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Towards the end of her life, Prudence ('Prue') Wallis Myers (1918-2010) wrote the following tribute to her father, the English lawn tennis correspondent, author and player Arthur Wallis Myers (1878-1939).
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Arthur W. Myers – A Testament to Tennis
A Tribute by Prue Wallis Myers
My father’s life and work – A daughter remembers
Introduction
In 1877 occurred a momentous event in the history of sport – the first Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. In the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century lawn tennis rapidly developed into an extremely popular game both in England and abroad. My father, Arthur Wallis Myers (1878-1939), was to serve the game of lawn tennis all his working life – as a reporter, chronicler, promoter and, in a small but significant way, player. It can truly be said that tennis was his life – to which all else formed a background.
Early Life
Wallis – His family background
Wallis’s mother was called Agnes Traphena Nutter, and came from a well-known Cambridge family. She had eight children. Arthur Wallis was the second boy, born in 1878. His father, the Reverend John Brown Myers, was Secretary to the Baptist Missionary Society, and he wrote a life of William Cavey, missionary in India. I think that Reverend Myers may have made up his mind that his son Arthur Wallis, talented in writing, should one day take over from him. Wallis, a strong-willed boy, had other ideas.
Wallis and his school magazine
The boys of the family attended a local school, Watford Endowed School, developed in 1882 ‘to provide the middle classes in Watford with a secondary education fitted for the needs of the time.’ Wallis exhibited his initiative at the age of fourteen by editing the first school magazine. In this he showed special powers of writing, organising and interviewing, and was noticed by Lord Clarendon, one of the governors. They met in later life, when Lord Clarendon helped him with his struggles in journalism.
The Leys School, Cambridge
In 1893, Wallis was entered for a £40.00 a year scholarship to the Leys School, Cambridge. The examination subject was science and, although he knew very little about it, he won a place. This was a help to the family whose income was never large. A year later he was in the West Hertford Tennis VI. Interestingly enough, he was still connected with the Watford Endowed School in 1895 when he was joint editor of “The Handbook of Watford Endowed School Directory of Old Boys”.
When he left school there soon came a series of clashes between father and son, both strong personalities. Maybe Wallis refused to write articles for the “Baptist Herald” and his father refused to support him if he left home and became independent. Eventually Wallis did leave home and started to pursue his journalistic career with very little in his pocket. He began to make contact with the few editors he knew.
He found digs at 57 Beauchamp Road, London, S.W., but had his post sent to Ward, Lock and Bowden Ltd., Warwick House, Salisbury Square, London, E.C., to conceal his whereabouts. He had to live by his writing and his wits, and the few links he had made in this huge city, the centre of the Empire. The end of the Victorian era was the time for communicating through the written word, for all classes of society could now read. Many hardworking people were trying to educate themselves in the little spare time available. There were articles being written on all kinds of subjects.
Wallis kept precise cuttings for reference showing the subject and style of writing that was likely to appear in a particular newspaper or magazine. Examples of these are “The Financial News”, “The South African Star”, “The Daily Mail” and especially “The Westminster Gazette”, a liberal paper; also “The Field”, another high-class magazine which reported all types of sporting events.
Starting as a freelance journalist was very precarious. My father, writing to a friend, describes how he was about to pawn his boots in order to pay his landlady, when, on returning from work, he found an overdue cheque from one of the newspapers. This enabled him to continue, well shod, into the future, so that by the time he was writing about Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, he seems to have been taken on as a regular reporter by the “Westminster Gazette”. Soon we find him sitting in the Liberal Club, using its note paper to make more contacts.
He now had some degree of confidence. He was beginning to become known for his skill and his reliability over the “copy” – getting it in on time. At this time his mother used to visit him at this flat. She would catch a train for Watford Junction to Euston and take a bus to his digs. She went in secret and was concerned for his health as he was wont to skip meals and forget his overcoat. Once she brought him castor oil, cough mixture and a woollen scarf.
One day Wallis, when travelling by train, found himself watching intently a young girl sitting opposite him in the crowded carriage. There was something about her and his heart began to beat faster. At Brixton Station she got out and he found himself also alighting, although it was not his destination.
Courtship
This was the start and it was repeated. There were more train journeys down the line and more meetings and rendezvous with bunches of flowers and kisses under the clock at Victoria Station, the nearest station for her work as a milliner at Gorringe’s. The courtship progressed and such was the postal service, in those days, that letters posted in the morning in London would arrive the same evening. They managed to meet at short notice by letter and occasionally by telegram.
