John Griffith "Jumbo" Milton (1 May 1885 – 15 June 1915) was an international

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 ...

player for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Milton, who was born in

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, was the son of sportsman and politician

William Henry Milton Sir William Henry Milton (3 December 1854 – 6 March 1930) was the third Administrator of Mashonaland, played rugby for England and was South Africa's second Test cricket captain. Born in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and educated at Marlbo ...

, originally an Englishman. After spending his early childhood in Cape Colony, he lived in

Mashonaland Mashonaland is a region in northeastern Zimbabwe. It is home to nearly half of the population of Zimbabwe. The majority of the Mashonaland people are from the Shona tribe while the Zezuru and Korekore dialects are most common. Harare is the larg ...

briefly and was then sent to

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, to complete his schooling. He played both

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 ...

and rugby union for

Bedford School Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...

, the two sports his father had excelled in. While still a schoolboy, Milton was called into the England team for the

1904 Home Nations Championship The 1904 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-second series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 9 January and 19 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Table Results ...

, aged just 18. He played in all three Tests, against Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Milton made another appearance Home Nations, now representing the Camborne School of Mines, the following year against Scotland. His older brother

Cecil Cecil may refer to: People with the name * Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Canada * Cecil, Alberta ...

was awarded a single cap against Ireland in 1906, in a match that Jumbo did not play in. Jumbo played his fifth and final Test at Dublin in the 1907 series. He also played for invitational tourists the Barbarians during his time in Britain. as well as being capped by Cornwall 18 times he was a member of the County Championship winning side of 1908. Having returned to South Africa, Milton was selected in PW Sherwell's XI, which played a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

match against Transvaal in 1913/14. He opened the bowling for his team and from 17 overs finished with 0/78. It was not until his second and final appearance, during the same summer, that he took a first-class wicket. On this occasion he was playing for a Transvaal XI, against the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

. His only wicket was that of England Test batsman Jack Hearne, who missed a century when Milton bowled him for 96.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milton, Jumbo 1885 births South African rugby union players England international rugby union players Barbarian F.C. players South African cricketers People educated at Bedford School Bedford Blues players 1915 deaths Rugby union players from the Western Cape Rugby union forwards Expatriates from the Cape Colony in the United Kingdom Cornwall RFU players