Robert Bush

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Robert Edwin Bush Gloucestershire (Glo)
Batting style	Right-handed batsman
Bowling type	n/a
First-class record
Matches	17
Runs scored	221
Batting average	9.60
100s/50s	0/0
Top score	42
Balls bowled	0
Wickets	0
Bowling average	n/a
5 wickets in innings	0
10 wickets in match	0
Best Bowling	n/a
Catches/Stumpings	6/0
First class debut: 13 August 1874 Last first class game: 13 June 1877 Source: Cricket Archive

Robert Edwin Bush (11 October 1855–29 December 1939) was a first-class cricketer for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club from 1874 to 1877, and from 1890 to 1893 was a member of Western Australia's first Legislative Council under responsible government. During World War I, he converted his home into a war hospital at his own cost.

Robert Bush was born at Redland, Bristol; his father was Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Bush, who commanded a detachment of the 96th Infantry in Western Australia in the 1840s. Bush attended Clifton College from 1865 to 1875, captaining the school's cricket team in his last two years. Between August 1874 and June 1877, he played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, alongside W. G. Grace; he was a right handed batsman and occasional wicket-keeper.

[edit] Travel and life in Australia

Some time afterwards, Bush travelled to Western Australia, where he worked for eighteen months as a jackaroo on Murgoo Station. After taking a cargo of horses to Mauritius, he spent six months from October 1879 to March 1880 exploring north of the Gascoyne River. He later took up a number of sheep and cattle stations in the area, becoming a leading Gascoyne pastoralist. He also became interested in gold prospecting, and joined the gold rush to the Yilgarn after the discovery of gold there in 1887. In 1889, Bush became a Justice of the Peace, and in December of the following year, he became a nominated member of Western Australia's first Legislative Council under responsible government, which position he held until his resignation in July 1893. In January 1893, he married a widow named Constance Harper (nee Lochee); she died three years later.

[edit] Return to England

Robert Bush returned to England in the early 1900s, and bought Bishop's Knoll at Stoke Bishop near Bristol. In 1907, he married Margery Scott. In 1911 he became Sheriff of Bristol, and in the same year was president of the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. From 1912 to 1939, he was director of Dalgety and Co. in London.

When World War I broke out, Bush converted Bishop's Knoll into a hospital for wounded soldiers at his own cost, and subsequently served there as an ambulance orderly. Bishop's Knoll War Hospital admitted its first patients late in 1814; it would later treat many Anzac casualties of the Battle of Gallipoli, including Victoria Cross recipient John Patrick Hamilton. After the war, Bush was created a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

In 1919, Bush was the Australian delegate to the International Red Cross meeting at Geneva. In later life, he was involved in the film industry and in broadcasting. He travelled regularly throughout the world, returning to Western Australia 13 times. He died at Bishop's Knoll on 29 December 1939.

[edit] References

• Black, David and Bolton, Geoffrey (2001). Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia, Volume One, 1870–1930, Revised Edition, Parliament of Western Australia. ISBN 0730738140. 
• Cameron, C. W. M. (1982). "R. E. Bush, Gascoyne Explorer and Pastoralist". Early Days VIII (VI). 
• Robert Bush, Cricinfo. Retrieved on January 30, 2006.
• Robert Bush, Cricket Archive. Retrieved on January 30, 2006.
• List of first class matches played by Robert Bush, Cricket Archive. Retrieved on January 30, 2006.

Persondata
NAME	Bush, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Politician, Cricketer
DATE OF BIRTH	11 October 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH	Redland, Bristol
DATE OF DEATH	29 December 1939
PLACE OF DEATH	Bishop's Knoll at Stoke Bishop near Bristol