The Derbyshire Championships originally known as the Championship of Derbyshire was a men's and women's
grass court
A grass court is one of the four different types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament.
Although grass c ...
tennis tournament held at the Buxton Lawn Tennis Club,
Buxton, Derbyshire
Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level. 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
Minden Fenwick (18 December 1864 – 8 February 1938) was an English then later New Zealand tennis player active during the late 19th century and early 20th century. His best results in major tournaments came at the 1881 Wimbledon Championships ...
, he went on to win the New Zealand Championships 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
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 ...
or
World War II
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 ...
. 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
David Grainger Chaytor KC. (11 May 1868 – 13 July 1913) was an Irish tennis player and later lawyer. In major tournaments of the time he was a singles quarter finalist at the 1890 Wimbledon Championships, a three time quarter finalist at th ...
(1892–1894, 1899),
Wilberforce Eaves
Wilberforce Vaughan Eaves MBE (10 December 1867 – 10 February 1920) was an Australian-born tennis player from the United Kingdom. At the 1908 London Olympics he won a bronze medal in the Men's Singles tournament.
Biography
Eaves was born i ...
Adrian Quist
Adrian Karl Quist (23 January 191317 November 1991) was an Australian tennis player.
Biography
Adrian Quist was born in Medindie, South Australia. His father was Karl Quist, who had been a noted interstate cricketer, and owned a sporting goods ...
(1936) and
Franjo Kukuljević
Franjo Kukuljević (; 7 October 1909 – 8 November 2002) was a Yugoslav tennis player. He played for the Yugoslavian team at the International Lawn Tennis Challenge from 1930 to 1939. He was a 13-time national champion – one in singles ...
Elizabeth Ryan
Elizabeth Montague Ryan (February 5, 1892 – July 6, 1979) was an American tennis player who was born in Anaheim, California, but lived most of her adult life in the United Kingdom. Ryan won 26 Grand Slam titles, 19 in women's doubles and mi ...
(1921) and
Gem Hoahing
Gem Cynthia Hoahing (20 October 1920 – 15 October 2015) was an English female tennis player of Chinese heritage who was active from the second half of the 1930s until the early 1960s.
Early life
Hoahing was born in British Hong Kong on 20 Oct ...
(1948). The Derbyshire Championships ran until 1953 when it was abolished. The final men's singles champion was Nigel Cockburn from South Africa and the final women's singles title went to Britain's Mary Harris.
* "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 tournamentsDefunct tennis tournaments in the United KingdomTennis tournaments in England