C. B. Fry
Charles Burgess Fry (
April 25,
1872 â€"
September 7 ,
1956) was a
polymath[ "Footballer, cricketer, politician and polymath C.B. Fry, now commander of a Royal Navy training ship"]; an outstanding
sportsman,
politician,
teacher, writer,
editor and
publisher. He was born in
Croydon.
Cricket
In sport, Fry was most noted for his
cricketing achievements, including six consecutive centuries in
first-class matches and a first-class career in which he averaged over 50; a particularly high figure for an era when scores were generally lower than today.
During his time at
Sussex County Cricket Club, he developed a batting partnership with Indian Prince
Ranjitsinhji for both county and
England. This partnership created a friendship which would last into the
1920s. When Ranjitsinhji became one of India's three representatives at the League of Nations, he took Fry with him as a speech writer (see Politics, below).
Athletics
In athletics, Fry equalled the then world
long jump record of 23 feet 6 1/2 inches (7.17 metres) in
1893 (tied with the American Charles Reber). This is often incorrectly claimed to have stood as a world record for 21 years, but this length of time actually only refers to how long he held the varsity record; his shared world record stood "only" until September
1894.
Football
Fry's achievements also extended to
association football, where he played for
Oxford University,
Corinthians,
Southampton including the 1902
FA Cup final, and
England in an international match against
Ireland.
Rugby Union
Fry also played
Rugby Union for the
University of Oxford,
Blackheath and the
Barbarians.
Teaching
After graduating from
Oxford, Fry became a teacher at
Repton, and later became involved with the
Training Ship Mercury, a school designed to prepare boys for the
Royal Navy (though this was primarily the interest of his wife).
Politics
Away from sports, he was a deputy for the
Indian delegation at the
League of Nations and stood (unsuccessfully) as a
Liberal candidate for parliament in
Sussex. He was offered the throne of
Albania when he was a delegate to the
League of Nations (needs source).
In the 1920s, Fry's mental health started deteriorated severely. He had encountered mental health problems earlier in his life, experiencing a breakdown during his final year at Oxford which meant that although academically brilliant, he took a very poor degree. In India in the late 1920s, he had a major breakdown and became thoroughly paranoid. For the rest of his life, he dressed in bizarrely unconventional clothes and had frighteningly eccentric interludes. He developed a horror of Indians, including his friend Ranjitsinhji. He did recover enough to become a popular writer on cricket (and other sports), and even in his fifties, entertained hopes of becoming a
Hollywood star.
In 1934, he met
Hitler and became mesmerised by him. He failed to persuade
von Ribbentrop that
Nazi Germany should take up cricket to Test level, but some
Hitler Youth boys were made welcome at the
Mercury training ship and Fry was still expressing enthusiasm for them in 1938. He died in 1956, in
Hampstead, a "grand old man of sport".
*
Polymath* "Life Worth Living", Autobiography, 1939, Reprinted by Pavilion Books Ltd., in 1986
* "C.B. The Life of Charles Burgess Fry" by Clive Ellis, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., (1984). ISBN 0460046543
* "CB Fry: An English Hero" by lain Wilton, Richard Cohen Books, 1999. ISBN 0186066170 (
download as an Ebook)
* "The Captain's Lady" (a biography on his wife Beatrice [née Sumner]), by Ronald Morris (TS Mercury old-boy), Chatto & Windus, 1985. ISBN 0701129468
* "Hamble, A Village History" (chapter on Beatrice Fry's Training Ship Mercury), by Nicolas Robinson, Kingfisher Railway Publications, 1987.
*
Cricinfo Player Profile : Charles Burgess Fry*
New light shed on CB Fry: A brilliant cricketer, a memorable character*
Memories of Training Ship (TS) Mercury, 1941*
Mercury Old Boy's Association
