Thelma Kingsbury (1911–1979), (later, in succession: Thelma Scovil, Thelma Welcome, Thelma Lougheed) was an English-born,

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

American sportswoman who won major

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

titles in the

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and then in the US from the early 1930s to the early 1950s.

Badminton career

Equally adept in singles and doubles she won two women's singles titles and four women's doubles titles at the prestigious

All-England 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 ...

between 1933 and 1937. In the 1935–1936 season, she achieved a British "Grand Slam" by winning the open singles titles of

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 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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 ...

, and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. After emigrating from Britain to the US, she won the U.S. women's singles title in 1941 and shared the U.S. women's doubles title with Janet Wright in 1941, 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1950.Scheele, 312, 313. Though reaching 40 in the early 1950s, she continued to play highly competitive singles matches against such formidable opponents as

Ethel Marshall Ethel Marshall (May 6, 1924 - June 12, 2013) was an American badminton player noted for her mobility and shot-making prowess. Career An all-around athlete who also excelled in softball and tennis, Marshall won the US Women's Singles title on al ...

Margaret Varner Margaret Varner Bloss (born October 4, 1927) is a retired American athlete and professor of physical education from El Paso, Texas who excelled in three distinctly different racket sports: badminton, squash, and tennis. She is the only person to ...

, and a teenage Judy Devlin (Hashman). Thelma Kingsbury was among the initial class of players elected to the U.S. Badminton Hall of Fame in 1956.

Personal life

Her sister Leoni Kingsbury was also a leading badminton player.

References

English female badminton players American female badminton players 1911 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American women British emigrants to the United States {{US-badminton-bio-stub