Robert Colchin (1713 – 1750) was an English cricketer and match organiser of the mid-Georgian period at a time when the single wicket version of the game was popular. He was christened at Chailey in Sussex in 1713 and buried at Deptford in Kent in 1750.[1]

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Life

Colchin lived in Bromley for several years and was associated with the local Bromley Cricket Club, which was prominent through the 1740s and declined after his death. In addition to his prowess as a single wicket player, Colchin played for Kent in top-class eleven-a-side matches including the famous match against England at the Artillery Ground in 1744.[2] Colchin had strong associations with the Artillery Ground and is known to have promoted many matches there, often fielding his own team.

Colchin was an accomplished single wicket performer^{[citation needed]} and was considered to have been one of the best batsmen of his day; he was called "Long Robin" because he was so tall..[3] According to a contemporary article about Colchin in The Connoisseur (no. 132, dated 1746): "his greatest excellence is cricket-playing, in which he is reckoned as good a bat as either of the Bennetts; and is at length arrived at the supreme dignity of being distinguished among his breathren of the wicket by the title of Long Robin".[3]

According to The Connoisseur, Colchin's favourite amusement was attending the executions at Tyburn. He had been "born and bred a gentleman, but has taken great pains to degrade himself, and is now as complete a blackguard as those whom he has chosen for his companions".[3]

Colchin died in the last few days of April 1750, aged 36 or 37. He had taken part in an athletics race on 9 April and a contemporary report said he developed a "surfeit" doing that "which threw him into the Small-Pox".[4]

References

Bibliography

• Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
• Maun, Ian (2011). From Commons to Lord's, Volume Two: 1751 to 1770. Martin Wilson. ISBN 978-0-9569066-0-1.