Arthur Edward Jeune "James" Collins (18 August 1885 – 11 November 1914), typically now known by his initials A. E. J. Collins, was an English cricketer and soldier. He is most famous for achieving the highest-ever recorded score in cricket: as a 13-year-old schoolboy, he scored 628 not out over four afternoons in June 1899. Collins' record-making innings drew a large crowd and increasing media interest; spectators at the Old Cliftonian match being played nearby were drawn away to watch the junior school house cricket match in which Collins was playing. Despite this achievement, Collins never played first-class cricket.
Collins joined the British Army in 1902 and studied at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, before becoming an officer in the Royal Engineers. He served in France during World War I, where he was killed in action in 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres. Collins had been mentioned in dispatches and also represented the Royal Military Academy at cricket and rugby union.
Read more about A. E. J. Collins: Early Life and Education, The Famous Match, Military Career
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“Though taste, though genius bless
To some divine excess,
Faint’s the cold work till thou inspire the whole;
What each, what all supply,
May court, may charm our eye,
Thou, only thou, canst raise the meeting soul!”
—William Collins (1721–1759)