The Middlesex Championships. or Middlesex Lawn Tennis Championships and also known as the Middlesex Open Tennis Championships 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 founded at the Chiswick Park Lawn Tennis Club, Chiswick Park, Chiswick,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, Great Britain in 1884 and known as the Chiswick Park Club Open Lawn Tennis Tournament during the early editions of the event. The tournament was staged annually until 1949.

History

Chiswick House and Gardens from the air - geograph

In 1883

William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, (27 April 1808 – 21 December 1891), styled as Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1831 and 1834 and known as Earl of Burlington between 1834 and 1858, was a British landowner, benefactor, nobleman, ...

decided to lease some of his land, with a low annual ground rent for the residents Chiswick who wanted to establish a sports club. This new sports ground staged bowls,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

, football, and

lawn 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 cove ...

. In Chiswick Park Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club was formed and established a Middlesex County Championship tennis tournament. The championships were usually held annually at the end of July through to the third week August. In 1887 "Challenge Cups" were presented to the winners of the men's and women's singles events. In 1893 the scheduling of the tournament was altered to start at the end of May through to early June. The Chiswick Park Lawn Tennis Club continued to stage the annual Championship of Middlesex, making the venue second only to Wimbledon in importance. In 1925 the land lease arrangement came to end due it expiring, however by this point the former tennis and cricket clubs had by this point formed into a business entity the Chiswick Cricket and Lawn Tennis Company. The tournament was not held during World War One and was postponed again in 1939 following the outbreak of World War Two. In 1946 the tournaments grounds were issued with a compulsory purchase by Brentford and Chiswick Urban District Council. After this tournament staged only three more times for the men's events, the women's events ended in 1946. The Middlesex Championships ran for 59 years, and was quite successful in attracting attract top players to four championships until 1949 when it was abolished. Notable winners of the men's singles included Charles Walder Grinstead (1884), Ernest Wool Lewis (1886–1890, 1892),

Athar-Ali Fyzee Athar-Ali Fyzee (28 August 1883 – 3 November 1963) was an Indian international tennis and table tennis player. He competed in the men's singles tennis tournament at the 1924 Summer Olympics. In a tennis career lasting 18 seasons from 190 ...

, (1921), Henry Mayes (1926)

Daniel Prenn Daniel Prenn (7 September 1904 – 3 September 1991) was a Russian Empire-born German, Polish, and British tennis player who was Jewish. He was ranked the world No. 6 for 1932 by A. Wallis Myers, and the European No. 1 by "American Lawn Tennis" ...

(1935), Czeslaw Spychala (1946) and Ghaus Mohammad (1947). Previous women's singles champions included

Maud Shackle Maud Shackle (4 August 1870–16 February 1962) was an English tennis player active during the last decade and a half of the 19th century. In 1889 Shackle won the singles title of the Kent Championships in Beckenham, defeating May Jacks in th ...

(1891–1893), Edith Austin Greville (1894, 1905),

Molla Bjurstedt Mallory Anna Margrethe "Molla" Bjurstedt Mallory (née Bjurstedt; 6 March 1884 – 22 November 1959) was a Norwegian tennis player, naturalized American. She won a record eight singles titles at the U.S. National Championships. She was the first woman ...

(1926) and

Jadwiga Jędrzejowska Jadwiga "Jed" Jędrzejowska (; 15 October 1912 – 28 February 1980) was a Polish tennis player who had her main achievements during the second half of the 1930s. Because her name was difficult to pronounce for many people who did not speak Polis ...

(1938).

Finals

Men's singles

(incomplete roll)

Women's singles

(incomplete roll)

Tournament records

Men

Source: * Most singles titles:

Harold Mahony Harold Segerson Mahony (13 February 1867 – 27 June 1905) was a Scottish-born Irish tennis player who is best known for winning the singles title at the Wimbledon Championships in 1896. His career lasted from 1888 until his death in 1905. Maho ...

(6) * Most singles finals:

(10) * Most consecutive singles titles: Ernest Wool Lewis (4)

Women

* Most singles titles: Dorothea Chambers (9) * Most singles finals: Edith Austin Greville (11) * Most consecutive singles titles: Charlotte Cooper (4)

References

Sources

* Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes. London: Vinton and Co Limited. 1896. * Clegg, Gill. "Entertainment :Chiswick Park Lawn Tennis Club". brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk. Brentford and Chiswick Local History Society. Retrieved 4 October 2022. * Heathcote, J. M. Heathacote: C. G. (1890). Tennis; Lawn Tennis. London: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & co. ltd. * Tennis Championships. Kalgoorlie Miner. Trove: National Library of Australia. 31 May 1922. Retrieved 4 October 2022. {{Men's tennis seasons Grass court tennis tournaments Defunct tennis tournaments in the United Kingdom Tennis tournaments in England