Douglas Jardine - Early Life

Early Life

Douglas Jardine was born on 23 October 1900 in Bombay, British India, to Scottish parents. His parents were Malcolm Jardine, also a former first-class cricketer but later a barrister, and Alison Moir. At the age of nine, Douglas was sent to stay with his mother's sister in St Andrews, Scotland. She lived in a large mansion where he spent most of his school holidays while going to Horris Hill School near Newbury, Berkshire, from May 1910. The school had high standards and Jardine was moderately successful academically. From 1912, he played cricket for the school first eleven, enjoying success as a bowler and as a batsman. He captained the team in his final term, when the team were unbeaten. Jardine was influenced by the writing of former England captain C. B. Fry on batting technique, which contradicted the advice of his coach at Horris Hill. The coach disapproved of Jardine's batting methods, but Jardine did not back down and quoted a book by Fry to support his viewpoint.

In 1914, Jardine entered Winchester College. At the time, life at Winchester was arduous and austere; discipline was harsh. Sport and exercise were vital parts of the school day. In Jardine's time, preparing the pupils for war was also important. According to Jardine's biographer, Christopher Douglas, the pupils were "taught to be honest, impervious to physical pain, uncomplaining and civilised." All pupils were required to be academically competent and Jardine was able to get along without exhibiting brilliance; successful sportsmen, on the other hand, were revered. Jardine enjoyed a slightly better position than some other pupils, already possessing when he arrived a reputation as a cricketer and soon excelling at other sports, representing the school at football as a goalkeeper and rackets, and playing Winchester College football, a sport which has resemblances to rugby union. However, his main sporting reputation came from cricket. He was in the first eleven for three years from 1917 and received coaching from Harry Altham, Rockley Wilson and Schofield Haigh, the latter two of whom were distinguished cricketers. Jardine later said that Wilson helped to develop his batting. In 1919, his final year, Jardine came top of the school batting averages with 997 runs at an average of 66.46. He also became captain although there were doubts within the school about his ability to unify the team. Despite these doubts, Winchester won their annual match against Eton College in 1919, a fixture in which Eton usually held the upper hand. Jardine's batting (35 and 89 in the match) and captaincy were believed by critics to be the key factors in his side's first victory over Eton for 12 years. After his retirement from cricket, he named his 89 in that match as his favourite innings. Jardine went on to score 135 not out against Harrow School.

Jardine's achievements in the season were widely reported in the local and national press. He went on to play in two representative schools matches at Lord's Cricket Ground, where he scored 44, 91, 57 and 55 in two matches and won favourable reviews in the press. Wisden, in 1928, described Jardine at this time as being obviously of a much higher standard than his contemporaries, particularly in defence and on side batting. However, at this stage in his batting, he was sometimes criticised for being too cautious and not using all the batting strokes of which he was capable. His good batting technique gave the impression that he could easily score more quickly.