Joseph Coates (13 November 1844 – 9 September 1896) was an English-born

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n schoolmaster and

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er.

Early life

Coates was born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

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, the son of Joseph, a cordwainer, and his wife Ellen. While at Huddersfield College he gained medals for mathematics and classics and matriculated to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

School master

Instead of taking up his university place, Coates sailed to

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in 1864 and became an assistant master at the newly founded

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

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. In 1873 he moved to Fort Street School and after serving in schools at

West Maitland Maitland () is a city in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River, New South Wales, Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle, New S ...

and

William Street, Sydney William Street is a major road, thoroughfare in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The street was named in honour of king William IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland upon its opening in 1834. Route William Street commences ...

he became headmaster of Fort Street in 1876. He served only six months at Fort Street before briefly visiting England, and in 1877 he succeeded Dr Michael Howe as headmaster of Newington. During Coates's six years there Newington moved in 1880 from

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and enrolments trebled. Under Coates's guidance the college established a high reputation for sport and for scholarship. He was the first captain in its cadet corps and in 1869 Newington became the first Australian school to play

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in a match against the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. Coates played in both the Rugby and cricket teams and was an important influence on two Old Newingtonians who were early members of the

Australia national cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

– Tom Garrett and Edwin Evans. In September 1883 Coates successfully applied for the headmastership of the newly founded

Sydney Boys' High School Sydney Boys High School ('SBHS'), otherwise known as Sydney High School ('SHS') or simply High, is an Australian government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located at Moore Park, New South Wales, a sub ...

. Of the six public high schools begun in 1883 only three survived their early years, and the success of Sydney Boys' High School was due in large measure to Coates's dedication, leadership and inspiration. Several country boys were able to attend the school only because he took them as boarders in his own home. Despite a reputation as a stern disciplinarian he was highly esteemed and respected by his pupils, who responded to his deep knowledge of boys and to his rare gift for teaching. In 1892 High moved from

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to a new site at Ultimo. Coates retired in June 1896. After two severe strokes he died at his home in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

. He was survived by his wife Rebekah, whom he had married in 1880, and by two of their three children.

Cricketer

Much of Coates's prestige with the boys derived from his prowess as a sportsman. To him a school was much more than an academy, and both at Newington and at Sydney High he gave every encouragement to sport, arranging matches with other schools and outside bodies. As captain of the

New South Wales cricket team The New South Wales cricket team (formerly nicknamed NSW Blues) are an Australian men's professional first class cricket team based in the Australian state ofNew South Wales. The team competes in the Australian first class cricket competition ...

Coates played some 32 matches against other colonies and English touring teams. In the early stages of the planning for the first Australian tour of England in 1878, he was expected to be the team's captain. A sound batsman and fine slow bowler, he is credited with the introduction of the

yorker In cricket, a yorker is a ball bowled (a delivery) which bounces by the batsman's feet. This makes it very challenging for a batter to play. When a batsman assumes a normal stance, a yorker generally bounces on the cricket pitch on or near th ...

in Australia. He was a founder and benefactor of the

New South Wales Cricket Association Cricket NSW (officially known as the ''New South Wales Cricket Association'') is an Australian sporting association that administers cricket in New South Wales. It is based at the Sydney Olympic Park. The New South Wales Blues, the New South ...

and an original life member of the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

References

Bibliography

* Dunlop, E.W. "A note on Joseph Coates", JRAHS, 54. Sydney, 1968. * Macmillan, D.S. "Newington College 1863-1963". Sydney, 1963 * Swain, P.L. "Newington Across the Years 1893-1998". Sydney, 1999. * Pollard, Jack, "Australian Cricket: 1803-1893', The Formative Years". Sydney, The Book Company, 1995. () * Pollard, Jack, "Australian Cricket: The Game and the Players". Sydney, Hodder & Stoughton, 1982. ()

External links

* Dunlop, E.W.
Coates, Joseph (1844–1896)
,

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...