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Troubador Publishing Ltd - Bruce Tarran

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160 pages

English

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This is the story of George Hillyard, one of the most important and influential figures the game of lawn tennis has knownIn 1887, aged 23, Hillyard married Wimbledon Ladies champion, Blanche Bingley, and based at their country home in Thorpe Satchville, Leicestershire, with its own golf course and two perfect tennis courts, they influenced the world tennis scene for the next forty years. Hillyard was a close friend of royalty, an Olympic champion, an international sportsman and much more. He presided over successive Wimbledon finals as umpire and helped found the Lawn Tennis Association (wresting power over the rules and running of the game from The All England Club). His stance was severely criticised by members of the Wimbledon Committee yet he was appointed as their Secretary in 1907. In this position he oversaw the move from Wimbledon's original venue (Worple Road) to their current home (Church Road), where he helped design the layout of the grounds, resolving to make the courts 'the best in the world'. The story of the early years of tennis, and the life of George Hillyard, intertwine in this fascinating volume of tennis history. Stunning photographs transport the reader into a different age - when tennis was a new and rapidly evolving sport.

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Tennis

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Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	01 juin 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781783069651
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

GEORGE HILLYARD
THE MAN WHO MOVED
WIMBLEDON
BRUCE TARRAN
FOREWORD BY MARK COX
Copyright 2013 Bruce Tarran
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Matador 9 Priory Business Park Kibworth Beauchamp Leicestershire LE8 0RX, UK Tel: ( 44) 116 279 2299 Fax: ( 44) 116 279 2277 Email: books@troubador.co.uk Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
ISBN 9781783069651

Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
To all my pupils, these 26 years
CONTENTS
APPRECIATION
FOREWORD BY MARK COX
INTRODUCTION - MICHAEL CHARLES AND THORPE SATCHVILLE
INTRODUCING HILLYARD, AND MYSELF
1 FAMILY HISTORY, EARLY LIFE, AND THE NAVY
2 AFTER THE NAVY, MARRIAGE
3 TENNIS BEGINS
4 TENNIS TOURNAMENTS, AND HOW THEY USED TO BE
5 THORPE SATCHVILLE
6 GEORGE HILLYARD IN TOURNAMENTS
7 EARLY WIMBLEDON AND HILLYARD S ROLE IN THE FOUNDING OF THE LTA
8 HILLYARD AND PRINCE GEORGE - ROYALTY AT WIMBLEDON
9 HILLYARD, WIMBLEDON SECRETARY
10 FORTY YEARS
11 THE OLYMPICS
12 COURTS, AND EN-TOUT-CAS
13 HILLYARD AS UMPIRE
14 CRICKET
15 BLANCHE
16 PULBOROUGH, AND THE WEST SUSSEX GOLF CLUB
17 FINIS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPRECIATION:

T he story of George Hillyard began for me at Thorpe Satchville with Michael Charles. It is due to him that many of the photos, taken there by Miss Kendal one hundred years ago, are available to see in this book. Thank you again, Michael and wife, Sarah, for your hospitality, kindness and support.
Great thanks to Tim Watt for taking the time to edit my words, not once but twice. If time is the best gift then this is what you gave me.
My gratitude to Mark Cox for kindly writing the foreword to this book. And also for the pleasure he gave us over the years with his exploits on the tennis court - at Wimbledon, in the Davis Cup and elsewhere.
My gratitude to the Wimbledon Library - what a tremendous institution it is Thank you to Assistant Librarian, Audrey Snell, and Honorary Librarian, Alan Little for sharing their time and knowledge.
Thanks to Glen Lockley and wife Nikki. Nikki is the great-niece of Annie Wiseman, who was first cousin to George Hillyard. They kindly invited me to their home in Doncaster and shared the fruits of their own researches into Hillyard with great generosity.
Thanks to Jon Kilshaw for sharing with me his incredibly thorough research into the origins of West Sussex Golf Club. His information opened up a period of Hillyard s life which would otherwise have been lost to me. Thanks also to West Sussex Club member, Daisy Kane, for her superb photographs of the course.
Thanks to Ben Glass for his help with the photos which most needed it.
Thanks to Andrew Moffat, the current owner of Bramfold in Pulborough for his hospitality in showing me around his home, and explaining its association with the Hillyards.
Thanks to Stella Ellis and Gertie Hallwood for sharing their reminiscences of the Hillyards - these two ladies were the only people I spoke to who knew them in life.
My thanks to John Murray who was an advance scout to Thorpe Satchville.
I had mostly finished this book when I managed to get in touch with Ada Dawnay. Ada s mother was married to Jack Hillyard. For both it was their second marriage. Ada showed me 2 wonderful photograph albums belonging to the Hillyard family, full of early photos which she allowed me to copy. Thanks, Ada - it was hugely appreciated.
Finally, thank you to Leicestershire Lawn Tennis Club for allowing me to include photos and pages from their archives.
FOREWORD BY MARK COX:

