1879 women's tennis season

The 1879 Women's Tennis season[1] was mainly composed of national, regional, county, local regular amateur tournaments. This year, seven tennis events for women were staged, four of them in Ireland and two events in England between April and October 1879.

1879 Women's Tennis season
Details
DurationApril 1879 – October 1879
Edition4th
Tournaments7
CategoriesNational (1)
Regional (2)
County (1)
Regular (3)
Achievements (singles)
Most tournament titlesIreland May Langrishe (1)
England Florence Mardall (1)
Ireland Miss Perry(1)
Ireland Annie Rice (1)
Ireland Miss A. Ritchie (1)
Most tournament finalsIreland May Langrishe (1)
England Florence Mardall (1)
Ireland Miss Perry(1)
Ireland Annie Rice (1)
IrelandMiss A. Ritchie (1)
1878
1880

Season summary

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The women's amateur tennis seasons covers a period of thirty five years from 1876 to 1912. During this period there was no single international organization responsible for overseeing tennis. At the very start in tennis history lawn tennis clubs themselves organized events and some like the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in England (f.1877) and the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Ireland (f.1879) generally oversaw tennis in their respective countries.

This would later change when tennis players started (those that could) traveled the world to compete in events organized by individual national lawn tennis associations (NLTA)'s the oldest of which then was the United States Lawn Tennis Association (f. 1881). In certain countries that did not establish a national association until later, had provincial, regional or state lawn tennis associations overseeing tournaments in a province, region or state within a country, such as the Northern Lawn Tennis Association in Manchester, England (f.1880),[2] had responsibility for coordinating tournaments staged by clubs in the North of England region. In Australia the Victorian Lawn Tennis Association (f.1904) organised tournaments in the state of Victoria, Australia.

In 1879 seven tournaments for women were staged five of them in Ireland. In the spring the Earlsfort Terrace Tournament held in Dublin, Ireland is played on asphalt courts featuring a ladies singles and doubles event. Between April and May the newly established Oxford University Tennis Championship was held in Oxford, England that included a women's event.[3] In June the Irish Championships are established,[4] this was the first major national championships in the world to feature not only a women's singles event won by a May Langrishe, but also a mixed doubles event.[5] In August the Armagh Tennis Tournament is staged at the Archery Lawn Tennis Club, Armagh that features a mixed doubles event.

In September 1879 the fourth edition of South of Ireland Championships in Limerick the singles event was won by Annie Rice.[6] The same month the first North of Ireland Championships are staged in Belfast the women's singles was won by Miss C. Ritchie. In October 1879 in England the inaugural East Gloucestershire Championships are held at the Imperial Winter Gardens in Cheltenham,[7] this is first significant tournament in England to feature a women's singles event, that is won by Florence Mardall and, also women's doubles event. In Bermuda the Bermuda Open Tennis Championships are held for the first time,[8] at this time 'open' tournaments usually meant men's and women's players can compete.

At the 1879 Wimbledon Championships the world's first major tennis tournament, it still remained an all men's event, no women's events were staged.

In 1913 the International Lawn Tennis Federation was created, that consisted of national member associations. The ILTF through its associated members then became responsible for supervising women's tour events.

Season results

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Notes 1: Challenge Round: the final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of tennis (from 1877 through 1921),[9] in some tournaments not all.

* Indicates doubles ** mixed doubles

Notes 2:Tournaments in italics were events that were staged only once that season

Key

Main events [10][11][12]
National events
Provincial/Regional/State events
County events
Regular events

January to March

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No events

April to May

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Note: The Oxford University Tennis Championship were held results unknown.

Ended Tournament Winner Finalist Semi Finalist Quarter Finalist
May 2 Oxford University Tennis Championship[13]
Oxford University LTC
Oxford, England
Grass
Singles
? ?
May 2. Earlsfort Terrace Tournament
Dublin, Ireland
Outdoor
Asphalt
Singles
  Miss Perry
def
  Miss Costello   May Langrishe
  Miss Shaw
  Miss Casey
  Miss Lane
  Miss Scovell

June

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Ended Tournament Winner Finalist Semi Finalist Quarter Finalist
Jun 10 Irish Championships
Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club
Dublin, Ireland
Outdoor
Grass
Singles
  May Langrishe[14]
6-2, 0–6, 8-6
  D. Meldon   Miss Casey   Connie Butler
  Adela Langrishe
  Miss Costello **
  E Elliott
6-4, 6-4
  Adela Langrishe
  Charles D Barry

