Richard Taswell Richardson (1852–1930) was a British

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 in the early years of Wimbledon.

Tennis career

Richardson's tennis career was brief but successful. He won the important

Northern Championships Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

three times in 1880, 1881 and 1882 (beating

Ernest Renshaw Ernest James Renshaw (3 January 1861 – 2 September 1899) was a British tennis player who was active in the late 19th century. Together with his twin brother William Renshaw, Ernest won the men's doubles at Wimbledon five times. He also won th ...

in 1882). At the Wimbledon Championships in 1880, Richardson lost to

Herbert Lawford Herbert Fortescue Lawford (15 May 1851 – 20 April 1925) was a former world No. 1 tennis player from Scotland who won the Men's Singles championship at Wimbledon in 1887, and was runner-up a record 5 times (shared with Arthur Gore). Career ...

in five sets in round three. In May 1881 he was defeated by Herbert Lawford again in the final of the Irish Lawn Tennis Championships in Dublin (at the time considered as prestigious a title to win as Wimbledon). In June 1881 he was a finalist at the Waterloo LTC Tournament in Liverpool, on 18 June he also won the inaugural

Liverpool Cricket Club Lawn Tennis Tournament The Liverpool Cricket Club Lawn Tennis Tournament. was an early Victorian era men's grass court tennis tournament first staged in June 1881 at the Liverpool Cricket Club, Aigburth Cricket Ground, Liverpool, Lancashire, England. The inaugural men' ...

against Reginald Herbert Jones. In July 1881 at the Wimbledon Championship's he beat

in the final play off before losing to

William Renshaw William Charles Renshaw (3 January 1861 – 12 August 1904) was a British tennis player active during the late 19th century, who was ranked world No. 1. He won twelve Major titles during his career. A right-hander, he was known for his pow ...

in the All comer's final at Wimbledon. At Wimbledon Championship's in 1882 Richardson beat

Otway Woodhouse Otway Woodhouse (1855–1887) was a British tennis player in the early years of Wimbledon. Woodhouse worked for the Great Eastern Railway and later the London & South Western Railway. In 1881 Woodhouse and F. L. Rawson founded Woodhouse & Raws ...

before losing to

in the All comer's final. At Wimbledon 1883 he lost his first match to Charles Grinstead and didn't play the tournament again. Richardson was also a fine cricketer. He played 5 matches for the MCC from 1876-1877. He played his last career tournament at Waterloo in Liverpool in June 1884 losing to Donald Stewart in four sets in the semi-finals.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 runners-up)

Singles titles and finals

''Note: (L) denotes Liverpool as location (M) Manchester tournament alternated till 1929''

Cricket

Richardson also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

in 1876 and 1877, making five appearances. He scored 160 runs in these five matches,

averaging In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

22.85 and with a high score of 48.

Personal

He was the son of Richard Richardson of

Broughton, Hampshire Broughton is a village and civil parish in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England, about north of Romsey. The Manor of Broughton is recorded in the Domesday Book and was held at different times by the Earl of Southampton, and the Duk ...

. He graduated B.A. at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

in 1876; and 1879 he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

. He was a Justice of the Peace.

References

Sources

* Nauright, John; Parrish, Charles (2012). Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Richard Taswell 1852 births 1930 deaths People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of University College, Oxford English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers 19th-century male tennis players People from Hampshire (before 1974) English male tennis players British male tennis players Tennis people from Hampshire