newmark401
Professional
By Mark Ryan
The Queen’s Club was established in August 1886 and named after its first patron, Queen Victoria. The incorporation of the club cost £18, 15 s, 0d in old money. According to Roy McKelvie in ‘The Queen’s Club Story’, the grounds were first opened for lawn tennis on 19 May 1887. He adds, “On 1 and 2 July [1887], Oxford met Cambridge in the first sporting contest to be held there. The result was a draw, 9-9, and among the players was Harry Scrivener (Oxford) who later became a noted referee and correspondent for the ‘Morning Post’.”
The aforementioned first sporting contest played at the Queen’s Club appears to have been a rugby match. Although the club is nowadays almost wholly associated with tennis, in its early years many other sports were played there, including cricket, football (soccer) and croquet. There was a cinder track for cycling and a running track as well as facilities for real tennis, an Eton Fives court, rackets courts, indoor lawn tennis courts and a billiards room. The club’s buildings were opened in January 1888.
In the mid-1880s, the Queen’s Club was not an easy venue to reach. According to Roy McKelvie, “Transport in those days was mainly by horse. A chocolate-coloured, four-in-hand horse bus made daily regular trips from Hyde Park Corner to the club before the opening of Barons Court underground station in 1906. There was stabling at the club and horses were kept to draw the heavy rollers over the ground.”
When it first opened, the Queen’s Club was a much-needed venue for sports growing in popularity. Previously, the Prince’s Club had been one of the very few multi-sports clubs in England. This club was originally located in Hans Square, in the exclusive Kensington and Chelsea area of London, behind Harrods department store. One source states: “Prince’s Club, an exclusive sports club with socially restricted membership, was opened in 1854 by George and James Prince. The club houses were built on the grounds of Holland’s Pavilion, and the club used former nursery land adjoining as a cricket ground. In addition to cricket there were facilities for tennis, badminton, and, later, skating. The ground was being built on in 1879, and the club finally closed in 1885 when its lease expired.”
According to Roy McKelvie in ‘The Queen’s Club Story’: “…Prince’s [Club] closed in 1887 to reopen the following year in Knightsbridge, but with no facilities for outdoor sports. It was primarily a rackets and real tennis club.” In its early days, when it was still located in Hans Place, one of the first lawn tennis tournaments, known simply as the Prince’s Club Tournament, was held at this club. In 1880, Herbert Lawford, a future Wimbledon champion, won this event, which was held outdoors.
A third multi-sports club, the London Athletic Club, also existed around this time. According to the early work ‘A History of the County of Middlesex’ (1911), “Foremost among athletic clubs in Middlesex is the London Athletic Club. Founded in 1863 under the title of the Mincing Lane Athletic Club, it took its present name in the spring of 1866. It held its first athletic meeting at the Beaufort House grounds at Brompton on 9 April 1864, and a second on 21 May of the same year. It continued to meet there until 1869, having in 1867 had sports at the Old Deer Park, Richmond, and at Beaufort House, Walham Green.
“After it moved its head quarters to Lillie Bridge in 1869 meetings were held there until 1876. In 1877, it [the London Athletic Club] again moved, this time to its own grounds at Stamford Bridge, Fulham. These grounds of six and a half acres were closed after the last meeting on 24 September 1904, and a new and larger track was made, partly on the same site, with a banked track for cycling and seating accommodation for 10,000 people. The new area of seventeen acres was still known as Stamford Bridge, and the L.A.C. opened with a meeting on 10 May 1905. During the winter months the ground is used by the Chelsea Football Club.”
A lawn tennis tournament was inaugurated at the London Athletic Club in 1884; one year later it was given the title of the London Championships. It was held outdoors, on grass. This tournament would be held for many years, although it moved to the Queen’s Club in 1890. From 1890 onwards, another tennis tournament, the Covered Courts Championships, was also held at the Queen’s Club, or at least the women’s singles and men’s doubles events were held there.
The first Covered Courts Championships lawn tennis tournament in the world had taken place in April 1885, when covered courts were opened for the first time at the Hyde Park Lawn Tennis Club in Porchester Square, London. The tournament then consisted of only a men’s singles event. According to Roy McKelvie, the Covered Courts Championships did not flourish at the Hyde Park LTC, so in 1890 the Queen’s Club was the obvious choice as a venue for the newly-established women’s singles and men’s doubles events. The men’s singles event continued to be held at the Hyde Park LTC until 1895, when it too moved to the Queen’s Club (no women’s events appear to have been held at either the Prince’s Club or the Hyde Park Club).
