Cecil Herbert Bodington (20 January 1880 – 11 April 1917) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and educator. The son of The Reverend Herbert James Bodington, he was born in January 1880 at

Suffield, Norfolk Suffield is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is south of Cromer, north of Norwich and north of London. The village lies east of the A140 between Cromer and Norwich. The nearest railway station is a ...

. He was educated firstly at a national school in Overstrand, before going to

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

on a junior scholarship in 1893. Three years later he went up to

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

on a senior scholarship, where he played both

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and cricket for the school. From there, he matriculated to

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

. At Cambridge, he was a member of

Cambridge University Cricket Club Cambridge University Cricket Club, established in 1820, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. The club was recognised as holding first-class cricket, first-class status until 2020. The university played ...

but did not play at first-class level for the university. However, he did play first-class cricket during his studies in 1901 and 1902 for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

on ten occasions, making nine appearances in the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

and a further appearance against the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

. In these matches, he scored 154 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of exactly 11, with a highest score of 36. With the ball, he took 9 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 31.88, with best figures of 3 for 19. After graduating from Cambridge, he went to The Cape. From there, he went to

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, where he was tutor to three sons of the Maharaja of Kapurthala. He later returned to England, where he became an assistant master at Elstree School and Stanmore Park Preparatory School. Bodington served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, being commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant in November 1914, the same month in which he was appointed to the Household Battalion. He was made a temporary

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in April 1916, before being appointed a temporary

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in September of the same year. Bodington was killed in action on 11 April 1917 during the Battle of Arras.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodington, Cecil 1880 births 1917 deaths People from North Norfolk (district) People educated at Charterhouse School People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge English cricketers Hampshire cricketers Schoolteachers from Norfolk British Army personnel of World War I Royal Horse Guards officers British military personnel killed in World War I Cricketers from Norfolk Military personnel from Norfolk