imported>Jhall1: Undid revision 1033750408 by 2A00:23C5:D51D:F500:6421:3149:CBE1:7556 (talk) since he set up Millfield, I think "educator" is a better word than "teacher" (and anyway Wikipedia style is only to capitalise first word of a heading)

2021-07-15T18:53:32Z

Undid revision 1033750408 by 2A00:23C5:D51D:F500:6421:3149:CBE1:7556 (talk) since he set up Millfield, I think "educator" is a better word than "teacher" (and anyway Wikipedia style is only to capitalise first word of a heading)

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86.156.10.227: /* Millfield */Correction of The Boss to Boss

2021-06-22T21:29:07Z

Millfield: Correction of The Boss to Boss

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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Jack Meyer
| country = England
| image =jack-meyer.jpg
| fullname = Rollo John Oliver Meyer
| nickname = Boss
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|3|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Clophill]], Bedfordshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1991|3|9|1905|3|15|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Kingsdown, Bristol]], England
| heightft =
| heightinch =
| heightm =
| batting = Right-handed batsman
| bowling = Right-arm slow-medium
| role = [[All-rounder]]
| club1 = [[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]]
| year1 = 1936–1949
| club2 = [[Cambridge University Cricket Club|Cambridge University]]
| year2 = 1924–1926
| club3 = [[Minor Counties]]
| year3 = 1924–1929
| club4 = Europeans (India)
| year4 = 1926/7–1934/5
| club5 = [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC)
| year5 = 1929–1950
| type1 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| debutdate1 = 10 May
| debutyear1 = 1924
| debutfor1 = <br/>Cambridge University
| debutagainst1 = [[Lancashire County Cricket Club|Lancashire]]
| lastdate1 = 22 July
| lastyear1 = 1950
| lastfor1 = <br/>MCC
| lastagainst1 = Minor Counties
| columns = 1
| column1 = [[First-class cricket|FC]]
| matches1 = 127
| runs1 = 4621
| bat avg1 = 23.69
| 100s/50s1 = 2/24
| top score1 = 202*
| deliveries1 = 21965
| wickets1 = 408
| bowl avg1 = 25.31
| fivefor1 = 25
| tenfor1 = 3
| best bowling1 = 9/160
| catches/stumpings1 = 85/–
| date = 26 November
| year = 2007
| source = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/3/3717/3717.html CricketArchive
}}
'''Rollo John Oliver Meyer''' (15 March 1905 – 9 March 1991), known generally as 'Jack', and at Millfield mainly as 'Boss', was an English educationalist who founded [[Millfield School]] (1935) and [[Millfield Preparatory School]] (1946) in [[Somerset]]; he was also an all-round sportsman who played cricket at [[first-class cricket|first-class]] level in both England and in India. He died in [[Bristol]] on 9 March 1991.

==Early life==

Meyer was born the son of clergyman Rev Rollo Meyer in [[Clophill]], Bedfordshire. The family moved to [[Watton-at-Stone]], [[Hertfordshire]] in January 1911 when Rollo became the rector there,<ref>Ampthill and District News, January 1911, url=https://clophillhistory.mooncarrot.org.uk/AmpthillNewsJanuary1911.php</ref> and Jack grew up in the village rectory overlooking the new cricket field.<ref name = "Fursland">{{cite book |last=Fursland |first=Cled |date=2007 |title= Watton-at-Stone CC Gallery Of Fame |location=Watton-at-Stone |publisher=Cled Fursland |page=54 }}</ref> The teenage Jack played several cricket games for the village team.<ref name="Fursland"/> In 1923 a young [[Alan Turing]] stayed at the Meyer's rectory home for the summer, the Turings being family friends.<ref = >{{cite book |last=Hodges |first=Andrew |date=2014 |title= Alan Turing: The Enigma |location=London |publisher=Vintage |page=20 |isbn=9781784700089 }}</ref> Jack was educated at [[Haileybury College]], where he stood out as a cricketer.

He was a forceful right-handed batsman and a right-arm bowler of medium pace picked out by the ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]'' chronicler of public schools cricket of the time, [[Harry Altham|H. S. Altham]], for the amount of bowling work he got through, the maintenance of line and length in his varied bowling, and his flair for the "big" occasion.<ref>{{Cite book
| title = [[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]| edition = 1924| publisher = [[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]| chapter = Public School Cricket in 1923| pages = 309}}</ref> He was at [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]] between 1923 and 1926, gaining a [[double first]] in [[classics]],<ref>''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]'' 1974, p. 133.</ref> and then went to India to work as a cotton broker for 10 years.

==Family==

Meyer was son of the Reverend Horace Rollo Meyer and Arabella Crosbie Ward.
He had two brothers, Horace Noel Denys Meyer, Derek Leicester Meyer and a sister, Constance Evelyn Meyer, married to Bertie Brabazon Ponsonby.<ref>[http://records.ancestry.com/Bertie_Brabazon_Ponsonby_10_Fe1885_records.ashx?pid=10576176&gss=seo]</ref>

Meyer and his wife had two daughters, Jillian Rollo Dawn who later married Albert Paul Prestwich, and Jacqueline Valerie Faye Meyer who married Reginald Nicholas Mander (their son Julian, their granddaughter Margaret, and their great grandson Jack, all later attended Millfield).