A nyone who is interested in the early history of Lawn Tennis will be fascinated by this commendable compendium compiled by a good friend of mine, Bruce Tarran.
He introduces us to Commander George Hillyard, a fine athlete who had a significant impact on the game of tennis, not only as a player of consequence, but also an administrator impacting upon British Tennis as Secretary to the hallowed All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon.
From my point of view my interest in the story is heightened not only because of my own intrigue and compulsion with the game itself, but also because of a Leicester connection. I was born in Leicester and also spent many hours playing tennis at the Leicestershire Lawn Tennis Club on the en tout cas courts akin to George Hillyard. One can sense the history where many of the greats played in the formative years of the game.
Coming back to Bruce. I have known Bruce for many years and admired his coaching skill and his ability to make the game of tennis exciting particularly to youngsters, but I have also enjoyed his enormous enthusiasm for the game in its entirety, particularly his passion for the years gone by. This book illustrates this and has been put together meticulously by someone clearly with an insatiable love of the game. He has given us a treasured collection of unique photos and an invaluable insight in the early years of the game in a very readable fashion.
INTRODUCTION - MICHAEL CHARLES AND THORPE SATCHVILLE

I t is probably safe to say that more Wimbledon champions have played on the Centre Court at Church Road, Wimbledon, than on any other tennis court in England. But which would be the private tennis court to hold that record?
There is one in particular. A minimum of 30 Wimbledon champions from all over the world have stood, socialised, and competed on the perfect turf of this garden court. The wider roll call includes the American founder of the Davis Cup, the first American to win a Wimbledon singles title, the first Australian, the first New Zealander, and two separate pairs of brothers, all four of whom were Wimbledon champions. Then there were Olympic champions and US champions, a lady who won the Wimbledon singles title seven times, another who won it six times, and another who won five. And many, many more. They all played tennis on this court.

The Elms, then and now
But where was it? Where is it?
The story was lost for half a century, and only uncovered by chance. Back in 1972, one Michael Charles came to live in a village in Leicestershire called Thorpe Satchville. Eleven years later he moved up the road into his current house, The Elms.
Michael knew some of the history of his new home. From 1926 to 1938, it had been owned by Sir George Earle, before he moved further upmarket to nearby Baggrave Hall. Lady Crawford bought the property in 1938 and remained until 1957. She was unmarried, and remembered as a great local benefactress, paying for mains drainage to be installed throughout the village.
Sybil Dawson followed, for ten years, and then from 1967 to 1983 the house belonged to George Rich. It was in 1983 that Michael Charles and his wife Sarah bought the house from Rich s recent widow, Barbara.
The original house had nine bedrooms, with extensive grounds, some stables and outhouses, as well as adjoining fields stretching away into the far distance. In these fields can still be seen the traces of a private nine-hole golf course. When Michael arrived, these fields were no longer part of the property and the stables had been converted to a cottage and kept by Barbara Rich. She also retained an enclosed red shale tennis court with old-fashioned lead lines. For a few years Michael and his family were allowed to play on it, but eventually it was converted into a riding ground for horses.

Left, the best grass court in England Right, still a nice lawn today
In the summer Michael could use another tennis court - a grass one - in his garden at the side of the house, up against a large hedge. He would mark out the white lines in April with a rickety machine borrowed from a neighbour, and then plant the net posts and attach them to a ragged grey net. His wife and children received tennis lessons on this court from a coach who worked for the Co-op. Sometimes Michael would fit in half an hour for himself after other members of the family had finished.
The court was a good one. Michael had cause to dig down at the edge, and was surprised to find many separate layers of gravel and sand as a base beneath the grass. Clearly someone had taken great care over its construction, though who had built it and when was a mystery.

Two strangers standing outside Michael s front door - the Doherty brothers, the greatest tennis players of their age
On a Saturday afternoon in 1985, Michael discovered the answer. He was mowing the extensive lawn, and therefore not too happy, when a man in a dirty raincoat and trilby hat appeared out of nowhere and advanced across the garden towards him. In his hand was a large brown briefcase. Michael assumed the stranger to be a Jehovah s Witness, and was about to tell him to go away (here, in the telling, Michael lapsed into his own more colourful vernacular). Fortunately the man spoke first, introducing himself as a Mr Kendal, whose great aunt had lived her whole life in another Leicestershire village, Houghton-On-The-Hill. The great aunt was a photographer, who had regularly been asked by the one-time owners of the house to take photos of their tennis parties, and Mr Kendal s briefcase was full of the results. Together, he and Michael Charles repaired to the house to have a look at them. As Michael scanned the black and white prints, and listened to Mr Kendal s story, he began to understand that the history of his house might be a deal more remarkable than he had realised.
The people who had commissioned the photographs were a couple named Hillya