SPORTS HISTORY BLOG
Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport
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A remarkable find in a family archive has shed new light on the earliest days of Scottish tennis. The minute book of the Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club, founded in March 1877, has resurfaced after years at the back of a drawer, and is now with the Mitchell Library in Glasgow having been donated by a descendant of an original member.
As no other tennis club north of the border is known to have existed this early, the discovery of this leather-bound book could give Glasgow the honour of being Scotland's first lawn tennis club.
As no other tennis club north of the border is known to have existed this early, the discovery of this leather-bound book could give Glasgow the honour of being Scotland's first lawn tennis club.
A printed circular calling the first meeting of the new Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club in March 1877
The Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club was established by men who were members of the city's prestigious Western Club and they were soon flooded with subscriptions from prospective members, with equal numbers of men and women being allowed to join.
The committee ordered two sets of equipment from London, and the minutes record carefully all their early activities as the club got under way. It will surprise many to learn that they played primarily indoors, renting Burnbank Drill Hall, off Great Western Road.
They were clearly a vibrant organisation, playing for at least a decade, and were unusual for a Victorian sporting body as they gave equal playing status to male and female members. Gentlemen had to be over 21 years old and their subscription was one pound, while ladies were 17 or over and paid ten shillings, and they were all clearly of the prosperous middle classes, with many who were or became prominent citizens.
While many of the meetings focussed on administration and finances, the minute book also has some fascinating social detail.
In February 1878, one can almost hear the gasps of horror when the Chairman informed the committee that complaints had been made by ladies that some gentlemen had been playing in their shirt sleeves, without coats! Decorum had to be restored, and the Honorary Secretary was tasked with placing a notice in the Gentlemen's dressing room: 'In deference to representations by some of the lady members of the club, the Committee request that gentlemen removing their coats for play will substitute a light jacket while ladies are present. By order.'
The committee ordered two sets of equipment from London, and the minutes record carefully all their early activities as the club got under way. It will surprise many to learn that they played primarily indoors, renting Burnbank Drill Hall, off Great Western Road.
They were clearly a vibrant organisation, playing for at least a decade, and were unusual for a Victorian sporting body as they gave equal playing status to male and female members. Gentlemen had to be over 21 years old and their subscription was one pound, while ladies were 17 or over and paid ten shillings, and they were all clearly of the prosperous middle classes, with many who were or became prominent citizens.
While many of the meetings focussed on administration and finances, the minute book also has some fascinating social detail.
In February 1878, one can almost hear the gasps of horror when the Chairman informed the committee that complaints had been made by ladies that some gentlemen had been playing in their shirt sleeves, without coats! Decorum had to be restored, and the Honorary Secretary was tasked with placing a notice in the Gentlemen's dressing room: 'In deference to representations by some of the lady members of the club, the Committee request that gentlemen removing their coats for play will substitute a light jacket while ladies are present. By order.'
Notice to members advertising the club's second annual tournament in 1880
The club held its first tournament in 1879, although sadly the winners are not recorded, and the minute book continues to detail meetings up to November the following year. After that, member subscription lists are detailed up to 1885, but what happened to the club after that is not known.
Lawn tennis was still a new sport when the Glasgow club was set up, invented by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, an English sportsman who patented his invention in 1874 and called it Sphairistike. He marketed it as a boxed set costing upwards of five guineas and although he sold over a thousand sets in the first year, because of the expense it went primarily to the well-heeled country house set. Lawn tennis was seen initially as a summer recreation for garden parties rather than a competitive sport.
However, tennis developed rapidly as it captured the imagination and the first clubs were established in England, leading to the creation of the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. By the time the first national championship was held in the summer of 1877 – the forerunner of the Wimbledon we know today – the modern game was taking shape with a rectangular court, where the cloth-covered ball and the modern racket shape had been introduced.
Lawn tennis was still a new sport when the Glasgow club was set up, invented by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, an English sportsman who patented his invention in 1874 and called it Sphairistike. He marketed it as a boxed set costing upwards of five guineas and although he sold over a thousand sets in the first year, because of the expense it went primarily to the well-heeled country house set. Lawn tennis was seen initially as a summer recreation for garden parties rather than a competitive sport.
