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Biographies of Female Tennis Players

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#1 · (Edited)
This thread will feature biographies of women who played tennis at a world class level. Note that the women will be added as we find information, so they will not appear in alphabetical order.

To find women listed in alphabetical order please go to the Blast Encyclopedia of Female Tennis Players at http://www.tennisforum.com/showthread.php?t=497938

The Blast Encyclopedia of Female Tennis Players lists women by both their maiden and married names. Under the main listing for a player a link will be provided back to this thread to a biography.
 
#2,381 · (Edited by Moderator)
READE, PAMELA
Ireland
Born 23 November 1913
Died 21 March 1987 in Manchester, Jamaica
Married James Norotn Goodwyn after 1939 Wimbledon
[Active circa 1939-1946]

Played Wimbledon in 1939 and 1946. She qualified in 1939. Her record at the Championships was 0-2.

Husband was James Norton Goodwyn born 9th April 1909 Preston Lancashire.

Source:

US Outward Passenger lists sailing from Southampton to Kingston on Camilo 18th March 1958 via www.ancestry.co.uk

[Thanks to Rollo and Rosamund for this information]
 
#2,382 · (Edited by Moderator)
WILFORD, “BETTY” (Elizabeth M Wilford)
Great Britain
Born 28 May 1928 at Hendon
Died 27 August 2006
Married Anthony Dawes, 14 March 1953 at St. Paul's, knightsbridge
[Active 1946-1953]

Played Wimbledon 8 times from 1946 to 1953. She was a doubles quarterfinalist in 1951.

Betty was the opponent of Gussie Moran for a second round match ay Wimbledon in 1949. A seemingly ordinary match turned into a worldwide sensation when Gussie appeared in lace panties on Court One. Moran won 6-1 6-4.

Sources: www.ancestry.co.uk
Lawn Tennis and Badminton 1st April 1953
Government probate records

Wimbledon record (1946 to 1953)


Singles: 3-8 (best result was 2R)
Doubles: 6-7 (best result Quarterfinalist in 1951)
Mixed: 5-7 (best result 4R in 1953)


Source:

Archive - Draws Archive : Betty Dawes (Wilford) - 2015 Wimbledon Championships Website - Official Site by IBM

[Thanks to Rollo and Rosamund for this information]
 
#2,383 · (Edited by Moderator)
DAVISON, DORIS (Doris M. Davison)
Great Britain
Born 21 March 1913
Died 16 July 2004 death registered in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
Married Frank E. Heppenstall(26th May 1911 to 11th August 1992) Q3 1939 Gateshead.
[Active 1938 to 1954.]

Played Wimbledon in 1938 (doubles only) and 1946. Her main draw singles record was 0-1.

Sources:

www.ancestry.co.uk
Government probate records

[Thanks to Jimbo and Rosamund for this information]
 
#2,384 · (Edited by Moderator)
RODGERS, PATSY
Great Britain
Born 21February 1929 in Bromley, England
Died 25 September 2015
Married Edward C. Ford 03 October 1952 in Beckenham, England
[Active 1946-1954]

Competed at Wimbledon from 1946 to 1950, and again in doubles only in 1952 and 1954. She entered the singles five times (1946-1950); reaching the 3R in 1950. Her overall singles record at the Championships was 5-5.

Survived by her 2 daughters Virginia and Barbara-the Welcome source suggests she was a widow.

Sources:

Lawn Tennis and Badminton 15th November 1952
Welcome Page online summer magazine 2016
Birth Registered from www.ancestry.co.uk

[Thanks to Rollo and Rosamund for this information]
 
#2,386 · (Edited by Moderator)
STORK, "WENDY" (Joan Wendy Kathleen Stork)
Great Britain
Born Q3 (July to September) 1920 in Wandsworth, England
Died 16 May 2013 in Cardiff, Wales.
Married Vivian Edward Arthur Morris on 14 June 1952 Norbiton, Surrey.
[Active 1938-1939, 1946-1952 and 1954-1957]

1950 Scottish Championships winner.

Miss Stork, who went by the middle name of Wendy, started her tennis days as a low ranked player who entered the Wimbledon qualy event at Roehampton in 1938 and 1939.

After the intervention of World War II she became a regular at the Championships. Stork had a 6-8 record in main draw singles at the Wimbledon, playing from 1946-1952, and again in 1955 when she fought through qualifying. Her highlight was making the 4R in 1947.

