Aubrey Faulkner
A pioneering South African all-rounder whose mastery of the mysterious googly revolutionized leg-spin bowling and terrorized batsmen worldwide.
1881–1930 (age 49)·South African cricketer·Birthday: December 17·The Gilded Age
Biography
Aubrey Faulkner was more than a great cricketer; he was a cricketing scientist. Emerging from the turmoil of the Second Boer War, where he served as a teenager, he brought a fierce, analytical mind to the game. As a batsman, he was technically sound and relentlessly consistent, topping the world averages in 1910. But his true genius lay with the ball. Alongside fellow South African Reggie Schwarz, he perfected and deployed the googly—a leg-spinner that turns the opposite way—transforming it from a novelty into a potent weapon. After World War I service, he founded a renowned indoor cricket school in London, coaching a generation of English players and cementing his legacy as one of the game's great innovators. His death by suicide in 1930 shocked the sporting world.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Aubrey was born in 1881, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Aubrey Was Born
The biggest hits of 1881
Aubrey's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1881Born
President: Chester A. Arthur
1886Started school
Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor
President: Grover Cleveland
1894Became a teenager
President: Grover Cleveland
1897Could drive
President: William McKinley
1899Could vote
President: William McKinley
1902Turned 21
The eruption of Mount Pelee kills 30,000 in Martinique
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1911Turned 30
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 in New York
President: William Howard Taft
1921Turned 40
First commercial radio broadcasts
President: Warren G. Harding"My Man" — Fanny Brice
1930Died at 49
Pluto discovered
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $3,510President: Herbert Hoover"Body and Soul" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front
Key Achievements
- Averaged 40.79 with the bat in Test cricket, a remarkable figure for his era, and took 82 wickets.
- Topped the world Test batting averages in 1910 with an average of 73.00.
- Was a key member of the first South African team to win a Test series in England (1907).
- Founded the Aubrey Faulkner School of Cricket in London, an influential coaching institution.
Did You Know?
He fought in both the Second Boer War (on the British side) and World War I, serving with the Royal Field Artillery.
His cricket school was based in a former drill hall on Oxford Street in London.
He published a coaching manual, 'Cricket: Can It Be Taught?', outlining his technical philosophies.
“Batting is an equation of footwork, balance, and watching the seam.”
