The World Women's Billiards Championship is an

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the United Kingdom and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team us ...

tournament, first held in 1931 when organised by the cue sports company

Burroughes and Watts Burroughes Hall was an important billiards and snooker venue in Soho Square, London from 1903 until it closed in 1967. The hall was in the premises of Burroughes & Watts Ltd., who had been at 19 Soho Square since 1836. Burroughes & Watts opened a n ...

then run from 1932 by 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 Professi ...

(WBA). It is currently run under the auspices of World Billiards Ltd (WBL), a subsidiary company of the

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

. It should not be confused with 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 and Watts in 1930 and 1931, before the WBA ran the event until its conclusion in 1950. ...

, which was also run by the WBA, or with the

International Billiards and Snooker Federation The International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) is an organisation that governs non-professional snooker and English billiards around the world. As of January 2020, the organisation is headquartered in Doha, Qatar. History The World Bill ...

World Women's Billiards Championship held in 2015. The reigning champion is Jamie Hunter.

Emma Bonney Emma Bonney is an English world champion player of English billiards, and snooker player. She has won the women's world billiards title a record thirteen times. Emma Bonney is the only player to be ranked number 1 in the world at both snooker ...

has won the title a record 13 times.

History

A Women's Amateur Billiards Championship was organised by cue sports company

. 23 players entered, and the highest break made was 28.

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 Bedford ...

was the champion. The

took over responsibility for the tournament in 1932, when there were 41 entries.

Thelma Carpenter Thelma Carpenter (January 15, 1922 – May 14, 1997) was an American jazz singer and actress, best known as "Miss One", the Good Witch of the North in the movie ''The Wiz''. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of Fred and Mary C ...

made the highest break, 45, on her way to winning the title. Capenter won in 1933 and 1934 to complete a hat-trick of victories, before turning professional and going on to compete in the

. Vera Seals, a receptionist from Chesterfield that had learnt the game from

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 ...

, took the 1935 title, and set a new highest break record of 62. The tournament was held regularly until 1940, but then put on hold until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. From 1947 to 1980 the tournament was held most years, with

Vera Selby Vera Selby MBE (born 13 March 1930) is an English former snooker and English billiards player. She won the Women's World Open Championship twice, in both 1976 and 1981. She was also the Women's Billiards champion from 1970 to 1978. Career S ...

winning eight titles, and

Maureen Baynton Maureen Baynton (born Maureen Barrett in 1937) is an English former snooker and billiards player. She held the record for winning most Women's Amateur Snooker Championships after winning eight times between 1954 and 1968, and also won seven Wo ...

(Née Barrett) winning seven. Mrs Morland-Smith was another player to win multiple titles. In 1960, at the age of 75, she attempted to defend her title, but was unsuccessful. After a period of dormancy from 1980, the tournament was revived in 1998, when

Karen Corr Karen Corr (born 10 November 1969) is a Northern Irish professional pool and former snooker and English billiards player. She was inducted in the BCA Hall of Fame in 2012. Early life Corr was born on 10 November 1969 in Ballymoney, Northern Ir ...

won the first of two titles. The dominant player since the 1998 revival has been

, who has won the title 13 times. World Billiards Ltd (WBL), a subsidiary company of the

, currently runs the competition. In June 2019, the

and World Billiards Ltd agreed that the World Billiards Championship would be held by the WBL in 2019 in Australia and by the IBSF in 2020 and to co-operate to avoid tournament dates clashing. The tournament was not held in 2020 or 2021.

Finals

Main sources:

Billiards and Snooker Control Council The Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC) (formerly called the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC)) was the governing body of the games of English billiards and snooker and organised professional and amateur championship ...

Handbook and Rules (1978); Guinness Snooker – The Records (1985); World Billiards Ltd: World Ladies Billiards Champions
Additional sources are cited within the table where used. In some cases the information in those differs from the main sources mentioned.

Wins by player

Notes

References

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 ...

Competitions in English billiards World championships in English billiards

History

Finals

Wins by player

Notes

References

External links