The time came for being presented to the prospective in-laws. Wallis’s parents lived at Watford, Lilian’s family lived at Brixton. The Watford visit was difficult, owing to Wallis having left home under a cloud. For Lilian it was a real test of social status. She was commended for her flower arranging, a task which Mrs Myers had given her to do. Unfortunately the poor girl was suffering from toothache on the day of the visit and Wallis was late, but his two younger brothers escorted her from Euston to Watfrrord.
On another day my father put on his best suit and “with his charming manners” went to meet Mrs Gentry and her sisters Emma and Ethel (Lilian’s father was drowned at sea in 1895). Wallis asked Lilian in a letter, ‘Did I do all right?’ Mrs Gentry and her sisters were delighted with the bright young man.
Early married life
The wedding took place, after a three-year engagement, on June 14th 1900. They spent their honeymoon at Shanklin, Isle of Wight. Little did they know then that Wallis would be back there in less than six months reporting on Queen Victoria’s funeral for the “Westminster Gazette”.
They set up home together in a London flat, possibly at Hawarden Grove, Brookwell Park, London, S.E. They had their wedding presents of such things as a beaten brass blotter and inkstand and silver salt cellars but day-to-day food and week-by-week household goods required spendable cash, which was in short supply. Wallis gave Lilian only ten shillings a week for housekeeping and this was not enough. Lilian’s cooking experience was limited. There was no opportunity to try different dishes, in case they did not turn out right and food was wasted. So rice puddings were the unvaried second course until Wallis was reputed to have said to his hostess, ‘anything but rice’, when given a choice at a dinner party. Lilian did not go out to work now.
There was a maid to keep her company whilst Wallis was roaming around after news. He could not keep regular mealtimes, but he seems to have found time to play tennis, perhaps on those Wimbledon courts where they took their own rackets, had to wear plimsolls and asked the gardener for the balls. Fortunately Lilian could visit her mother from time to time for help and advice. Their first child, Derrick, was born on March 8th 1901. He was a great delight to both of them. They celebrated by getting a professional photographer to come in and take Lilian holding the baby in all his baptismal garments.
--
Arthur W. Myers – A Testament to Tennis
A Tribute by Prue Wallis Myers
My father’s life and work – A daughter remembers
Introduction
In 1877 occurred a momentous event in the history of sport – the first Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. In the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century lawn tennis rapidly developed into an extremely popular game both in England and abroad. My father, Arthur Wallis Myers (1878-1939), was to serve the game of lawn tennis all his working life – as a reporter, chronicler, promoter and, in a small but significant way, player. It can truly be said that tennis was his life – to which all else formed a background.
Early Life
Wallis – His family background
Wallis’s mother was called Agnes Traphena Nutter, and came from a well-known Cambridge family. She had eight children. Arthur Wallis was the second boy, born in 1878. His father, the Reverend John Brown Myers, was Secretary to the Baptist Missionary Society, and he wrote a life of William Cavey, missionary in India. I think that Reverend Myers may have made up his mind that his son Arthur Wallis, talented in writing, should one day take over from him. Wallis, a strong-willed boy, had other ideas.
Wallis and his school magazine
The boys of the family attended a local school, Watford Endowed School, developed in 1882 ‘to provide the middle classes in Watford with a secondary education fitted for the needs of the time.’ Wallis exhibited his initiative at the age of fourteen by editing the first school magazine. In this he showed special powers of writing, organising and interviewing, and was noticed by Lord Clarendon, one of the governors. They met in later life, when Lord Clarendon helped him with his struggles in journalism.
The Leys School, Cambridge
In 1893, Wallis was entered for a £40.00 a year scholarship to the Leys School, Cambridge. The examination subject was science and, although he knew very little about it, he won a place. This was a help to the family whose income was never large. A year later he was in the West Hertford Tennis VI. Interestingly enough, he was still connected with the Watford Endowed School in 1895 when he was joint editor of “The Handbook of Watford Endowed School Directory of Old Boys”.
When he left school there soon came a series of clashes between father and son, both strong personalities. Maybe Wallis refused to write articles for the “Baptist Herald” and his father refused to support him if he left home and became independent. Eventually Wallis did leave home and started to pursue his journalistic career with very little in his pocket. He began to make contact with the few editors he knew.