==The educator==

===Millfield===

Meyer was accompanied on his return to England from India in the mid 1930s by seven Indian boys, including six princes, having been entrusted with providing them an education. He set up [[Millfield School]] in [[Street, Somerset|Street]] in Somerset in 1935 and remained as its headmaster for the next 35 years. He was known as Boss at school. The new school theatre at Millfield is named after him.

Millfield from the outset was an unconventional public school, with an emphasis on all-round excellence, and not just the academic, including strength in areas such as sports and the arts. Meyer had a flexible attitude towards school fees, charging wealthy parents some of the highest in the UK but waiving them entirely for some pupils whom he considered deserving. Meyer's philosophy at Millfield was, "...to nurture talent by providing the very best facilities, teaching, coaching and opportunities in which young people can exercise and explore their abilities; and to give awards to those in financial need."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.millfieldschool.com/about/millfieldfoundation/development_foundation.htm|title=Boss Meyer|publisher=Millfield School|access-date=9 November 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404234817/http://www.millfieldschool.com/about/millfieldfoundation/development_foundation.htm|archive-date=4 April 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Links between Millfield and Somerset County Cricket Club remained close; in 1960, Meyer recruited [[Colin Atkinson]], who had played Minor County cricket, on to the Millfield staff. Atkinson played regularly for Somerset from 1960 to 1962, and then was released from school duties to captain the county side from 1965 to 1967. When Meyer retired as headmaster of Millfield in 1971, Atkinson succeeded him.

===After Millfield===

Meyer then went to [[Greece]] where he took charge of a newly established English-language school, [[Campion School (Athens)|Campion]]. He remained headmaster for seven years and inspired a number of tales of his eccentricity which were still being recounted two decades later. In 1980 Meyer split with the school and founded another English-language school, [[St Lawrence College, Athens|St Lawrence College]]. One 2nd-grade pupil remembers him visiting the classroom in 1986 as akin to a royal visit given his great age and substantive aura that surrounded him.

==The cricketer==
At Cambridge, Meyer made an immediate impact in cricket, taking nine wickets in the Freshmen's Match at the start of the summer term in 1924. He took four wickets in the first first-class innings he bowled in and retained his place in the [[Cambridge University Cricket Club|university]] side for the whole season, winning his [[University Sporting Blue|Blue]].<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/11/11068.html Cricket Archive]</ref> After the university term was over, he played [[Minor Counties]] cricket for [[Hertfordshire County Cricket Club|Hertfordshire]], scoring a lot of runs and taking 51 wickets at low cost. He was picked for the Minor Counties representative side which was accorded a first-class match against the [[South African cricket team in England in 1924|South African touring team]] and his six wickets for 60 runs in the South Africans' first innings put the Minor Counties on the way to a surprise victory by 25 runs.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/11/11330.html Cricket Archive]</ref> He was then called up for the [[Gentlemen v Players]] match at [[Blackpool]] and responded by taking eight Players' wickets for 38 runs in the first innings,<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/11/11357.html Cricket Archive]</ref> a feat that did not prevent the Players from winning rather easily in a match that Wisden deemed "by no means worthy of its high-sounding title".<ref>{{Cite book
| title = '''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]'''
| edition = 1925
| publisher = [[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]
| chapter = Gentlemen v. Players Matches
| pages = 442
}}</ref>

Meyer retained his place in the Cambridge sides of 1925 and 1926, batting fairly low in the order and taking regular wickets. Less than three months after his final [[The University Match (cricket)|University Match]] appearance in July 1926, he was working as a cotton broker in India and turning out for the [[Europeans cricket team|Europeans]] in the final of the [[Bombay Quadrangular]] Tournament. Over the following Indian cricket season he played four times in matches against the touring side from the [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC) led by [[Arthur Gilligan]], including one appearance for the [[India national cricket team|full India]] side.
[[File:BossMeyer.JPG|thumb|right|Boss Meyer's bust at Millfield School]]
Meyer stayed in India for nine years and played first-class cricket in several Indian seasons. In the 1927–28 season he played only two games, both for the Europeans in the Bombay tournament, but took 28 wickets in these matches, including his career-best nine for 160 in the final against the Hindus when he finished with match figures of 16 wickets for 188 runs. In 1929, in a summer spent in England, he played Minor Counties cricket for Hertfordshire again and in several first-class matches for amateur teams against the universities, and in his last season in India, 1934–35, he captained the Western India side in two matches in the [[Ranji Trophy]].

