John Wisden

{{short description|English cricketer}} {{Use British English|date=August 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = John Wisden | image = John Wisden 1859.jpg | image_size = | caption = Wisden in the England team to North America in 1859 | country = England | fullname = John Wisden | birth_date = {{Birth date|1826|9|5|df=yes}} | birth_place = Brighton, Sussex, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1884|4|5|1826|9|5|df=yes}} | death_place = Westminster, London, England | heightft = 5 | heightinch = 4 | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Underarm right arm slow | role = Bowler | club3 = Middlesex | year3 = 1859–1863 | club2 = Kent | year2 = 1854 | club1 = Sussex | year1 = 1845–1863 | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 187 | runs1 = 4,140 | bat avg1 = 14.12 | 100s/50s1 = 2/9 | top score1 = 148 | deliveries1 = 24,205 | wickets1 = 1,109 | bowl avg1 = 10.32 | fivefor1 = 111 | tenfor1 = 39 | best bowling1 = 10/58 | catches/stumpings1 = 169/1 | date = 15 August | year = 2022 | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/34/34003/34003.html CricketArchive }}

'''John Wisden''' (5 September 1826 – 5 April 1884) was an English cricketer who played 187 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex and Sussex.<ref name=CAprofile>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/34/34003/34003.html John Wisden], CricketArchive</ref> He is now best known for launching the eponymous ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' in 1864, the year after he retired from first-class cricket.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/d8db2bd8-9c44-11e2-ba3c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Pl2FCTpt|access-date=7 April 2013|title=Words on the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|newspaper=ft.com|date=5 April 2013}}</ref>

==Early life== Wisden was born in Crown Street, Brighton.<ref name=ODNB>Eric Midwinter, ‘Wisden, John (1826–1884)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2013 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38141 accessed 13 September 2013]</ref> His father, William, was a builder.<ref name=ODNB/> He attended Brighton's Middle Street School (formerly the Royal Union School, founded as a charity school in 1805).<ref name=ODNB/> He moved to London after his father died, and lived with the wicket-keeper Tom Box.<ref name=CIprofile>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/23126.html John Wisden], ESPNcricinfo</ref><ref name=survival>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/wcm/content/story/138636.html The survival of Wisden], ESPNcricinfo, July 1992</ref>

==Cricket== In July 1845, aged 18, only 5 ft 4 in and weighing just {{convert|7|stone|kg}},<ref name=survival/> he made his first-class debut for Sussex against MCC, taking 6 wickets in the first innings and three in the second.<ref>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/541726.html Scorecard], Sussex v Kent. 3,4,5 July 1845</ref> He joined the All England Eleven in 1846, moving allegiance to the United All England Eleven in 1852.<ref name=ODNB/> He was engaged to marry George Parr's sister Annie in 1849, but she died before the wedding, and he never married.<ref name=ODNB/>

Initially a fast roundarm bowler, before overarm bowling was permitted, his pace slowed in later years so he bowled medium pace; he also bowled slow underarm. While bowling fast, he took on average nearly 10 wickets in each game.<ref name=CIprofile/> In 1850, when he was playing for the North against the South at Lord's, his off-cutter technique won him 10 wickets in the second innings, all clean bowled (still the only instance of all ten wickets being taken "bowled" in any first-class match).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149519.html |title=Fagg's unique double-hundreds |work=ESPN Cricinfo |date=15 July 2005 |access-date=16 July 2019}}</ref> He was also a competent batsman, and scored two first-class centuries, the first, exactly 100, against Kent at Tunbridge Wells in 1849, and in 1855 he notched up 148 against Yorkshire, the only first-class century scored in 1855.<ref name=CIprofile/>

He played almost all of his cricket in England, mostly for Sussex, but once for Kent and thrice for Middlesex.<ref name=ODNB/> He travelled with a touring team led by George Parr to Canada and the US in 1859, where eight matches in Montreal, Hoboken, Philadelphia, Hamilton and Rochester were won easily.<ref name=survival/>

Of moderate height, he was nicknamed the "Little Wonder" after the winner of The Derby in 1840, and later the "Cardinal".<ref name=ODNB/> He was said to be the best all-rounder of his day.<ref name=CIprofile/> In all, he took 1,109 first-class wickets with a bowling average of 10.32. He scored 4,140 first-class runs with a batting average of 14.12, an average which was very good for the time.<ref name=CAprofile/><ref name=CIprofile/>

