. Fry later commentated on cricket matches, being called "one of the most eloquent cricket commentators of all time."
File:Charles Burgess Fry, Vanity Fair, 1894-04-19.jpg|right|thumb|Fry caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1894
For both Sussex and England, he was closely associated with the outstanding cricketer Prince Ranjitsinhji, the future Jam Sahib of Nawanagar. Their contrasting batting styles complemented one another. Their friendship lasted well into the 1920s, and when Ranjitsinhji became one of India's three representatives at the League of Nations, he took Fry with him as his assistant.