Famous Cricketers No 47 - John Wisden

Annie Parr, a sister of the Nottingham cricketer. She however died before the marriage could take place. In his cricketing days, Wisden had been known as ‘The Little Wonder’ a sobriquet given to him by the well-known umpire, Bob Thoms - the original Little Wonder being a small racehorse which won the Derby in 1840 at odds of 50 to 1. A detailed history of the Wisden Almanack can be found in the 1963 edition of that annual. The name of John Wisden lives on today through his famous Almanack which still retains its original page size format although much increased in volume. As with Christopher Wren his epitaph should surely be Si monumentum requiris, circumspice . Grounds Some grounds went through several name changes or were known by different names. In the body of the work we have used the name of the ground at the time of the match. In the tables at the end we have used only one name. The single ground at Gravesend was called the Bat and Ball, Armstrong’s and Adam’s. The ground at Brighton was variously called Ireland’s, Ireland’s Royal New, the Level, Hanover, Harvey’s, Brown’s, Box’s. The ground at Hove was variously called Brunswick, Royal Brunswick, Box’s, Gausden’s, Knight’s. The ground at Tunbridge Wells was called the Higher Common Ground and the Race Course. 8