passed 1,000 runs in 1896 with 2 centuries including carrying his bat for 125 against Gloucestershire. Shrewsbury passed 20,000 career first-class runs in 1897. His only century of the season came for the Players against the Gentlemen, scoring 125 as captain. Shrewsbury's scores improved in 1898 and 1899 with season tallies of 1,219 and 1,257 runs, leading the county averages in both seasons. In 1899 Shrewsbury and Arthur Jones shared in an opening partnership of 391, which remained a county record until 2000. In 1900 Shrewsbury's season average dropped to 32.03, his lowest since 1884, but he still topped the county averages. In 1901 Nottinghamshire were dismissed for 13 against Yorkshire, the second lowest total ever made in county cricket, Shrewsbury split his hand while fielding and missed the rout. In 1902, aged 46, Shrewsbury again topped the first-class batting averages. He notched up four centuries, including two in a match for the first time. His performances during the season earned him further praise in the 1903 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack: His batting was marked by all its old qualities, and except that he is, perhaps, less at home on a really sticky wicket than he used to be, there is little or no change to be noticed in his play. He was as patient and watchful as ever, and once or twice when runs had to be made in a hurry he surprised everybody by the freedom and vigour of his hitting. The Nottinghamshire Committee raised donations of £177 14s (worth about £ at current prices) for Shrewsbury in recognition of his batting performance. Death Shrewsbury complained of kidney pains during a match for Lenton United on 27 September, and during the winter he consulted various doctors and specialists who could discover nothing seriously wrong with him. During the spring his health started to improve, but it was unlikely that he would play county cricket in 1903. On 12 April 1903 Shrewsbury bought a revolver from a local gunsmith. He returned a week later after having difficulty in loading the gun. The clerk found that Shrewsbury had the wrong bullets and supplied the correct ones. Shrewsbury went to his bedroom that evening and shot himself first in the chest and then, when that did not prove fatal, in the head. His girlfriend, Gertrude Scott, found him bleeding from a head wound and by the time a doctor arrived Shrewsbury was