W. G. Grace

The record-holding pioneer of modern batsmanship.

W. G. Grace was born on 18 July 1848 in Downend, near Bristol, and was universally known by his initials.^[1] Lillywhite's Companion bestowed the title "Champion Cricketer" on Grace following his performances during the 1871 season.^[2]

Quick Facts

Full name: William Gilbert Grace
Nickname: WG, The Champion
Born: 18 July 1848
Birthplace: Downend, near Bristol
Died: 23 October 1915
Place of death: Mottingham, Kent
Batting: Right-handed
Bowling: Right-arm medium (roundarm)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Grace was the eighth of nine children born to Henry Mills Grace, a local GP, and Martha Grace.^[1][3] He made his first-class debut in June 1865 for Gentlemen of the South against Players of the South.^[4] In 1871, Grace scored ten of the seventeen first-class centuries made that season and became the first player to reach 2,000 runs in a season.^[5][6] He married Agnes Nicholls Day on 9 October 1873 and toured Australia that winter with his own XI.^[7][3]

Grace became a member of MCC in 1869 and captained Gloucestershire from its first first-class match in 1870.^[3][8][9] He completed the first-ever "double" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a season in 1873.^[10] At age two, Grace first held a cricket bat, and by age nine he was playing for West Gloucestershire.^[11][12] Grace started at Bristol Medical School in October 1868 when he was 20, but his medical qualification was not completed until 1879 because of his cricket commitments.^[13][7]

What the cited sources add

A BBC World Service program notes that Wanderers FC included cricket legend WG Grace among its players.^[14] The same source includes an image caption identifying Grace as a former Wanderers player alongside club founder Charles William Alcock.^[14]

References

Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rae 1998, p. 16; Rae 1998, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Altham Swanton 1962, p. 124; Midwinter 1981, p. 9–10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rae 1998, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Altham Swanton 1962, p. 124; "Gentlemen of the South v Players of the South, 1865", CricketArchive; ; "First-class matches played by W. G. Grace (870)", CricketArchive (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Altham Swanton 1962, p. 124; Rae 1998, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "First-class Batting and Fielding in England for 1871", CricketArchive (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Midwinter 1981, p. 9–10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Birley 1999, p. 105; Grace 1891, p. 15; Rae 1998, p. 16; Webber 1958, p. 14–20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rae 1998, p. 16; "Surrey v Gloucestershire, 1870", CricketArchive; Birley 1999, p. 105; Birley 1999, p. 105 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bowen 1970, p. 284; Webber 1951, p. 256–257 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grace 1980, p. 1; Grace 1980, p. 1; Midwinter 1981, p. 9–10; Midwinter 1981, p. 9–10; Midwinter 1981, p. 9–10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grace 1980, p. 1; Grace 1980, p. 1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "W. G. Grace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rae 1998, p. 16; Rae 1998, p. 16; Rae 1998, p. 16; Rae 1998, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Sportshour: The FA Cup's Harlem Globetrotters", BBC World Service, 23 January 2015. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article W. G. Grace (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.