Charlotte Cecilia Pitcairn Leitch (13 April 1891 – 16 September 1977) was a British amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er. She was born in

Silloth Silloth (sometimes known as Silloth-on-Solway) is a port town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Cumberland, the town is an example of a Victorian seaside resort in the North of Engl ...

, Cumberland,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the daughter of a local

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and one of three sisters who excelled at the game of golf. Leitch won 12 national titles as well as five French Ladies Amateurs and one

Canadian Women's Amateur The Canadian Women's Amateur is Canada's annual national amateur golf tournament for women. It is open to women from all countries and is played at a different course each year. History The first championship was held from October 14 to 17, 1901 at ...

Early life

Leitch was born on 13 April 1891, at Monimail, Silloth, Cumberland, England, the sixth of the seven children of Dr. John Leitch (1849–1896), a doctor and botanist and Catherine Edith Redford (1858–1937). She was educated at home and at Carlisle Girls' High School. She became proficient at golf at an early age, and played the Silloth course with her sisters who were also avid golfers.

Golf career

In 1914 she won the first of her four

British Ladies Amateur The Women's Amateur Championship, previously known as the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union. It is organised by The R&A, which merged with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017. Until the dawn of th ...

s, taking the title from

Muriel Dodd Muriel Dodd (31 May 1891 – 21 December 1976) was an English amateur golfer. She held the British and Canadian titles in 1913. Dodd was the winner of the 1913 British Ladies Amateur held at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, taking the tit ...

. Her opportunity to possibly win several more was interrupted for five years during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. When the Championship was restarted after the war, she won her second straight title then the following year made it three in a row. Leitch was able to reach the Championship finals on six occasions, and in 1926 won her fourth British title, a record she shares with

Joyce Wethered Joyce Wethered, Lady Heathcoat-Amory (17 November 1901 – 18 November 1997) was a golfer regarded as the leading British woman player of the inter-war period. Joyce learned the game as a child, as did her brother Roger, who lost a playoff for the ...

. She received golf lessons from Thomas Renouf, the head professional at Silloth.

Later life

Leitch retired having won 12 national titles plus she captured five

French Ladies Amateur The French International Ladies Amateur Championship, known since 1998 also as the Cécile de Rothschild Trophy, is an annual amateur golf tournament in France for women. This stroke play championship, contested over 54 holes, was first held in 19 ...

s and one

. She wrote two books on golf, the first titled ''Golf'' was published in 1922 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

by J. B. Lippincott & Co. and the second titled ''Golf Simplified'' was published in London by Thornton Butterworth in 1924.

Death

She died on 16 September 1977 at her home in

References

External links

Silloth on Solway Golf Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leitch, Cecil English female golfers Winners of ladies' major amateur golf championships English non-fiction writers Sportspeople from Cumbria People from Silloth 1891 births 1977 deaths