English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the UK 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 uses a diffe ...

, known in Britain as just billiards, was developed by around 1800 as a combination of earlier

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

. Matches are played either across specified time periods, or to a specified number of points. As of 1930, many

billiard hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often ha ...

s in the UK did not admit women. That year, the British 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 ...

organised the first edition of what would become the Women's Professional Billiards Championship and then announced a Women's Amateur

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

Championship, later recognised as the World Women's Billiards Championship. The first rounds of the amateur tournament would be played at regional venues, with the regional winners qualifying for the semi-finals and final at

Burroughes Hall Burroughes Hall was an important English billiards, 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. Burroug ...

in London.

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 from 23 participants, and the highest break made was 28. 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 ...

took over responsibility for the amateur tournament from the 1932 edition, which had 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''. Early years Carpenter was born in Brooklyn, New York, the only chi ...

made the highest break, 45, on her way to winning the title. Carpenter won in 1933 and 1934 to complete a hat-trick of victories, before turning professional. Vera Seals, a receptionist from Chesterfield who had learnt the game from male world professional billiards champion

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 is ...

, took the 1935 amateur 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

Vera Selby Vera Selby (; 13 March 1930 – 13 March 2023) was an English snooker and billiards player who won multiple women's world titles in both sports. She won the inaugural World Women's Snooker Championship in 1976 and won the title for a second ti ...

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 W ...

(née Barrett) winning six. Evelyn Morland-Smith was another player to win multiple titles; her last was in 1960 when she was 75. After a period of dormancy from 1980, the tournament was revived by the World Ladies' Billiards and Snooker Association (WLBSA) in 1998, and Karen Corr won the first of two titles. The WLBSA became a subsidiary organisation 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. It is headquartered in Bristol, England. Founded as the Professional Billiard Players Association (PBPA) in ...

in 2015, and was renamed World Women's Snooker in 2019. As of 2024, World Billiards, another subsidiary company of the

, runs the competition. Emma Bonney has won the title a record 13 times, between 2000 and 2018. The 2024 champion was Shruthi L who defeated Keerath Bhandaal 215–202.

Finals

Wins by player

IBSF Championship

In 2015, 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 Bil ...

held its own version of a World Women's Billiards Championship. Arantxa Sanchis defeated Revanna Umadevi to take the title.

Notes

References

Books * * * *

External links

World BilliardsIn pictures: World Ladies Billiards Championship 2010 (BBC)
{{Main world championships Recurring sporting events established in 1931

Competitions in English billiards World championships in English billiards