However, tennis developed rapidly as it captured the imagination and the first clubs were established in England, leading to the creation of the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. By the time the first national championship was held in the summer of 1877 – the forerunner of the Wimbledon we know today – the modern game was taking shape with a rectangular court, where the cloth-covered ball and the modern racket shape had been introduced.
TF Donald, one of the members of the Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club, whose family preserved the original minute book
In Scotland, the earliest known recreational players were in Edinburgh. Sir James Patten McDougall KCB – then plain James Patten, a young lawyer – recalled sending off to London for a tennis set in 1874 and setting it up with some friends at the Grange Cricket Ground in Raeburn Place. He described the game as it was then: 'The racquets were light, longer in the head and shorter in the handle than now. The balls were uncovered rubber, about two thirds the diameter of the modern ball, with a hole in them. The court was shaped like a sandglass, narrower at the net than the backline.'
After experimenting outdoors, like the Glaswegians they played indoors at a specially constructed hall at the Grange Club, built by the Edinburgh Lawn Tennis Company and known as the 'old tin hut'. It was there, in the summer of 1878, that Patten won a tournament which was later recognised as the first Scottish championship, even though it was a purely Edinburgh affair.
Over in the west, the Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club played an important role in getting tennis off the ground in the city, and was clearly a success, but what happened after the first decade remains something of a mystery: there are no known mentions of the club in the newspapers of the day or in tennis histories, and its existence might never have been discovered had it not been for the chance survival of the minute book.
The handwritten records of this pioneering club show that there are still significant discoveries to be made in the history of Scottish sport.
* I am immensely grateful to Jamie Donald, great-great-nephew of club member Thomas Francis Donald, for recognising the significance of the minute book which had been kept in the family for generations, and for letting me read and photograph it on its way to the Special Collections Department of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.
Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club
Founding Committee, March 1877
Donald Matheson (1832-1901), Chairman. East India Merchant, later Brigadier-General Sir Donald Matheson KCB.
Captain Robert Mercer-Tod (1839-1903), Honorary Secretary. 43rd Light Infantry.
Captain William Bannatyne (1839-1925). 8th (The King’s) Regiment.
Robert Martin Barklie (1846-1903). Architect, Royal Engineers.
William Richard Buchanan (1847-1901). Wine Merchant.
William Crouch (1840-1927). Civil Engineer.
Thomas Robert Johnston Logan (1837-1913). Iron and Coal Master.
More tennis reading on this blog
Herbert Lawford, Scotland's forgotten Wimbledon winner.
In search of Mr Laing - Hill and Adamson's famous Edinburgh tennis player
After experimenting outdoors, like the Glaswegians they played indoors at a specially constructed hall at the Grange Club, built by the Edinburgh Lawn Tennis Company and known as the 'old tin hut'. It was there, in the summer of 1878, that Patten won a tournament which was later recognised as the first Scottish championship, even though it was a purely Edinburgh affair.
Over in the west, the Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club played an important role in getting tennis off the ground in the city, and was clearly a success, but what happened after the first decade remains something of a mystery: there are no known mentions of the club in the newspapers of the day or in tennis histories, and its existence might never have been discovered had it not been for the chance survival of the minute book.
The handwritten records of this pioneering club show that there are still significant discoveries to be made in the history of Scottish sport.
* I am immensely grateful to Jamie Donald, great-great-nephew of club member Thomas Francis Donald, for recognising the significance of the minute book which had been kept in the family for generations, and for letting me read and photograph it on its way to the Special Collections Department of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.
Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club
Founding Committee, March 1877
Donald Matheson (1832-1901), Chairman. East India Merchant, later Brigadier-General Sir Donald Matheson KCB.
Captain Robert Mercer-Tod (1839-1903), Honorary Secretary. 43rd Light Infantry.
Captain William Bannatyne (1839-1925). 8th (The King’s) Regiment.
Robert Martin Barklie (1846-1903). Architect, Royal Engineers.
William Richard Buchanan (1847-1901). Wine Merchant.
William Crouch (1840-1927). Civil Engineer.
Thomas Robert Johnston Logan (1837-1913). Iron and Coal Master.
More tennis reading on this blog
Herbert Lawford, Scotland's forgotten Wimbledon winner.
