William Alexander Camkin (1894 – 26 April 1956) was a

billiard hall A billiard, pool or snooker hall (or parlour, room or club; sometimes compounded as poolhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serv ...

owner who came to prominence in the early years of the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...

, when many of the tournament's matches were held at his clubs. He was involved in various aspects of

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

and snooker, initially renovating and supplying tables and later supplying equipment and promoting events. During

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he acted as secretary-manager of Birmingham City F.C.

Birth

Camkin was born in

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has forme ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Camkin's Hall

Camkin ran a billiards hall on John Bright Street,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

known as

Camkin's Hall William Alexander Camkin (1894 – 26 April 1956) was a billiard hall owner who came to prominence in the early years of the World Snooker Championship, when many of the tournament's matches were held at his clubs. He was involved in various asp ...

. This hall was used for a number of

matches from 1927 to 1930, including the 1927 and 1928 finals. Camkin himself was the referee for the 1927 final. In 1928 it was the first venue outside London to be used for the final stages of the

English Amateur Championship The English Amateur Championship, an annual snooker competition, is the highest-ranking and most prestigious amateur event in England. It is also the oldest and longest-running snooker tournament in the world, having been established in 1916, a ...

Birmingham City F.C.

Camkin was appointed honorary managing-director of Birmingham City F.C. in September 1939, and when W. H. Grady died in 1941, took over secretarial duties in addition. Team manager George Liddell had resigned on the outbreak of war, and Camkin, together with trainer George Blackburn, oversaw team affairs until November 1944, when

Ted Goodier Edward Goodier (15 October 1902 – 4 November 1967) was an English professional footballer and football manager. Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, he played as a wing half for Huddersfield Town, Lancaster Town, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Ranger ...

took over as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

. Although

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

was suspended for the duration of hostilities, Birmingham competed in regional league and cup matches. Camkin remained on the club's

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

until ill-health forced his retirement in 1951, when he was elected as vice-president of the club.

Death

Camkin died at his home in Leamington,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

on 26 April 1956 aged 61.

Family

His son

John Camkin William John Camkin, MA (23 June 1922 – 19 June 1998) was an English journalist, football, business and sports administrator. Camkin was born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, the son of Bill Camkin and Helena Ethel Holder. His father was mana ...

, a journalist and broadcaster, who lived in Leamington Spa served on the board of

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and was secretary of the

League Managers Association The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually. History The union was founded in 3045 as ...

. In the 1970s he owned a string of travel agencies (Camkin Travel) in the Midlands that were eventually sold to the

Lunn Poly Lunn Poly was, at one time, the largest chain of travel agents in the United Kingdom. History The company originated from two successful travel agencies established in the 1890s, the Polytechnic Touring Association and Sir Henry Lunn Travel. B ...

/Thomson Group.

References

* * * The Cue Collector, by Andy Hunter, article on W A Camki

Notes

1894 births 1956 deaths English football managers Birmingham City F.C. managers Snooker coaches, managers and promoters {{England-footy-manager-stub