After a hiatus in 1953 she returned to competition from 1954 to 1957 by trying to qualify for Wimbledon each year at Roehampton.

At some point Mrs Morris moved to Wales. Her husband died in Cardiff 1st November 2011. She followed him in 2013.

Sources:

www.ancestry.co.uk
Probate records.
Lawn Tennis and Badminton 1st July 1952

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scor...s/013676b2-4c34-4e51-b03c-1628c502147a_LS.pdf
https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/sco...s/013676b2-4c34-4e51-b03c-1628c502147a_LD.pdf
http://hsbc.wimbledon.com/en_GB/sco...s/013676b2-4c34-4e51-b03c-1628c502147a_MX.pdf

[Thanks to Rollo and Rosamund for this information]
 
#2,387 · (Edited by Moderator)
FRY, "JACQUELINE" (Doreen Jacqueline Fry)
Great Britain
Born 09 September 1920 in Worcester
Died 01 October 1973 in St Pancras
Married John M Beswick Q2 1949 Westminster
[Active 1946-1952]

Wimbledon record (main draw in 1947,1949-1950, 1952)

Singles: 0-4

Sources:

www.ancestry.co.uk

The Championships, Wimbledon 2018 - Official Site by IBM


Government probate records (source for date of death)


[Thanks to Rosamund for help with this entry]
 
#2,388 · (Edited by Moderator)
POOL, EDNA (nee Edna Edith Huntley)
Great Britain
Born 17 September 1911 West Derby Liverpool
Died 12th September 2014 just short of 103rd birthday
Married (1) William T Pool Q4 1938 in Wirral
Married (2) John W Mercer Q3 1949 in Cheltenham
[Active at least from 1947-1952)

In 1952 she entered the championships as Mrs Mercer.

Wimbledon record (entered in 1947, 1948, and 1952)

Singles: 1-2
Doubles: 0-2
Mixed: 0-1

Sources

www.ancestry.co.uk
Wimbledon archive draw
http://www.babingtonhouse.com/mobile...ingtonians.php
findmypast 1939 Register

Edna Huntley Pool Mercer-British tennis player
Edna Huntley Pool Mercer-British tennis player - TennisForum.com

[Thanks to Rosamund for this information]
 
#2,389 · (Edited by Moderator)
PERCIVAL, ERICA
Great Britain
Born 20 April 1925 in Brentford, England
Died 18 August 2016 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
Married Brian H. Chamberlain (1927-2007) in Q4 (October to December) of 1949 in Surrey Mid Eastern.
[Active 1947-1950 and 1958]

Competed at Wimbledon in singles from 1947 to 1950. She qualified but lost her opening round matches in 1947 and 1948.

1949 was her best year at Wimbledon. Granted entry into the main draw without having to qualify, she drew a bye in round 1 and won a squeaker 7-5 in the last set to best Swiss player Edith Sutz. The dream run was ended by Freda Hammersley 7-5 6-2 in round 3.

After many years absence she entered the doubles qualifying for Wimbledon in 1958 but was eliminated.

Husband Brian Chamberlain Died 16th October 2007. Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Sources:

Who's Who International Tennis 1983.

www.ancestry.co.uk

Government probate records.

Player Profile - The Championships, Wimbledon 2017 - Official Site by IBM

The Championships, Wimbledon 2018 - Official Site by IBM

[Thanks to Rosamund for this information]
 
#2,391 · (Edited by Moderator)
#2,392 · (Edited by Moderator)
HARRISON, “PAT” (Mary Patricia Harrison)
United Kingdom
Born circa 1925
Married James Hugh Brown, in 1955 (after Wimbledon) in Hemsworth, Yorkshire West Riding
[Active 1946-1956]

Her best result at Wimbledon was a 4R result in 1956, where she fell to #8 seed Shirley Bloomer 6-2 7-5.

Wimbledon record (played 1951 to 1956)

Singles: 8-6
Doubles: 2-5
Mixed: 1-5

 
#2,393 · (Edited by Moderator)
#2,394 · (Edited by Moderator)
PRACZUKOWSKI, "BABS" (nee Marion Bjora Lermitte)
Jamaica
Born 29 May 1912 Stockbridge, Hampshire, England
Died October 2004 in Australia.
Married Henryk Praczukowski, in 1946 after Wimbledon
Nickname: "Mrs P"
[Active from 1946 to at least 1961]

Her mothers maiden name was Edwards. She is no relation to player Violet Lermitte. Her son Bogdan was born 18th March 1947. We know she played Wimbledon as Miss Lermitte, dating her marriage to sometime after Wimbledon.