The covered courts at the Queen’s Club were opened on 13 April 1888 with an exhibition singles match between Herbert Lawford, the reigning Wimbledon champion, and Ernest Renshaw. According to ‘The Queen’s Club Story’, they were then joined by Ernest Lewis, the reigning covered courts champion, and Clement Cazalet, for a doubles match. The Covered Court Championships, initially held around the beginning of April, ran at the Queen’s Club for several years. It was originally distinct from the London Covered Court Championships, which Roy McKelvie describes as “a lesser event played for some years in the autumn”. However, these two tournaments would eventually merge to become the National, or British, Covered Courts Championships, with an autumn date in the calendar and fluctuating fortunes. This tournament was discontinued after 1969.
In its early years the London Championships grass court tournament was moved around the calendar, sometimes being held just before Wimbledon, sometimes just after. However, since 1905, the London Championships has had a fixed, coveted place in the tennis calendar, namely the second half of June, just before Wimbledon. It was temporarily discontinued in 1973, but restarted in 1977, with just two main events, a men’s singles and men’s doubles. As of 2015, this particular tournament is officially known as the Aegon International.
In 1908, the Olympic Games were staged in London, and it was decided to hold the real tennis, rackets and covered courts lawn tennis events at the Queen’s Club (the grass court lawn tennis events were held at Wimbledon). However, the racket sport events held at the Queen’s Club during the Olympics were not a success and, consequently, it was decided to drop real tennis and rackets from future Olympic Games.
Nowadays, the Queen’s Club has 28 outdoor lawn tennis courts, including 12 grass courts and a lesser number of hard and clay (or shale) courts, 10 indoor tennis courts, 2 real tennis courts, 2 rackets courts, 3 squash courts and a gymnasium. Women can now become full members of the club – this was not the case in the early days, when women were merely tolerated in such clubs – and the venue as a whole has what is no doubt a much more open, less exclusive air. These developments are evidence of continuing progress at the club.
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The Queen’s Club was established in August 1886 and named after its first patron, Queen Victoria. The incorporation of the club cost £18, 15 s, 0d in old money. According to Roy McKelvie in ‘The Queen’s Club Story’, the grounds were first opened for lawn tennis on 19 May 1887. He adds, “On 1 and 2 July [1887], Oxford met Cambridge in the first sporting contest to be held there. The result was a draw, 9-9, and among the players was Harry Scrivener (Oxford) who later became a noted referee and correspondent for the ‘Morning Post’.”
The aforementioned first sporting contest played at the Queen’s Club appears to have been a rugby match. Although the club is nowadays almost wholly associated with tennis, in its early years many other sports were played there, including cricket, football (soccer) and croquet. There was a cinder track for cycling and a running track as well as facilities for real tennis, an Eton Fives court, rackets courts, indoor lawn tennis courts and a billiards room. The club’s buildings were opened in January 1888.
In the mid-1880s, the Queen’s Club was not an easy venue to reach. According to Roy McKelvie, “Transport in those days was mainly by horse. A chocolate-coloured, four-in-hand horse bus made daily regular trips from Hyde Park Corner to the club before the opening of Barons Court underground station in 1906. There was stabling at the club and horses were kept to draw the heavy rollers over the ground.”
When it first opened, the Queen’s Club was a much-needed venue for sports growing in popularity. Previously, the Prince’s Club had been one of the very few multi-sports clubs in England. This club was originally located in Hans Square, in the exclusive Kensington and Chelsea area of London, behind Harrods department store. One source states: “Prince’s Club, an exclusive sports club with socially restricted membership, was opened in 1854 by George and James Prince. The club houses were built on the grounds of Holland’s Pavilion, and the club used former nursery land adjoining as a cricket ground. In addition to cricket there were facilities for tennis, badminton, and, later, skating. The ground was being built on in 1879, and the club finally closed in 1885 when its lease expired.”