The second stage of Meyer's cricket career began after his return to England to set up Millfield School in Somerset. From the 1936 season, he appeared in [[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]] matches, almost always those in the second half of the season when the school term had ended and, with rare exceptions, those played at home. In these games, he played as an all-rounder, his batting having improved significantly since his Cambridge days. Against [[Lancashire County Cricket Club|Lancashire]] at [[County Ground, Taunton|Taunton]] in the last match of the 1936 season, he rescued Somerset from likely defeat with his maiden century, an undefeated 202, scored in 225 minutes. There is no doubt of the innings' merit – Somerset were still 48 behind with half their second innings wickets gone – but there is an oft-repeated story that the double century was obtained by an offer to contribute to the Lancashire beneficiary's fund.<ref name="David Foot and Ivan Ponting p83">{{Cite book | author = David Foot and Ivan Ponting | title = ''Somerset Cricket: A Post-War Who's Who' | edition = 1993 | publisher = Redcliffe Press, Bristol | page = 83}}</ref><ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16014.html Cricket Archive]</ref> And he got a second century the following year against [[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]].<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16395.html Cricket Archive]</ref> As a bowler, he managed at least one five-wicket innings haul in each of the four seasons running up to the Second World War, though his bowling was an increasingly idiosyncratic mixture of spin and swing. In the war, he served in the [[Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve|Royal Air Force]].<ref>{{Cite book | author = Anandji Dossa and Mohandas Menon, ed | title = Obituary in ACSSI Cricket Yearbook 1990–91 | pages = 464–465}}</ref>

After the war, Meyer resumed his prewar pattern of late summer home games in 1946, but then, in 1947, at the age of 42, allowed himself his solitary season of full-time cricket as Somerset's captain. By this stage, he was badly affected by [[lumbago]], and though he scored 850 runs and took 43 wickets, the season was not a success for Somerset, and he stood down at the end of the year. He played a couple of first-class matches in each of the next three seasons, and then retired from cricket to concentrate full-time on schoolmastering and developing his school at Millfield.

==Personality==
[[File:Oldrectory clophill.JPG|thumb|right|The Old Rectory in Clophill where Meyer was born]]
Meyer was unpredictable in most of what he did. Tales of his eccentric behaviour are legion and many of them appear to have more than a smattering of truth; but despite all of this, he was also a genuinely far-sighted educationalist, an unorthodox but successful entrepreneur, and a talented, if unharnessed sportsman. He fiercely inspired loyalty, but also, often at the same time, a large measure of exasperation.

Meyer was a restless character, and tales of eccentric behaviour are not confined to the cricket pitch; some examples are as follows:

*Apparently in a 1947 county game, the Somerset cricketer [[Arthur Wellard]], even older than Meyer, was bowling rather well, when [[Northamptonshire County Cricket Club|Northamptonshire]] batsman [[Dennis Brookes]] played a false stroke through the slips which Meyer, too crippled by lumbago to bend down, failed to catch. Meyer reached into his back pocket: "Sorry Arthur, here's a quid."<ref>{{Cite book | author = David Foot | title = Sunshine, Sixes and Cider| edition = 1986 | publisher = David & Charles, Newton Abbot| page = 152}}</ref>
*He once pulled the communication cord on the Manchester train so that his players could get some food.<ref name="David Foot p153">{{Cite book | author = David Foot | title = Sunshine, Sixes and Cider| edition = 1986 | publisher = David & Charles, Newton Abbot| page = 153}}</ref>
*In a match interrupted by rain, Somerset took the field with only 10 men until Meyer appeared under a large red umbrella.<ref name="David Foot p153"/>
*Meyer allegedly needed little sleep, which he would take in the headmaster's study. He carried a [[horse racing]] form book along with other more academic works and on occasion went to London where he wagered large sums of money in gambling casinos, often losing the lot.<ref name="David Foot and Ivan Ponting p83"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-sports}}
{{succession box|
|before=[[Bunty Longrigg]]
|title=[[List of Somerset cricket captains|Somerset County Cricket Captain]]
|years=1947
|after=[[Mandy Mitchell-Innes]],<br/> [[George Woodhouse]], [[Jake Seamer]] (shared)
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Jack}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Central Bedfordshire District]]
[[Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Cambridge University cricketers]]
[[Category:Somerset cricket captains]]
[[Category:Europeans cricketers]]
[[Category:Free Foresters cricketers]]
[[Category:Gentlemen cricketers]]
[[Category:North v South cricketers]]
[[Category:Hertfordshire cricketers]]
[[Category:Bedfordshire cricketers]]
[[Category:Heads of schools in England]]
[[Category:People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Founders of English schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Minor Counties cricketers]]
[[Category:Mumbai cricketers]]
[[Category:Western India cricketers]]
[[Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Gentlemen of England cricketers]]
[[Category:H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers]]
[[Category:20th-century philanthropists]]

Jack Meyer (educator and cricketer) - Revision history

imported>Jhall1: Undid revision 1033750408 by 2A00:23C5:D51D:F500:6421:3149:CBE1:7556 (talk) since he set up Millfield, I think "educator" is a better word than "teacher" (and anyway Wikipedia style is only to capitalise first word of a heading)

86.156.10.227: /* Millfield */Correction of The Boss to Boss