Prince's Skating Club was an

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

in the Knightsbridge area of

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 ...

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 ...

. It saw a number of firsts for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

in Britain and Europe. The rink was opened on

Montpelier Square Montpelier Square is a residential garden square in Knightsbridge, London, administratively in the City of Westminster. The homes were built in the 19th century and are of brick construction partly covered by stucco. All of the buildings facing i ...

on 7 November 1896 by the Prince's Sporting Club. It operated on a membership-only basis and was aimed at the elite of British

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

s who wished to practise on uncrowded ice. .n.(June 2004)
The Establishment of Artificial Ice-rinks
''News off the Edge'', news bulletin of the Ice Skating Association of Queensland. 39. Archived 17 June 2005. Prince's was the second large rectangular rink in Britain after

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

, its ice measuring . This made it an ideal venue for the developing sport of ice hockey. The rink closed in summer 1917. The building was later used by Daimler Hire, and ultimately demolished in the mid-1970s.

Ice hockey

The Princes Ice Hockey Club was founded at the rink at the end of 1896. It began playing challenge matches in early 1897, initially against the three existing teams in England:

Niagara Niagara may refer to: Geography Niagara Falls and nearby places In both the United States and Canada *Niagara Falls, the famous waterfalls in the Niagara River *Niagara River, part of the U.S.–Canada border *Niagara Escarpment, the cliff ov ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. In March 1900, the rink hosted the first

Ice Hockey Varsity Match The Ice Hockey Varsity Match is a longstanding competition between the Cambridge and Oxford University Ice Hockey Clubs. Tradition places the origin of the match in 1885, when a game is said to have been played in St Moritz. This date is recogni ...

, won 7–6 by Oxford, although

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

insisted on playing with

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

sticks and a

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

ball. The next year, another Varsity Match was held, this time using a puck and hockey skates. In 1902, London Canadians was founded as a second ice hockey team at the rink. They and Princes participated in Europe's first ice hockey league, which they contested against

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

and the

Amateur Skating Club An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History Hist ...

, both based at

Hengler's Ice Rink The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in the famous area of Soho. The theatre holds 2,286 seats. Of the roster of stars who have played there, many have televised performances. Between 1955 an ...

, and

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. The league started in November 1903 and was completed in February 1904 after eight games. Canadians won the tournament, with Princes taking second place. The league was not repeated, as Hengler's closed. Instead, Princes began undertaking annual European tours (as did London Canadians' successors,

Oxford Canadians The Oxford Canadians were an English amateur ice hockey team, originally formed from Rhodes Scholars who were attending Oxford University. They were the first ice hockey team representing Canada to wear a red maple leaf on their uniform. They enjo ...

), while teams such as Sporting Club Lyon,

Brussels Club des Patineurs Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and C. P. P. Paris came to play the London-based teams. The 1908 match with Paris was the first under

Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

(international) rules in Britain; it was also notable as Thomas Sopwith played in goal. In March 1910, the first

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

ice hockey match was held at the rink, but the sport was suspended at the start of

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 ...

. Despite this, the

British Ice Hockey Association Ice Hockey UK (IHUK) is the national governing body of ice hockey in the United Kingdom. Affiliated to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), IHUK is the internationally recognised umbrella body in the United Kingdom. IHUK was created ...

was founded at the rink in 1914.

Figure skating

In October 1908, the figure skating events of the Olympics were held at the rink – the first ice sport ever included in the Olympics and the only occasion Olympic ice events have been held in Britain.Theodore Andrea Cook (1909)
The Fourth Olympiad, being the Official Report: The Olympic Games of 1908
The British Olympic Association. p. 39, p. 284. Accessed September 2013.

Exhibitions

The rink was also used for art exhibitions. The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers held its annual exhibition there in 1898 and 1899.The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers: Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951
Glasgow University, . Accessed September 2013. The Women's Exhibition hosted by the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...

and funded by

Clara Mordan Clara Evelyn Mordan (28 September 1844 – 22 January 1915) was a British suffragist and benefactor to the Women's Social and Political Union and St Hugh's College, Oxford. Tuberculosis obliged her to fight for women's rights by proxy. She hoped ...

was held at the Prince's Ice Rink in May 1909. heila Stowell, ''A Stage of their own: Feminist playwrights of the suffrage era'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992), p. 53/ref> Its organisers included Amy Katherine Browning and Sylvia Pankhurst.Joanna Dunham, 'Browning , Amy Katherine (1881–1978)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 19 November 2017
/ref>

Ice hockey

Figure skating

Exhibitions

References

Further reading