Tynedale Open Tournament

The Tynedale Open Tournament[1] was a grass court tennis tournament founded in 1881 as the Hexham Tournament and first staged at Priors Flat Grounds, Hexham, Northumberland, England.

Tynedale Open Tournament
Defunct tennis tournament
Founded1881; 143 years ago (1881)
Abolished1931; 93 years ago (1931)
LocationHexham, Northumberland, England
VenuePriors Flat Grounds
SurfaceGrass

History

edit

The Hexham Tournament was a late 19th century tennis event first staged around August 1881 at Priors Flat Cricket Grounds, Hexham, Northumberland, England.[2] The first winner of the men's singles was England's Jasper Gibson.[3] The first tournament was staged until 1885. In 1888 the Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club,[4] and Tynedale Cricket Club were founded and staged events on the land leased by the Tyndale Athletic Association. In 1890 a second Hexham tournament was revived as the Tynedale Open Tournament (allowing women's competitions) that was organised by the Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club. that event ran until 1931 before it was discontinued.

Location and Venue

edit

Hexham is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district.

Tennis first appeared in Hexham in the early 1880s as a cement court built in the Hexham Abbey grounds. Its success led to acquiring the leasehold of Prior's Flat with a contract to lay turf on the tennis courts.[5] Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club’ itself was founded in 1888 and moved to its present-day location on Prior's Flat in 1889.[5] Beginning in the 1940s through to the 1940s 3 hard (shale) tennis courts which were replaced by three tarmacadam courts in the late 1960s.[5] In 1977 a new Tynedale Sports Club was created; merging the hockey, cricket and tennis sections as one sports club. In 2021 The Tyndale lawn Tennis Club changed its name to the Hexham Lawn Tennis Club.[6]

Finals

edit

Men's Singles

edit

(incomplete roll)

Year Winner Runner-up Score
Hexham Tournament
1881   Jasper Gibson   M. Liddell 6-0, 6–0, 6–2.[7]
1882   Jasper Gibson   John Arthur Jackson 6-0, 6–0, 6–2.[7]
Tyndale Open Tournament
1908   Stanley Gate   Frank Widdas 1-6, 6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2.[7]

Women's Singles

edit

(incomplete roll)

Year Winner Runner-up Score
Tyndale Open Tournament
1890   Jane Corder   Helen Jackson 8-6, 6-0
1894   Helen Jackson   Lottie Paterson 6-3, 6-2
1895   Lucy Kendal   B. Jackson w.o.
1896   Beatrice Wood Draffen   Lucy Kendal 6-4, 8-6
1897   Lucy Kendal   Miss Lister 6-0, 6-3
1898   Muriel Robb   Mrs Lewis 2-6, 6–4, 6-2
1907   Helen Aitchison   Mrs J.E. Day divided title
1908   Mrs J.E. Day   P. Lee 6-2, 6-1
1909   Mabel Hurlbatt Dudgeon   Annie Mack 7-5. 6-4
1911   Mabel Hurlbatt Dudgeon   Mrs Wilkinson def
1912   M. Fergus   Miss Walton-Brown 6-0, 6-1
1914   M.E. Morton   Mrs Neilson 6-4, 6-2
1915/1919 Not held (due to world war one)
1920   Ruth Watson   Mrs Spoor 8-6, 6-4
1921   M. Hart   Mrs Helps 3-6, 6–1, 9-7
1923   Lesley Cadle   Dorothy Alexander 6-2, 2–6, 6-2
1924   Lesley Cadle   C.D. Shafto 6-1, 7-5
1925   Ruth Watson   Kathleen Aitchison 10-8. 8-6
1926   Ruth Watson   Lesley Cadle w.o.
1927   Ruth Watson   Kathleen Aitchison 6-4, 6-3
1928   Ruth Watson   V. March 7-5, 6-1
1929   E. Carrick   V. March 6-2, 6-1
1931   Ruth Watson   Dorothy Alexander 6-4, 3–6, 6-0

References

edit
  1. ^ Orcutt, William Dana (1897). Official Lawn Tennis Bulletin. Boston: The Horace Partridge Company. p. 77.
  2. ^ LAWN TENNIS HEXHAM. This tournament that was played yesterday on the Priors Flat Grounds, concluded in a victory for Jasper Gibson in the gentleman's singles, a mixed pairs event was won by Miss Cruddas and Mr. J. Gibson against Mr J. H. Nicholson and Miss. Kirsopp. The Field. British Newspaper Archive.31 August 1881. London, England. p.8
  3. ^ The Field
  4. ^ "History". www.hexhamtennisclub.co.uk. Hexham Tennis Club. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Hexham Tennis Club
  6. ^ Tulip, Joseph (8 April 2021). "It's all in a name change for long-serving tennis club in Hexham". Hexham Courant. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  7. ^ a b c "Tournament – Hexham". www.tennisarchives.com. Tennis Archives. Retrieved 23 February 2023.