==Business career and legacy== thumb|J Wisden & Company, 21 Cranbourn Street, London Wisden began a cricket-equipment business in Leamington Spa in 1850 and five years later opened a "cricket and cigar" shop in Coventry Street near The Haymarket in central London, in partnership with Fred Lillywhite until 1858.<ref name=survival/><ref name=ODNB/> He was also the cricket coach at Harrow School from 1852 to 1855, and owned ''The Cricketers'', a public house at Duncton in Sussex.<ref name=ODNB/>

He retired from cricket in 1863 at the relatively early age of 37 as a result of rheumatism,<ref name=survival/> and started publishing his annual ''Cricketers' Almanack'' the following year.<ref name=CIprofile/> The first edition may have been based on a diary written in 1863 by Francis Emilius Cary Elwes, which came to light in 2016. According to Robert Winder, who wrote a history of the almanack, evidence from the diary indicates that there was a connection between the two men and that Wisden saw Elwes' work, but no definitive conclusion on the matter can be reached.<ref name="Hotten">{{cite web |last=Hotten |first=Jon |author-link=Jon Hotten |date=14 April 2021 |title=Wisden - the prequel? |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/wisden-almanack-2021-wisden-the-prequel-1299739 |website=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=11 May 2024}}</ref>

He also published in ''Cricket and How to Play It'' in 1866.<ref name=ODNB/> In retirement, he developed his business into a manufacturer and retailer of equipment for many sports, not just cricket. The shop moved to Cranbourn Street near Leicester Square in 1872.<ref name=survival/>

After his death the business grew into a major international sports brand, receiving a Royal Warrant in 1911 as "Athletic Outfitters to the King".<ref name=survival/> The business went into receivership in 1939, and was acquired in 1943 by a Co-operative society, which sold it on to Grays of Cambridge in 1970.<ref name="Timeline">{{cite web | url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/non-fiction-features/wisden/about-wisden/timeline/ | title=Timeline }}</ref> Grays then ceased to use Wisden as an equipment brand, but re-established John Wisden & Co as the publisher of the ''Cricketers' Almanack''. It is now an imprint of Wisden's owner, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.<ref name="Timeline"/>

==Death== Wisden died of cancer, at the age of 57, in the flat above his Cranbourn Street shop (next to Leicester Square tube station). He was buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.<ref name=ODNB/>

In 1913, 29 years after his death, he was the subject of a "Special Portrait" in the 50th edition of Wisden, replacing the usual Wisden Cricketers of the Year feature which was dropped from that edition.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cricket - Wisden's Almanack for 1913 |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS186187865/TTDA?u=mclib&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=34d9158b |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=The Times |via=The Times Digital Archive |issue=40144 |date=25 February 1913 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1984, a headstone was placed at his grave to mark the centenary of his death.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wisden wins his applause in granite |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS50957958/TTDA?u=mclib&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=d599b5f4 |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=The Times |via=The Times Digital Archive |issue=61799 |date=6 April 1984 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Wisden Cricketers' Almanack * H S Altham, ''A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)'', George Allen & Unwin, 1926 * Derek Birley, ''A Social History of English Cricket'', Aurum, 1999 * Rowland Bowen, ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development'', Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 * Arthur Haygarth, ''Scores & Biographies, Volumes 3–9 (1841–1866)'', Lillywhite, 1862–1867 * John Major, ''More Than A Game'', HarperCollins, 2007 – includes the famous 1859 touring team photo taken on board ship at Liverpool

==External links== {{Commons category|John Wisden}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wisden, John}} Category:1826 births Category:1884 deaths Category:Cricketers from Brighton Category:Almanac compilers Category:Editors of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Category:English cricketers Category:Publishers (people) from London Category:Kent cricketers Category:Manchester Cricket Club cricketers Category:Middlesex cricketers Category:Players cricketers Category:Sussex cricketers Category:United All England Eleven cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:Cricketers who have taken ten wickets in an innings Category:Fast v Slow cricketers Category:Deaths from cancer in England Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery Category:North v South cricketers Category:19th-century English businesspeople Category:All England Eleven cricketers