July

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No events

August

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Ended Tournament Winner Finalist Semifinalist Quarter finalist
Aug 13. Armagh ALTC Tournament
Archery Lawn Tennis Club
Armagh, Ireland
Grass
Singles - Doubles
  Miss Cope **
  A. J. Wilson **
def
  Miss Bayly
  Robert Shaw Templer

September

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Ended Tournament Winner Finalist Semi Finalist Quarter Finalist
Sep 26. South of Ireland Championships
Limerick, Ireland
Outdoor
Grass
Singles
  Annie Rice
6–3, 6-4
  T. Rice   Miss Grubbe
  Miss Smith
  Mrs Armstrong **
  Henry E. Tombe
7-5, 6-2
  Annie Rice
  Mr Baker
Sep 30. North of Ireland Championships
Ormeau Cricket Ground
Belfast, Ireland
Outdoor
Grass
Singles
  Miss A. Ritchie
6–3, 6-4
  Miss C. Ritchie

October

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Ended Tournament Winner Finalist Semi Finalist Quarter Finalist
Oct 11 East Gloucestershire Championships
Cheltenham, England
Outdoor
Grass
Singles
  Florence Mardall
6-5, 6–4, 3–6, 3–6, 6-3
  Marian Bradley   Mary Abercrombie
  Ellen Maltby
  Clara Hill
  Ellen Ramsay
  Miss Shand
  Miss Willoughby
  Mary Abercrombie *
  Marian Bradley
6-2, 6–3, 6-2
  Clara Hill
  Florence Mardall

November to December

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No events

Tournament winners

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Singles

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This is list of winners sorted by number of singles titles (major titles in bold)

Doubles

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This is list of winners sorted by number of doubles titles
  •   Mary Abercrombie &   Marian Bradley (1) Cheltenham

Mix Doubles

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This is list of winners sorted by number of doubles titles (major titles in bold)
  •   Miss Cope &   A. J. Wilson (1) Armagh
  •   Miss Costello &   E Elliott (1) Dublin
  •   Mrs Armstrong &   Henry E. Tombe (1) Limerick

References

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  1. ^ Heathcote, John Moyer; Pleydell-Bonverie, Edward Oliver; Ainger, Arthur Campbell (1890). "The development of Lawn Tennis". Tennis. London: Longmans, Green, and Company. p. 148.
  2. ^ Heathcote, J. M. Heathacote: C. G. (1890). Tennis; Lawn Tennis. London: Spottiswoode and Co. p. 164.
  3. ^ Hargreaves, Jennifer (11 September 2002). "Rationlized Sports". Sporting Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women's Sport. Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-91276-6.
  4. ^ Williams, Jean (24 April 2014). A Contemporary History of Women's Sport, Part One: Sporting Women, 1850-1960. Oxford: Routledge. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-317-74666-9.
  5. ^ Hedges, Martin (1978). The concise dictionary of tennis. New York: Mayflower Books. p. 124. ISBN 0-86124-012-X.
  6. ^ Limerick Lawn Tennis Club. (2013) Limerick Lawn Tennis Club. History - Source: http://www.lltc.ie/about-us/history |website=www.lltc.ie Publisher: Limerick Lawn Tennis Club. Limerick, Ireland.
  7. ^ Garcia, Gabriel. "Cheltenham: East Gloucs Champs Tournament: Roll of honour". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SAL. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  8. ^ Bancroft, James W. (8 December 2021). The Early Years of the FA Cup: How the British Army Helped Establish the World's First Football Tournament. Barnsley, England: Frontline Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-3990-9994-3.
  9. ^ Papers Past, (20 March 1922). Abolition of Challenge Round. Paris International Championships. Evening Post Newspaper: Volume CIII, Issue 65, National Library of New Zealand. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers. Accessed: 14 July 2022 October.
  10. ^ ,Nauright, John, Parrish, Charles, (2012) Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara, Calif, USA. ISBN 9781598843002. p. 198.
  11. ^ Gillmeister, Heiner (1998) Tennis:Cultural History. A&C Black. London. ISBN 9780718501952. p.199.
  12. ^ Lake, Robert J. (2014) A Social History of Tennis in Britain: Volume 5 of Routledge Research in Sports History: Routledge. Oxford. p.48.
  13. ^ Hargreaves
  14. ^ Hedges, Martin (1978)