In search of Mr Laing - Hill and Adamson's famous Edinburgh tennis player
The leather-bound book containing the minutes of the Glasgow Lawn Tennis Club
A report on the opening week's play in April 1877. 'Much satisfaction was expressed as to the arrangements made and the four courts were pronounced correct.'
The club rules, with pencil annotations
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Marjorie Langmuir in action for Scotland [from One Hundred Years of Scottish Hockey]
Marjorie Langmuir has an extraordinary claim to fame as she not only represented Scotland in three different sports, she did so in the same calendar year, 1932. What is more, two of those appearances came on consecutive days, playing badminton against England in London on a Friday then travelling overnight to Belfast to captain Scotland’s hockey team against Ireland.
All this was done as an amateur, paying her own travel expenses while juggling the demands of a full time job. She was one of a generation of pioneering Scottish sportswomen who performed remarkable feats but received little recognition at the time and have since been largely forgotten. However, having discovered her story I nominated her for the inaugural Scottish Women in Sport Hall of Fame and I am delighted she was selected as one of the first inductees.
Born in Glasgow in 1905, Langmuir was one of five daughters educated at Hillhead High School where she developed her love of sport.
She was West of Scotland Junior Tennis Champion but it was in hockey that she first made her mark at national level. She was capped in 1923 as an 18-year-old student and by the time she returned to Hillhead in 1927 as a PE teacher, she was a fixture in the Scotland hockey team, playing in 36 consecutive internationals.
She also made quite a name for herself on the tennis courts and won the Scottish ladies doubles championship in 1926, while at badminton she first represented Scotland in 1930, going on to win eleven caps and twice won the Scottish mixed doubles championship.
All this was done as an amateur, paying her own travel expenses while juggling the demands of a full time job. She was one of a generation of pioneering Scottish sportswomen who performed remarkable feats but received little recognition at the time and have since been largely forgotten. However, having discovered her story I nominated her for the inaugural Scottish Women in Sport Hall of Fame and I am delighted she was selected as one of the first inductees.
Born in Glasgow in 1905, Langmuir was one of five daughters educated at Hillhead High School where she developed her love of sport.
She was West of Scotland Junior Tennis Champion but it was in hockey that she first made her mark at national level. She was capped in 1923 as an 18-year-old student and by the time she returned to Hillhead in 1927 as a PE teacher, she was a fixture in the Scotland hockey team, playing in 36 consecutive internationals.
She also made quite a name for herself on the tennis courts and won the Scottish ladies doubles championship in 1926, while at badminton she first represented Scotland in 1930, going on to win eleven caps and twice won the Scottish mixed doubles championship.
Her great ‘triple’ international feat came in 1932. On Thursday 3 March she caught the night train from Glasgow to London, where she played mixed doubles and ladies’ doubles badminton at the Royal Horticultural Hall against England. She then travelled overnight to Belfast where, on Saturday afternoon, she captained Scotland to a 3-2 victory at hockey over Ireland, scoring twice to help turn round a two goal half-time deficit. That summer, in July, she represented Scotland twice at tennis against England.
Her hockey career was crowned in glory in 1933, when she captained the only Scotland women’s team ever to win in England. In fact, the 2-1 victory in front of 5,000 spectators at Merton Abbey was the only time Scotland defeated England, home or away, between 1909 and 1972. It was a sharp contrast to Marjory’s first game against England ten years earlier which ended in a 13-0 defeat. That autumn she led Scotland to a 5-4 victory over USA at Old Anniesland, her final match before retiring.
Her hockey career was crowned in glory in 1933, when she captained the only Scotland women’s team ever to win in England. In fact, the 2-1 victory in front of 5,000 spectators at Merton Abbey was the only time Scotland defeated England, home or away, between 1909 and 1972. It was a sharp contrast to Marjory’s first game against England ten years earlier which ended in a 13-0 defeat. That autumn she led Scotland to a 5-4 victory over USA at Old Anniesland, her final match before retiring.
The Scotland team which beat England in 1933, captained by Marjorie Langmuir (front row centre) [Scottish Hockey]
She left Scotland in 1934, emigrating to Canada to marry her former badminton partner, James Barr, who had been appointed professional at the Montreal Badminton and Squash Club. She continued to play in tennis tournaments in Canada and spent the rest of her life there, dying in Montreal in 1984.
Marjorie Langmuir
Born Glasgow, 20 January 1905 to Dr Robert Langmuir and Jessie Ritchie
Died Montreal, 17 March 1984.