She is most likely the English Miss B. Lermitte that played in Europe in 1930s.

Marion played singles and doubles at Wimbledon in 1954.

In 1980 the family were living in Surfers Paradise Queensland.

[From a tribute to her---only partially reproduced]

Mrs. Henryck 'Babs' Praczukowski; Former tennis player passes on
The Weekly Gleaner
October 14, 2004 |

The following is a tribute to the late Mrs. Henryck `Babs' Praczukowski written by Peter Phillips, former Jamaica's Junior Tennis Champion in 1951 and 1952 and National Singles Champion in 1957, 1959, 1960, 1964 and 1966, who now resides in Canada.

WE RECENTLY learned of the death, in Australia, of Mrs. Henryck `Babs' Praczukowski. She was 92. `Mrs. P', as she was familiarly known, was an outstanding tennis player in Jamaica in the 1950s and early 1960s.

She won the All Jamaica Hard Court Singles Championship in Mandeville in 1950, which I believe might have been the first tournament in which she played (after arriving in Jamaica from Europe), and was also in the finals of the Ladies Doubles and the Mixed Doubles events which were however not completed because of bad weather. …

Sources:

www.ancestry.co.uk
1980 Australian electoral rolls
www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-755679681.html

[Thanks to Rosamund for this information and to Jimbo for the connection to B. Lermitte]
 
#2,397 · (Edited by Moderator)
GIBB, ANTHEA
United Kingdom
Born 1935 in Stockport, Greater Manchester
Married Ivor J. Warwick on 11 May 1957, in Saint George’s Church, Bickley, Kent
[Active 1955-1960]

Her best Wimbledon showing was the 3R in 1956.

Wimbledon record (1955-58, and 1960)

Singles: 2-5
Doubles: 0-2
Mixed: 0-2

Her husband was the tennis player Ivor J. Warwick.

[Thanks to Jimbo and Newmark for this biography]
 
#2,398 · (Edited by Moderator)
GODFREY, JANE
United Kingdom
Born 07 July 1932 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
Died 21 April 1981 in Northampton
Married Peter Rushton on 01 June 1957 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
[Active at least 1956-1965]

Wimbledon record (1956, 1958, 1960 to 1962, and 1964-65)

Singles: 0-2
Doubles: 0-5

Source:

www.ancestry.co.uk

Lawn Tennis and Badminton 15th June 1957 (for date of marriage)

[Thanks to Newmark and Rosamund for this information]
 
#2,402 · (Edited by Moderator)
Re: Bio Test for LKK

HOXIE, JEAN (nee Jean Raymond)
Born 17 March 1898
Died 06 May 1970
Married Jerry Hoxie

Though she entered Forest Hills at least once, Jean was most noted for being a famous tennis coach. In the 1940s, Jean Hoxie and her husband Jerry established the first tennis camp in the United States.

Jean was the first woman to coach a Michigan high school boys tennis team, was judged by consensus to be "the most successful tennis coach of teenage players in Michigan history". More than 200 national and international champions achieved their skills under her tutelage. From 1949 to 1965, her Hamtramck teams won 16 state titles in 17 years. She formed and ran successful tennis clinics in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, Canada and the United States. The "Hoxie" method was world famous, allowing Jean to write many instructional articles and books.

She coached many U.S. National tennis champions. Peaches Bartkowicz, won the girls' Wimbledon singles title in 1964,and was ranked in the world top 10, was her most prominent student. Peaches would later remark on how tough Hoxie was.

On 6 May 1970, she died in a “freak automobile accident” on the Northwood campus

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Hoxie
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=5382795
 
#2,405 · (Edited by Moderator)
COLLINGE, MARJORIE
United Kingdom / Canada
Born circa 1902
Married Eustace

She was born in England and went to Calgary, Alberta, in 1913 with her family. She won 8 times the Alberta Championships (from 1922 to 1939).
http://www.albertasportshalloffame.c...ategory_id=180

Nancy Collinge from Edmonton in the 1950s, was her niece.

In last pic she is at right, with Mrs Grace Wormald.

 
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