Harry Calder facts for kids

Harry Lawton Calder (born January 24, 1901 – died September 15, 1995) was a very special cricket player. He was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1918 when he was just 17 years old. This is one of the biggest honors in cricket! Harry is the youngest person ever to get this award. What makes him even more unique is that he's the only Wisden Cricketer of the Year who never played first-class cricket, which is the highest level of the sport below international matches.

Early Life and Moving to England

Harry Calder was born in South Africa. His father, Henry Calder, also played cricket for a short time. Henry played ten matches for teams like Hampshire and Western Province in the late 1800s.

In 1914, Harry moved to England with his family. He went to Cranleigh School in Surrey for five years. During his time there, he played cricket for the school's top team, the First XI, for all five years. He was even the team captain for three of those years!

A School Cricket Star

When Harry was 16, he was a fantastic spin bowler. In 1917, he took many wickets for his school team. Because of his amazing skills, he was chosen as a Cricketer of the Year in the 1918 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. This was a special time because the First World War was happening, so there wasn't any professional first-class cricket being played.

Because of this, Wisden chose five schoolboy cricketers, including Harry, for the award in 1918. They chose another five schoolboys in 1919. Harry was the youngest of all these talented young players.

Life After School Cricket

Even though Harry was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year, he never played in a first-class cricket game. He did play a couple of matches for the Surrey Second XI team in 1920. In those games, he scored 0 and 6 not out with the bat. He also bowled four overs but didn't take any wickets.

It's interesting to note that all the other nine schoolboy Cricketers of the Year from 1918 and 1919 went on to play at least one first-class game. Harry was the only one who didn't.

In 1919, Harry went back to South Africa with his family. His father wanted him to keep playing cricket, but Harry decided to focus on other sports like golf and tennis instead. He later worked in business and banking.

A Hidden Honor

For many years, no one in the cricket world knew what had happened to Harry Calder. It wasn't until 1994, just a year before he passed away, that a cricket historian named Robert Brooke found him. Robert traced Harry to a nursing home in Cape Town, South Africa.

When Robert told Harry about his Wisden Cricketer of the Year honor, Harry was surprised! He said he hadn't even known about the award. He also mentioned that he hadn't played cricket since he left school, which was more than 75 years earlier. It's a unique story of a young talent who achieved a top honor but then moved on to other things.