* The only other Scottish athlete I can find who represented their country in three sports in the same year was Isabel Barr (later Newstead), who won Paralympic medals in 1984 at swimming, shooting and athletics. She has also been inducted in the Hall of Fame.
Marjorie Langmuir
Born Glasgow, 20 January 1905 to Dr Robert Langmuir and Jessie Ritchie
Died Montreal, 17 March 1984.
* The only other Scottish athlete I can find who represented their country in three sports in the same year was Isabel Barr (later Newstead), who won Paralympic medals in 1984 at swimming, shooting and athletics. She has also been inducted in the Hall of Fame.
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This well-known image, claimed to be the world's first photo of a tennis player, was taken by the pioneering photographers Robert Adamson and David Octavius Hill in Edinburgh around 1843. It features in a major exhibition just now at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and is one of the key images used to market the exhibition.
The subject is recorded simply as Mr Laing (or Laine, the writing is not clear) and has never been identified. So I set out to find who this dapper young sportsman really was, and why he should be holding a racket.
The first thing to establish was that he was not actually a tennis player. Lawn tennis had yet to be invented, while the only real (or royal) tennis court in Scotland at the time was at Falkland Palace in Fife.
Less well known is the fact that Edinburgh had a thriving racket court in the city centre. It had been established as a fives court in Rose Street around 1800 by John Hallion, who ran the adjoining tavern and also used it to stage cock fights. The court continued in operation throughout the 19th century, subtly changing use from fives to rackets, and in the 1840s was leased by a Mr Wilson. As the advert below shows, he aimed it at the city's well-to-do, and even employed a professional for tuition.
The subject is recorded simply as Mr Laing (or Laine, the writing is not clear) and has never been identified. So I set out to find who this dapper young sportsman really was, and why he should be holding a racket.
The first thing to establish was that he was not actually a tennis player. Lawn tennis had yet to be invented, while the only real (or royal) tennis court in Scotland at the time was at Falkland Palace in Fife.
Less well known is the fact that Edinburgh had a thriving racket court in the city centre. It had been established as a fives court in Rose Street around 1800 by John Hallion, who ran the adjoining tavern and also used it to stage cock fights. The court continued in operation throughout the 19th century, subtly changing use from fives to rackets, and in the 1840s was leased by a Mr Wilson. As the advert below shows, he aimed it at the city's well-to-do, and even employed a professional for tuition.
The Rose Street racket court marked on the 1851 Ordnance Survey map of Edinburgh
The essential difference between rackets and tennis is that rackets - the ancestor of squash - is played in an enclosed court, with the ball knocked against a wall; in tennis the ball is played over a net between the players.
As with many recreational sports, there were virtually no reports of matches in the daily papers, but regular adverts show that rackets was popular among young men in Edinburgh at the time. The Rose Street court even attracted royal patronage, as in 1864 Queen Victoria's second son, Prince Alfred, played a game of rackets there and was hit in the eye by a ball.
It would appear, therefore, that Mr Laing is not a tennis player after all, but a rackets player.
There is, incidentally, another photograph of him, held at Glasgow University Library, which shows him in a different profile with outstretched arm. He is again holding the racket in an unnatural position, too far up the handle, but that can be explained by the requirement to keep still for a long exposure. The metal frame which helped to hold him steady has been painted out, but the telltale shadow is clearly seen. Even so, the smart sporty outfit makes him look quite the young athlete!
As with many recreational sports, there were virtually no reports of matches in the daily papers, but regular adverts show that rackets was popular among young men in Edinburgh at the time. The Rose Street court even attracted royal patronage, as in 1864 Queen Victoria's second son, Prince Alfred, played a game of rackets there and was hit in the eye by a ball.
It would appear, therefore, that Mr Laing is not a tennis player after all, but a rackets player.
There is, incidentally, another photograph of him, held at Glasgow University Library, which shows him in a different profile with outstretched arm. He is again holding the racket in an unnatural position, too far up the handle, but that can be explained by the requirement to keep still for a long exposure. The metal frame which helped to hold him steady has been painted out, but the telltale shadow is clearly seen. Even so, the smart sporty outfit makes him look quite the young athlete!
