James Arthur Bush was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 sportsman who played first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 for Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....

 and represented England

England national rugby union team

The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

 at rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

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Family

Bush, the son of Major Robert Bush and daughter of Emily, was educated at Clifton College

Clifton College

Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...

, as were three younger brothers who played rugby for the Clifton Rugby Football Club

Clifton Rugby Football Club

Clifton Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club founded in Clifton, Bristol, England. Over the years the club's home games have been played in a variety of locations in northern Bristol, though never in Clifton itself; since 1976 they have been based at the southern end of Cribbs Causeway.Clifton...

. One of them, Robert Edwin Bush, also played cricket at Gloucestershire and later moved to Western Australia where he went exploring and became a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

. Another brother, John Edward Bush, had an accomplished military career where he reached the rank of Brigadier General

Brigadier General

Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

. The third brother to play rugby at Clifton was James Paul Bush, who also served in the military as a surgeon with the Bristol Royal Infirmary and was at one time the Deputy Lieutenant for Gloucestershire.

Cricket

Born in India, Bush played at Gloucestershire as an amateur. He was Gloucestershire's wicket-keeper in their strong side of the 1870s which won the only four Championships in their history, one of them shared. Bush was a good friend of captain W.G. Grace and was the Best man at his wedding. He toured Australia with a W.G. Grace XI in 1873/74 which caused him to miss a rugby international against Scotland.

Bush made just two half centuries in his first-class career, with his highest score of 57 being made against Yorkshire

Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....

 in an 1879 County Match.

Aside from playing at Gloucestershire, Bush also represented the Gentlemen cricket team in a couple of Gentlemen v Players

Gentlemen v Players

The Gentlemen v Players game was a first-class cricket match that was generally played on an annual basis between one team consisting of amateurs and one of professionals . The first two games took place in 1806 but the fixture was not revived until 1819. It was more or less annual thereafter...

 fixtures and also played a match for the South of England cricket team

South of England cricket team

The South of England appeared in first-class cricket between 1836 and 1961, most often in the showcase North v. South matches against the North of England although there were also games against touring teams, MCC and others....

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Rugby

Bush was capped five times for England at international rugby, playing as a forward. All but one of those came against Scotland, with games in 1872, 1873, 1875 and 1876. He won his only other cap when he lined up for England against Ireland at Leinster in 1875. Before his England debut, Bush had made five appearances for Blackheath.

He also played some association football as a goalkeeper for Bedminster F.C.

Bristol City F.C.

Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the City...

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External links

• Cricinfo: James Bush