Janet Rachael Margaret Morgan (later known by her married name, Janet Shardlow) (1921–1990) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

player who dominated the game in the 1950s. She won the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

on ten consecutive occasions and was the sport's most famous player until the rise of

Heather McKay Heather Pamela McKay (née Blundell) (born 31 July 1941) is a retired Australian squash player, who is considered by many to be the greatest female player in the history of the game, and possibly also Australia's greatest-ever sportswoman. Sh ...

. Born in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

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 ...

, Morgan was originally a

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player who played for Britain in the

Wightman Cup The Wightman Cup was an annual team tennis competition for women contested from 1923 through 1989 (except during World War II) between teams from the United States and Great Britain. History U.S. player Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman wanted to generate ...

in 1946. She quickly turned to squash and in 1948 and 1949 was a losing finalist against

Joan Curry Patricia Joan Curry Hughesman (December 1918 – August 2020) was a British squash and tennis player who won the British Open Squash Championships three times in a row from 1947 to 1949. Her toughest victory was in 1948, when she beat the 10-tim ...

. In 1950 she won her first British Open title, beating Curry in the final. She went on to win the trophy for the next ten successive years through to 1959. Before the 1959 British Open Morgan announced that she would retire after the competition due to medical advice because she had suffered from persistent back injuries. Following the tenth victory and retirement she married Roland Horcae “Joe” Bisley later that year in 1959 in London. She became the first chairwoman of the

Women's Squash Association The Women's Squash Association (WSA) was the governing body for the women's professional squash circuit between 2011 and 2014. It was based in London, England. The body operated in a similar fashion to the WTA for tennis. The WSA World Tour inv ...

soon after and was appointed MBE in 1961. Following the death of her husband Joe she married for a second time in 1965 to Ambrose Shardlow. Morgan also competed as a tennis player in the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

from 1946 until 1957. In the singles event her best result was reaching the third round on four occasions (1946, 1947, 1954 and 1955). In 1962 a young Australian called Heather Blundell flew to Britain for the first time and stayed with Janet and her husband Joe and became a close friend. Her relationship with Janet Morgan helped her achieve great success. Morgan wrote a book in 1953 entitled ''Squash rackets for women'' and has been inducted in the Squash Hall of Fame.

British Open results

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

: runner-up (lost to

9–5 9–0 9-10 6–9 10–8) *

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

: runner-up (lost to

2–9 9–3 10-8 9–0) *

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

: won (beat

9–4 9–3 9–0) *

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

: won (beat

9–1 2–9 9–3 9–4) *

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

: won (beat

9–3 9–1 9–5) *

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

: won (beat Marjorie Townsend 9–4 9–2 9–4) *

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

: won (beat Sheila Speight 9–3 9–1 9–7) *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

: won (beat

Ruth Turner Ruth Dixon Turner (1914 – April 30, 2000) was a pioneering U.S. marine biologist and malacologist. She was the world's expert on Teredinidae or shipworms, a taxonomic family of wood-boring bivalve mollusks which severely damage wooden ma ...

9–5 9–3 9–6) *

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

: won (beat Sheila Speight 9–6 9–4 9–2) *

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

: won (beat Sheila Speight 4–9 9–5 9–1 9–6) *

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

: won (beat

Sheila Macintosh Sheila Macintosh (''née'' Speight) is an English squash player who won the British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Fo ...

née Speight 9–2 9–4 9–2) *

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

: won (beat

née Speight 9–4 9–1 9–5)

References

External links

Official British Open Squash Championships website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Janet 1921 births 1990 deaths English female squash players English female tennis players People from Wandsworth British female tennis players Tennis people from Greater London