So, who was he? It is impossible to be certain, but I am confident he was John Laing, an Edinburgh artist who was not only the same age as Robert Adamson, he was also a near neighbour.
John Laing was born in February 1821 (two months before Adamson) and brought up in the city. Although I have not yet found where he trained as an artist, by 1846 he was in business and advertised his studio at 5 Calton Hill, just a few yards from Adamson's studio at Rock House:
John Laing was born in February 1821 (two months before Adamson) and brought up in the city. Although I have not yet found where he trained as an artist, by 1846 he was in business and advertised his studio at 5 Calton Hill, just a few yards from Adamson's studio at Rock House:
Edinburgh Evening Post, 21 November 1846
As a neighbour and as a member of Edinburgh's artistic community, he was ideally placed to be a subject for Hill and Adamson's pioneering calotype photographs. Indeed, Hill and Adamson took photographs of several Edinburgh artists. Among them was another neighbour, the sculptor John Steell, who was then at 20 Calton Hill but had previously lived in Laing's house at number 5. Other artists included James Drummond, John Maclaren Barclay, William Leighton Leitch, Kenneth MacLeay, John Stevens, James Rannie Swinton and William Borthwick Johnstone.
While these connections alone do not confirm Laing's identity as the man in the photo, there is a further link. After Adamson's early death in 1848, Hill continued the business and at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London's Crystal Palace, he showed off the calotypes of Newhaven he had taken with Adamson. In the very same room, John Laing had an exhibit of his own, as this cutting from the Edinburgh Evening Courant (6 May 1851) shows:
While these connections alone do not confirm Laing's identity as the man in the photo, there is a further link. After Adamson's early death in 1848, Hill continued the business and at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London's Crystal Palace, he showed off the calotypes of Newhaven he had taken with Adamson. In the very same room, John Laing had an exhibit of his own, as this cutting from the Edinburgh Evening Courant (6 May 1851) shows:
Laing and Hill were also listed in the same section of the Great Exhibition's official catalogue.
In the 1850s, Laing's art and design business continued to thrive and he opened two shops, at Leith Street Terrace and in Baxter's Place at the top of Leith Walk, while retaining his studio in Calton Hill. He had married Susanna Bryce in 1845 and they had eight children including Thomas who became town clerk of Leith.
But disaster struck when Laing was diagnosed with diabetes, a disease which then had no known cure or treatment. After suffering for over a year he died at home on 23 September 1858 and is buried in Warriston Cemetery.
As yet there is no conclusive evidence which confirms John Laing as the holder of the racket. But the available clues, including his close connection to the photographers and their studio on Calton Hill, point strongly to the painter as the likely subject.
In the 1850s, Laing's art and design business continued to thrive and he opened two shops, at Leith Street Terrace and in Baxter's Place at the top of Leith Walk, while retaining his studio in Calton Hill. He had married Susanna Bryce in 1845 and they had eight children including Thomas who became town clerk of Leith.
But disaster struck when Laing was diagnosed with diabetes, a disease which then had no known cure or treatment. After suffering for over a year he died at home on 23 September 1858 and is buried in Warriston Cemetery.
As yet there is no conclusive evidence which confirms John Laing as the holder of the racket. But the available clues, including his close connection to the photographers and their studio on Calton Hill, point strongly to the painter as the likely subject.
Postscript, May 2018: I am immensely grateful to the Friends of Warriston Cemetery in Edinburgh, who not only tracked down the grave of John Laing and his family, but cleaned off the moss and took this photograph. He is buried with his wife and three of his children, and his artistic career is recorded beautifully and simply with the artist's palette carved on the headstone.
The exhibition A Perfect Chemistry, Photographs by Hill & Adamson is at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh until 1 October 2017.
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Since Andy Murray's amazing victory at Wimbledon, there has been much comment about him being the first Scots-born men's singles winner since Harold Mahony in 1896. But Mahony's birth in Edinburgh was almost an accident, as his family was Irish and this was essentially a holiday home.
