Cricket's Historians

The Influence of W.G.Grace person responsible for the cricket content. J.D.Coldham, in his essay on early cricket journalists, credits H.V.L.Stanton with the work, but Stanton was only 18 when publication began and, according to his obituary, trained as a solicitor before switching to journalism. Henry Valentine Labrow Stanton was born in November 1859 and established his reputation as a cricket reporter with The Sportsman newspaper, writing under the pseudonym ‘Wanderer’. He joined that paper in 1884 and remained in post until the paper closed forty years later. From The Sportsman Stanton moved to Wisden , compiling the seasonal averages and other statistical data until his death in May 1933. Having a wry sense of humour, Stanton was in great demand as a guest speaker at social functions. The publishers of Cricket , W.R.Wright of 17, Paternoster Sq, London, had the foresight to appoint C.W.Alcock as Editor. At least that would seem to be the case, but a note in the edition of March 28, 1895 states: ‘The change of premises has in no way altered the proprietary of the paper, which remains in the hands of the Cricketer who has been editor and proprietor from the first.’ Therefore Wright & Co were publishers, but not the owners and controllers of the magazine – in 1895, Messrs Merritt & Hatcher of 168, Upper Thames St, London E.C. took over as publishers from W.R.Wright & Co. It has already been noted that Alcock was Editor of the Lillywhite Annual and his knowledge of the politics of cricket (with ten years as Surrey Secretary behind him) could hardly be equalled. W.R.Wright was not simply a publisher, he was also a cricket enthusiast. His firm printed the scorecards for The Oval, as well as a wide variety of sporting pamphlets and books. Wright later had a long spell as Editor of Ayres Cricket Companion , which annual will be treated separately. The Alcock-Wright partnership, if it was such, pitched their newweekly at just the correct level. Unlike Cricket and Football Times , Cricket flourished from its inception and in the process attracted some very intelligent cricket statisticians and historians as correspondents. The influence of Alcock, in particular, is easily demonstrated by the single fact that, when he died in post, the magazine lost momentum and slid gently into deficit. Looking at a typical 16 page weekly edition (the magazine was monthly 45