He found digs at 57 Beauchamp Road, London, S.W., but had his post sent to Ward, Lock and Bowden Ltd., Warwick House, Salisbury Square, London, E.C., to conceal his whereabouts. He had to live by his writing and his wits, and the few links he had made in this huge city, the centre of the Empire. The end of the Victorian era was the time for communicating through the written word, for all classes of society could now read. Many hardworking people were trying to educate themselves in the little spare time available. There were articles being written on all kinds of subjects.
Wallis kept precise cuttings for reference showing the subject and style of writing that was likely to appear in a particular newspaper or magazine. Examples of these are “The Financial News”, “The South African Star”, “The Daily Mail” and especially “The Westminster Gazette”, a liberal paper; also “The Field”, another high-class magazine which reported all types of sporting events.
Starting as a freelance journalist was very precarious. My father, writing to a friend, describes how he was about to pawn his boots in order to pay his landlady, when, on returning from work, he found an overdue cheque from one of the newspapers. This enabled him to continue, well shod, into the future, so that by the time he was writing about Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, he seems to have been taken on as a regular reporter by the “Westminster Gazette”. Soon we find him sitting in the Liberal Club, using its note paper to make more contacts.
He now had some degree of confidence. He was beginning to become known for his skill and his reliability over the “copy” – getting it in on time. At this time his mother used to visit him at this flat. She would catch a train for Watford Junction to Euston and take a bus to his digs. She went in secret and was concerned for his health as he was wont to skip meals and forget his overcoat. Once she brought him castor oil, cough mixture and a woollen scarf.
One day Wallis, when travelling by train, found himself watching intently a young girl sitting opposite him in the crowded carriage. There was something about her and his heart began to beat faster. At Brixton Station she got out and he found himself also alighting, although it was not his destination.
Courtship
This was the start and it was repeated. There were more train journeys down the line and more meetings and rendezvous with bunches of flowers and kisses under the clock at Victoria Station, the nearest station for her work as a milliner at Gorringe’s. The courtship progressed and such was the postal service, in those days, that letters posted in the morning in London would arrive the same evening. They managed to meet at short notice by letter and occasionally by telegram.
The time came for being presented to the prospective in-laws. Wallis’s parents lived at Watford, Lilian’s family lived at Brixton. The Watford visit was difficult, owing to Wallis having left home under a cloud. For Lilian it was a real test of social status. She was commended for her flower arranging, a task which Mrs Myers had given her to do. Unfortunately the poor girl was suffering from toothache on the day of the visit and Wallis was late, but his two younger brothers escorted her from Euston to Watfrrord.
On another day my father put on his best suit and “with his charming manners” went to meet Mrs Gentry and her sisters Emma and Ethel (Lilian’s father was drowned at sea in 1895). Wallis asked Lilian in a letter, ‘Did I do all right?’ Mrs Gentry and her sisters were delighted with the bright young man.
Early married life
The wedding took place, after a three-year engagement, on June 14th 1900. They spent their honeymoon at Shanklin, Isle of Wight. Little did they know then that Wallis would be back there in less than six months reporting on Queen Victoria’s funeral for the “Westminster Gazette”.
They set up home together in a London flat, possibly at Hawarden Grove, Brookwell Park, London, S.E. They had their wedding presents of such things as a beaten brass blotter and inkstand and silver salt cellars but day-to-day food and week-by-week household goods required spendable cash, which was in short supply. Wallis gave Lilian only ten shillings a week for housekeeping and this was not enough. Lilian’s cooking experience was limited. There was no opportunity to try different dishes, in case they did not turn out right and food was wasted. So rice puddings were the unvaried second course until Wallis was reputed to have said to his hostess, ‘anything but rice’, when given a choice at a dinner party. Lilian did not go out to work now.
There was a maid to keep her company whilst Wallis was roaming around after news. He could not keep regular mealtimes, but he seems to have found time to play tennis, perhaps on those Wimbledon courts where they took their own rackets, had to wear plimsolls and asked the gardener for the balls. Fortunately Lilian could visit her mother from time to time for help and advice. Their first child, Derrick, was born on March 8th 1901. He was a great delight to both of them. They celebrated by getting a professional photographer to come in and take Lilian holding the baby in all his baptismal garments.
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