According to Roy McKelvie in ‘The Queen’s Club Story’: “…Prince’s [Club] closed in 1887 to reopen the following year in Knightsbridge, but with no facilities for outdoor sports. It was primarily a rackets and real tennis club.” In its early days, when it was still located in Hans Place, one of the first lawn tennis tournaments, known simply as the Prince’s Club Tournament, was held at this club. In 1880, Herbert Lawford, a future Wimbledon champion, won this event, which was held outdoors.
A third multi-sports club, the London Athletic Club, also existed around this time. According to the early work ‘A History of the County of Middlesex’ (1911), “Foremost among athletic clubs in Middlesex is the London Athletic Club. Founded in 1863 under the title of the Mincing Lane Athletic Club, it took its present name in the spring of 1866. It held its first athletic meeting at the Beaufort House grounds at Brompton on 9 April 1864, and a second on 21 May of the same year. It continued to meet there until 1869, having in 1867 had sports at the Old Deer Park, Richmond, and at Beaufort House, Walham Green.
“After it moved its head quarters to Lillie Bridge in 1869 meetings were held there until 1876. In 1877, it [the London Athletic Club] again moved, this time to its own grounds at Stamford Bridge, Fulham. These grounds of six and a half acres were closed after the last meeting on 24 September 1904, and a new and larger track was made, partly on the same site, with a banked track for cycling and seating accommodation for 10,000 people. The new area of seventeen acres was still known as Stamford Bridge, and the L.A.C. opened with a meeting on 10 May 1905. During the winter months the ground is used by the Chelsea Football Club.”
A lawn tennis tournament was inaugurated at the London Athletic Club in 1884; one year later it was given the title of the London Championships. It was held outdoors, on grass. This tournament would be held for many years, although it moved to the Queen’s Club in 1890. From 1890 onwards, another tennis tournament, the Covered Courts Championships, was also held at the Queen’s Club, or at least the women’s singles and men’s doubles events were held there.
The first Covered Courts Championships lawn tennis tournament in the world had taken place in April 1885, when covered courts were opened for the first time at the Hyde Park Lawn Tennis Club in Porchester Square, London. The tournament then consisted of only a men’s singles event. According to Roy McKelvie, the Covered Courts Championships did not flourish at the Hyde Park LTC, so in 1890 the Queen’s Club was the obvious choice as a venue for the newly-established women’s singles and men’s doubles events. The men’s singles event continued to be held at the Hyde Park LTC until 1895, when it too moved to the Queen’s Club (no women’s events appear to have been held at either the Prince’s Club or the Hyde Park Club).
The covered courts at the Queen’s Club were opened on 13 April 1888 with an exhibition singles match between Herbert Lawford, the reigning Wimbledon champion, and Ernest Renshaw. According to ‘The Queen’s Club Story’, they were then joined by Ernest Lewis, the reigning covered courts champion, and Clement Cazalet, for a doubles match. The Covered Court Championships, initially held around the beginning of April, ran at the Queen’s Club for several years. It was originally distinct from the London Covered Court Championships, which Roy McKelvie describes as “a lesser event played for some years in the autumn”. However, these two tournaments would eventually merge to become the National, or British, Covered Courts Championships, with an autumn date in the calendar and fluctuating fortunes. This tournament was discontinued after 1969.
In its early years the London Championships grass court tournament was moved around the calendar, sometimes being held just before Wimbledon, sometimes just after. However, since 1905, the London Championships has had a fixed, coveted place in the tennis calendar, namely the second half of June, just before Wimbledon. It was temporarily discontinued in 1973, but restarted in 1977, with just two main events, a men’s singles and men’s doubles. As of 2015, this particular tournament is officially known as the Aegon International.
In 1908, the Olympic Games were staged in London, and it was decided to hold the real tennis, rackets and covered courts lawn tennis events at the Queen’s Club (the grass court lawn tennis events were held at Wimbledon). However, the racket sport events held at the Queen’s Club during the Olympics were not a success and, consequently, it was decided to drop real tennis and rackets from future Olympic Games.
Nowadays, the Queen’s Club has 28 outdoor lawn tennis courts, including 12 grass courts and a lesser number of hard and clay (or shale) courts, 10 indoor tennis courts, 2 real tennis courts, 2 rackets courts, 3 squash courts and a gymnasium. Women can now become full members of the club – this was not the case in the early days, when women were merely tolerated in such clubs – and the venue as a whole has what is no doubt a much more open, less exclusive air. These developments are evidence of continuing progress at the club.
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