William Edward Parker "Jum" Barnes (23 December 1856 – 19 August 1897)[1] was a New Zealand cricketer who played 16 first-class matches for Canterbury between 1882 and 1894.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | William Edward Parker Barnes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1856-12-23)23 December 1856 Kildare, Geelong, Victoria, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 19 August 1897(1897-08-19) (aged 40) Christchurch, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Jum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1882-83 to 1893-94 | Canterbury | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 27 March 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born in Geelong in Australia, Barnes played cricket for the East Melbourne club and represented Victoria at Australian rules football.[2] He went to Christchurch as an official with the Christchurch Exhibition of 1882 and stayed, working for the Lyttelton Times, where for some years he was a sports reporter.[3] He played rugby union in New Zealand, and was noted for his weight and strength.[2][4]
Barnes began playing cricket for Canterbury a few months after he arrived. His highest first-class score was 49 not out against Wellington in 1886–87, by far the highest score in a match in which 40 wickets fell for 309 runs.[5] A few weeks earlier he had made 35, equal top-score in the match, when a Canterbury XVIII outplayed the touring Australians in a drawn match.[6] He stood six feet three inches tall, and aside from his batting he was a useful bowler, an occasional wicket-keeper, and one of the outstanding slip fieldsmen in New Zealand.[3][2]
In the last year of his life he suffered from severe jaundice, aggravated by heavy drinking. On the night before his death, his drinking companions in Christchurch had helped him to a shed and left him there asleep, covered with his coat. He was discovered unconscious the next morning and taken to hospital, but died shortly after being admitted.[7]