William Cecil Marshall (29 April 1849 – 24 January 1921) was an architect and amateur

tennis player 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 ...

, known for finishing runner-up in the very first

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

tournament to Spencer Gore in

1877 Events January–March * January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed ''Empress of India'' by the ''Royal Titles Act 1876'', introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . * January 8 – Great Sio ...

. He was an original member of the

Art Workers' Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...

. W.C. Marshall was a defensive player who was no match for the aggressive Gore in the final, the Wimbledon local winning 6–1, 6–2, 6–4 in 48 minutes. There was a formally dressed crowd of about 200 who paid a shilling each to stand and watch; there were no bleachers. A field of 22 competitors assembled to play and had to finish by Thursday because an important cricket match was scheduled for Friday. He also reached the third round in the 1879 tournament where he was defeated by eventual champion John Hartley. He married Margaret Anna Lloyd and had six children. His daughter,

Frances Partridge Frances Catherine Partridge CBE (née Marshall; 15 March 1900 – 5 February 2004) was an English writer. Closely connected to the Bloomsbury Group, she is probably best known for the publication of her diaries. She married Ralph Partridge (189 ...

, well-known for her connections with the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...

, was a

diarist A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

.Anne Chisholm, 'Partridge ée Marshall Frances Catherine (1900–2004), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 200

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

References

1849 births 1921 deaths 19th-century English people 19th-century male tennis players English male tennis players British male tennis players Tennis people from Greater London {{England-tennis-bio-stub