Another Wimbledon champion who could be said to have a stronger Scottish link was the little known Herbert Lawford, who won the singles title in 1887. Born in Bayswater in 1851, there is no doubt he was English, being brought up in London and educated at Repton, but he began a lifelong attachment to Scotland when he concluded his schooling at Edinburgh Academy in 1868. He then developed his sporting skills while studying at Edinburgh University between 1868 and 1870, in the university cricket team (he also played cricket for Edinburgh Academicals), and practising his court skills at the Rose Street Racket Court. This was several years before lawn tennis was even invented, but he took up the 'new' game with considerable success after returning to London for a career on the Stock Exchange. He first entered Wimbledon in 1878 and is noted as the first player to introduce topspin, beating Ernest Renshaw in five sets in the 1887 final as well as reaching five other singles finals from 1880 to 1888. He was clearly one of the top players of his day.
Among other achievements as a sporting all-rounder, he turned out at least once for the famous Wanderers football club.
What makes his connection to Scotland much stronger is that he retained a close affinity to the country. He visited regularly and was a shooting tenant of Lauriston Castle near Montrose from the mid 1890s, eventually retiring in 1909 to Aberdeenshire. He bought a house called Drumnagesk at Dess, near Aboyne, where he spent the rest of his life, adding to his sporting interests by joining Aboyne Curling Club. He died there in 1925, aged 73.
Another Wimbledon champion who could be said to have a stronger Scottish link was the little known Herbert Lawford, who won the singles title in 1887. Born in Bayswater in 1851, there is no doubt he was English, being brought up in London and educated at Repton, but he began a lifelong attachment to Scotland when he concluded his schooling at Edinburgh Academy in 1868. He then developed his sporting skills while studying at Edinburgh University between 1868 and 1870, in the university cricket team (he also played cricket for Edinburgh Academicals), and practising his court skills at the Rose Street Racket Court. This was several years before lawn tennis was even invented, but he took up the 'new' game with considerable success after returning to London for a career on the Stock Exchange. He first entered Wimbledon in 1878 and is noted as the first player to introduce topspin, beating Ernest Renshaw in five sets in the 1887 final as well as reaching five other singles finals from 1880 to 1888. He was clearly one of the top players of his day.
Among other achievements as a sporting all-rounder, he turned out at least once for the famous Wanderers football club.
What makes his connection to Scotland much stronger is that he retained a close affinity to the country. He visited regularly and was a shooting tenant of Lauriston Castle near Montrose from the mid 1890s, eventually retiring in 1909 to Aberdeenshire. He bought a house called Drumnagesk at Dess, near Aboyne, where he spent the rest of his life, adding to his sporting interests by joining Aboyne Curling Club. He died there in 1925, aged 73.
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With tennis about to feature in the Olympic Games, I was pleased to learn that my home town of Bridge of Allan used to be the focal point for Scottish tennis and had an Olympic connection of its own.
In 1908, Stanley House School invited the Scottish Lawn Tennis Association to hold the national championships on its superb facilities which included eight courts. The offer was welcomed by the SLTA as previously its championships had been played in Moffat, which was considered too remote by many of the top players and had also been bedevilled by bad weather.
For five glorious years, the best players from Scotland and beyond converged on Bridge of Allan for a week each summer, including a number of international stars. In July 1908, for instance, the men’s singles and doubles titles were both won by the Canadian Robert Powell, who had been a Wimbledon semi-finalist and competed in the London Olympics the previous month. He is in this picture from 1909, sitting in the middle of the front row.
It was too good to last. The tournament of 1912 was marred by atrocious weather which peaked on the last day, when two of the finals had to be scratched. The following year the Scottish championships moved to Edinburgh, and with the demise of Stanley House after the First World War they have never returned.
In 1908, Stanley House School invited the Scottish Lawn Tennis Association to hold the national championships on its superb facilities which included eight courts. The offer was welcomed by the SLTA as previously its championships had been played in Moffat, which was considered too remote by many of the top players and had also been bedevilled by bad weather.
For five glorious years, the best players from Scotland and beyond converged on Bridge of Allan for a week each summer, including a number of international stars. In July 1908, for instance, the men’s singles and doubles titles were both won by the Canadian Robert Powell, who had been a Wimbledon semi-finalist and competed in the London Olympics the previous month. He is in this picture from 1909, sitting in the middle of the front row.
It was too good to last. The tournament of 1912 was marred by atrocious weather which peaked on the last day, when two of the finals had to be scratched. The following year the Scottish championships moved to Edinburgh, and with the demise of Stanley House after the First World War they have never returned.
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Author
All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell.