Thelma Carpenter (4 December 1911 – 1998) 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 ...

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions of ...

and

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player. She won the

Women's Professional Billiards Championship The Women's Professional Billiards Championship was an English billiards tournament held from 1930 to 1950. The tournament was first organised by Burroughes Hall, Burroughes and Watts in 1930 and 1931, before the WBA ran the event until its con ...

three times, and the Women's Professional Snooker Championship once.

Biography

Carpenter's father, Brodie Carpenter, owned the Solent Cliffs Hotel in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, which had two billiard rooms. Thelma Carpenter was educated at home, and never attended school. She met prominent snooker and billiards players including

Joe Davis Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game i ...

and

Clark McConachy Clark McConachy (15 April 1895 – 12 April 1980), often known simply as Mac, was a New Zealand professional player of English billiards and snooker. Life and career McConachy was born at Glenorchy in Otago in 1895. He was the New Zealand ...

when they played exhibition matches at her father's hotel. The hotel was demolished in the 1970s and is now the site of the Bournemouth International Centre, which has hosted professional

tournaments. McConachy, who was later the World Professional Billiards Champion from 1951 until 1968, and Claude Falkiner (twice runner-up in the World Billiards Championship) both provided coaching to Carpenter, as did Welsh champion player

Tom Carpenter Tom Carpenter (born 31 August 1887, date of death unknown) was an English player of English billiards and snooker. Biography Carpenter was born in August 1887, to English parents, at Newport, Wales, and later lived in Cardiff. He started playi ...

(no relation). She won the World Ladies Amateur Billiards Championship three years consecutively, from 1932 to 1934. In 1934, Carpenter resigned from the

Women's Billiards Association The Women's Billiards Association (WBA), founded in 1931 and based in London, United Kingdom, was the governing body for women's English billiards and snooker, and organised the Women's Professional Billiards Championship and Women's Profes ...

(WBA) in protest at them not allowing her to play in tournaments with men that the WBA had no jurisdiction over. From 1936 to 1939 she was runner up to

Ruth Harrison Ruth Harrison (; 24 June 1920 – 13 June 2000) was an English animal welfare activist and writer. Biography Harrison was born in London, the daughter of the author Stephen Winsten and the artist Clara Birnberg. She was educated at Bedfor ...

three times in four years in the Women's Professional Snooker Championship, and once to

Joyce Gardner Joyce Gardner (1910–1981) was an English professional English billiards player. She was the Women's Professional Billiards Champion from 1931 to 1933, and from 1935 to 1938. Early life Joyce Winifred Frances Gardner was born on 24 August 191 ...

in the

. In 1940 she won her first professional world title by beating

2184–1641 in the

Billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions of ...

final, and, the next time the event was held, in 1949, beat Gardner 3120–2518 to retain the title. 1949 also saw Carpenter lose for the fourth time in the

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

final, this time 15–16 to Agnes Morris. The 1950

final featured the same finalists as in 1949, and had the same victor, with Carpenter beating Gardner 1978–1374 to win for a third time. A few days later, Carpenter won the Snooker Championship too, this time beating Agnes Morris 20–10. Following the cessation of the women's professional snooker and billiards championships after 1950, Carpenter retired from competitive play, as the reigning champion in both events, and later moved to

Mudeford Mudeford ( ) is a harbourside and beachside parish based on a former fishing village in the east of Christchurch, Dorset, England (historically in Hampshire), fronting water on two sides: Christchurch Harbour and the sands of Avon Beach. The Riv ...

. She was first woman to commentate on billiards for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Biography

Titles and achievements

Notes

References

External links