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.
Wisden had been published annually since 1864. Pardon had been editor since 1891 and would remain so until his death in 1925.
Through 1915 Pardon and his staff received obituary notices in numbers no peacetime year had produced. The 1916 edition was compiled in the winter of 1915-16.
The 1916 Wisden was a publication unlike any other. The almanack had been documenting cricket deaths for half a century, but the 1916 obituary section was on a different scale. Pardon, who had edited Wisden since 1891, devoted page after page to first-class cricketers killed in action — Yorkshire, Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Australian, South African and Indian cricketers all included. He also recorded the deaths of W.G. Grace (October 1915), Victor Trumper (June 1915) and A.E. Stoddart (April 1915), three of the most famous Test names of the previous quarter-century, in a single year. The combined effect — service obituaries running into the dozens, civilian obituaries including the three biggest names of the era — gave the 1916 Wisden a tone of national mourning that no other cricket publication has matched. Pardon's editorial was uncharacteristically blunt about the war's cost. The 1917 and 1918 Wisdens continued the pattern but the 1916 volume is the one most cited as the documentary monument to cricket's wartime losses.
Apr 1915: Stoddart dies
Jun 1915: Trumper dies
Oct 1915: Grace dies
1915: Dozens of first-class cricketers killed
Spring 1916: Wisden 1916 published with record obituary section
Apr 1915
Stoddart's suicide
Jun 1915
Trumper's death
Oct 1915
Grace's death
Spring 1916
Wisden 1916 published
“Never has cricket suffered as it suffered in 1915.”
The 1917 and 1918 Wisdens continued the long obituary tradition. By 1919 the cumulative total of first-class cricketer deaths reported was over 200.
The single most sombre cricket publication ever produced — Wisden 1916 documenting an annihilation in real time.
Wisden 1916 is the documentary monument to cricket's losses in the First World War. Original copies are now valuable collectors' items partly because of the historical weight of the obituary section.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.