The Derbyshire Championships originally known as the Championship of Derbyshire was a men's and women's
grass court tennis tournament held at the Buxton Lawn Tennis Club,
Buxton, Derbyshire, Great Britain from 1883 to 1953
History
A tennis tournament was originally held at Buxton Garden's as early as 1880.
By 1883 the club had attracted more players and a men's championships was staged for the first time which was won by
Minden Fenwick,
he went on to win the
New Zealand Championships
The New Zealand Championships was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament founded in 1885 in Napier, New Zealand also known as the New Zealand National Lawn Tennis Championships or the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association Championships. The ...
three times from (1892-1894). In 1884 the owners of the Buxton Gardens, the Buxton Improvements Company, decided to stage a fully open event featuring men's and women's singles, with ladies' and gentlemen's singles played under the title 'Championship of Derbyshire', and a ladies' doubles played with the imposing title of 'The All-England Ladies Doubles'.
The inugural ladies' singles champion was Agnes Noon Watts.
This latter championship was the first of its kind, being inaugurated before Wimbledon.
In July 1914 the Derby and District Lawn Tennis Association was officially incorporated, this organisation later became known as the Derbyshire Lawn Tennis Association who were responsible for the staging of this event.
[Derbyshire Lawn Tennis Association] The championships were not staged during
World War I or
World War II.
It remained a featured tournament in the annual tennis tours. The tournament is still held today as a closed tennis event.
Notable winners of the men's singles included
Grainger Chaytor (1892–1894, 1899),
Wilberforce Eaves (1904),
Laurie Doherty
Hugh Laurence "Laurie" Doherty (8 October 1875 – 21 August 1919) was a British tennis player and the younger brother of tennis player Reginald Doherty. He was a six-time Grand Slam champion and a double Olympic Gold medalist at the 1900 Su ...
(1909),
Adrian Quist (1936) and
Franjo Kukuljević (1949). Previous women's singles champions included
Louisa Martin
Mary Louisa "Mollie" Martin (3 September 1865 – 24 October 1941) was a tennis player from Ireland. She was considered the leading Irish female player of her time.
Martin started playing tennis in 1885 and early on was successful at the tourna ...
(1886),
Blanche Bingley Hillyard
Blanche Bingley Hillyard (née Bingley; 3 November 1863 – 6 August 1946) was an English tennis player. She won six singles Wimbledon championships (1886, 1889, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1900) and was runner up seven times, having also competed in the ...
(1906),
Elizabeth Ryan (1921) and
Gem Hoahing (1948). The Derbyshire Championships ran until 1953 when it was abolished.
The final men's singles champion was
Nigel Cockburn
Nigel M. Cockburn was a South African tennis player of Scottish descent.
A native of Natal, Cockburn was active on tour in the 1940s and 1950s. While touring the British Isles in 1949 he made the fourth round at Wimbledon and won both the Irish Ch ...
from South Africa and the final women's singles title went to Britain's Mary Harris.
Finals
Men's singles
:Incomplete Roll:
[Nieuwland, Alex (2011–2022). Sourc]
https://www.tennisarchives.com/tournament/Buxton-Derbyshire Championhips.
earch tournament by name. Tennis Archives. Netherlands.
Women's singles
: Incomplete Roll:
Statistics
Mens singles
Women's singles
References
Sources
* "Derbyshire Lawn Tennis Association". Derbyshire Tennis Association. LTA.
*The History of Tennis in Buxton, Buxton Tennis Club. Buxton. Englan
* Lake, Robert (2015). A social history of tennis in Britain. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 9781134445578.
* "Tennis New Zealand 2012: Chapter: National Championships" (PDF). Tennis Kiwi. Tennis New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2022. Chapter: National Championships
{{Men's tennis seasons, state=collapsed
Grass court tennis tournaments
Defunct tennis tournaments in the United Kingdom
Tennis tournaments in England