England and beyond
1916-04-15
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1916, published in spring 1916 and edited by Sydney Pardon, ran the longest obituary section in the publication's history — listing dozens of first-class cricketers killed in the first eighteen months of war and including W.G. Grace, Victor Trumper and A.E. Stoddart in a single calendar year.
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1864-04-01
Retired Sussex bowler John Wisden, proprietor of a sports outfitters in Cranbourn Street, brought out the first edition of The Cricketer's Almanack in the spring of 1864. The 112-page shilling pamphlet, padded with the dates of the English Civil War and the winners of the St Leger, was a competitor to Fred Lillywhite's existing Guide and would grow into the longest-running sports annual in history.
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1849-04-01
Frederick Lillywhite, son of the Nonpareil, brought out the first edition of his Guide to Cricketers in the spring of 1849. The annual ran for eighteen consecutive editions until 1866, contained fixture lists, club addresses, players' birthdates and laws, and was the model that John Wisden's 1864 almanack was designed to compete with.
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1826-09-05
On 5 September 1826 John Wisden was born at Brighton — the future Sussex fast bowler, England representative, and founder of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1864), the most important reference work in the history of the game.