26 Facts About Lionel Collins

Lionel Collins went up to Keble College, Oxford, in 1898, where he made first-class debut in 1899 for Oxford University Cricket Club.

Lionel Collins joined the British Army upon leaving Oxford in 1900 and spent most of his early career serving in British India.

Lionel Collins made his final first-class appearances before the First World War, playing for the Marylebone Cricket Club, for the Army and Navy, and for the Free Foresters.

Lionel Collins later returned to India and was mentioned in dispatches for service in Baluchistan during 1918.

Lionel Collins was with British forces during the Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his actions.

The seventh son of Henry Lionel Collins, he was born at Reading on 27 November 1878.

Lionel Collins was educated at Marlborough College, before going up to Keble College, Oxford in 1898.

Lionel Collins had debuted in minor counties cricket for Berkshire in 1897, before debuting in first-class cricket for Oxford University against AJ Webbe's XI at Oxford in 1899.

Lionel Collins made six further first-class appearances for the university, all of which came in 1899 and gained him a blue.

Lionel Collins toured India with a Gurkha Brigade cricket team in February 1904 and three times in ten days made two centuries in the same match.

Lionel Collins returned to England in 1907, when he played eight first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club, including two on their 1907 tour of North America.

Lionel Collins played seven matches for Berkshire in the 1907 Minor Counties Championship.

Lionel Collins returned to England in the summer of 1910, where he resumed playing first-class cricket.

Lionel Collins made one appearance for the MCC against Oxford University, and appeared for the combined Army and Navy cricket team against Oxford and Cambridge Universities at Aldershot, as well as appearing for Berkshire in minor counties cricket.

Lionel Collins made two final first-class appearances in 1913 for the Free Foresters.

Lionel Collins made one century, a score of 102 not out against Oxford University in 1910.

Lionel Collins played his final minor counties match for Berkshire in the same year, having by that point appeared for the county in 42 Minor Counties Championship matches.

Lionel Collins served with the Gurkhas in the First World War, during which he received the Distinguished Service Order in May 1915 for gallantry and devotion to duty during an attack on a German trench during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.

Lionel Collins was made a brevet major in June 1916, and was confirmed permanently in the rank in April 1917.

Lionel Collins was made a temporary lieutenant colonel while in change of a battalion in May 1917.

Lionel Collins returned to British India with the Gurkhas in 1918, where he was mentioned in dispatches during action in Baluchistan.

Lionel Collins served in the Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 3 August 1920 for his role in this campaign.

Lionel Collins was appointed to the rank of lieutenant colonel permanently in February 1925.

Lionel Collins was appointed as a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1934 Birthday Honours.

From 1934 to 1936, Lionel Collins was an aide-de-camp to George V, ceasing in the post upon the king's death in January 1936.

Lionel Collins retired from military service in October 1936, upon which he was granted the honorary rank of brigadier.