Cricket's Historians

Wisden challenges Lillywhite obituary a contrast to both his father and his brother, Fred! Green Lilly continued, but there seems to be an insoluble mystery as to the identity of the editor, following John’s death. Several names have been put forward, Arthur Haygarth and James Pycroft being two of the best known. All that is definitely confirmed is that E.S.Pardon edited some of the 1880s issues. To complicate matters, in January 1879, James Lillywhite junior, the cousin of James senior (of the Red Lilly Annual) and of John (the founder of Green Lilly) joined the firm of John Lillywhite, thus changing the name to John & James Lillywhite & Co. then in 1883 James junior bought the whole business and Green Lilly for 1884 appeared under the title James Lillywhite’s Cricketers’ Companion . Through these changes in ownership, the Preface and Season’s Review in each issue is simply closed by ‘The Editor’. Edgar Searles Pardonwas born inSeptember 1859, one of three journalist sons of George Frederick Pardon, who in 1870 had published under the pen-name Capt Crawley The Book of Manly Games for Boys which included fifty pages featuring cricket – G.F.Pardon died in Canterbury, whilst attending the cricket week, on August 4, 1884. He was then aged 63. He was a prolific reporter, reviewer, leader-writer and essayist. He borrowed the pseudonym Capt Crawley from Vanity Fair and was a friend of its author. Edgar Pardon died in July 1898 aged 38. After Green Lilly closed, Edgar had assisted his brothers on the compilation of Wisden . His obituary commented: ‘Not only English, but Australian cricketers found in him a faithful chronicler. To the Australian teams of later years, indeed, no one, perhaps, on this side was better known. Singularly fair, as well as temperate in his views, while never lacking the courage of his opinions, his writings naturally always commanded respect.’ Whilst the battle to be the best cricket annual was being fought between the two Lillywhite productions and Wisden, all of whom were broadly concerned with describing the current scene, the M.C.C., between 1876 and 1880, were supplying the historian’s needs by publishing Haygarth’s Scores & Biographies covering the seasons 1855 to 1876 (Vols V to XIII). 36