Joseph Firth CMG |
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Headmaster of Wellington College | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 1892–1920 |
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Wellington, New Zealand |
25 March 1859||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 13 April 1931 Wellington, New Zealand |
(aged 72)||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse(s) | Janet McRae (m. 1889) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting style | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling style | Left-arm fast-medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1880-81 | Nelson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1882-83 to 1885-86 | Wellington | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 23 January 2015
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Joseph "Pentland" Firth CMG (25 March 1859 – 13 April 1931) was a New Zealand educationalist and teacher. Known as The Boss, he was the headmaster of Wellington College from 1892 to 1920. He was born and died in Wellington.
Born in Wellington on 25 March 1859, Firth was the son of Aaron Firth, a stonemason, and Ann Firth (née Priestnell). The family moved to Cobden on the South Island's West Coast during the West Coast Gold Rush of 1864 to 1867.
On 8 May 1889, Firth married Janet McRae at the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Christchurch. The couple did not have any children.
Firth won a scholarship to Nelson College, and was a pupil there from 1873 to 1875. He taught there as a pupil-teacher until 1881, when he went to Wellington College as a junior master. In 1886 he took up a post at Christ's College, Christchurch, and began studying for his BA at Canterbury College, graduating in 1889. He was asked to become headmaster of Wellington College in 1892.
Among the boys at Wellington College he gained the nickname "Pentland" from his teaching about the troubles the Spanish Armada encountered around Pentland Firth in the north of Scotland. Thereafter he signed his name "J.P. Firth".
Firth played six first-class cricket matches between 1880 and 1886, five for Wellington and one for Nelson. By far the best performance of his career came for Wellington against Hawke's Bay in February 1884, when he ran through the second innings with figures of 8 for 13. Captaining Wellington against Nelson in March 1885, he opened both batting and bowling, taking 3 for 27 and 2 for 19 and making 20 and 54, the highest score in the match. In the second innings he and William Salmon put on 100 for the first wicket, the first century stand made by Wellington batsmen for any wicket.