PERRETT, Mrs J. B.
Great Britain
[Active 1900-1925]
Competed at Wimbledon from 1908 to 1923. The Wimbledon site identifies her only as Mrs Perrett. There have been some suggestions that there may have been two Mrs Perretts.
Mrs Perett played Mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 1919 with Hope Crisp. Mr Crisp notably had an artificial leg, having lost his right limb in World War One.
[The identity of Mrs Perrett is still in dispute. The research of Mark Ryan points to the tennis playing Mrs Perrett as Isabel Freeman]
Freeman, Isabel Blanche
United Kingdom
Born in 1870 in Norfolk
Died 21 February 1957 in Bristol
Married Mapson William Winter Perrett (died 1910) on 28 January 1897 in All Saint’s Church, Clifton
Active circa 1900-25. In some early English newspapers this player, who appears not to have taken part in lawn tennis tournaments under her maiden name, is listed as “Mrs I.B. Perrett”; in other sources, including ‘Lawn Tennis and Croquet’ she is listed once or twice as “Mrs M.W.W. Perrett”. However, for some reason, as yet unclear, she is almost always listed as “Mrs J.B. Perrett”.
Isabel Freeman was baptised on 22 January 1871 January in Docking, Norfolk – an indication that she had been born a few months earlier, in the final months of 1870. She was the fourth daughter and the youngest by four years of the five children of John Freeman, a farmer, and Anna Freeman (née Ayre).
Isabel married Mapson William Winter Perrett on 28 January 1897 in All Saints’ Church, Clifton, Gloucester. Mapson Perrett, a native of Bristol in Gloucestershire, was a bank official by profession. He was taking part in some, but not many, lawn tennis tournaments as early as 1891, doubtless before he met Isabel Freeman. A son, Frank Winter Perrett, was born of the marriage in 1898.
Isabel Perrett, as she had become, first appears on the lawn tennis scene circa 1902, five years after her marriage to Mapson Perrett. In the early years some of the tournaments she favours include the nascent tournaments held in the summer on the Isle of Wight, where she enjoys a great deal of success, particularly in Ventnor, the venue for the Isle of Wight Championships.
The Perretts appear to have been living in Ventnor in 1910, the year in which Mapson Perrett died at sea. They had previously been living in Bristol, and Isabel Perrett seems to have returned there to live after becoming a widow. She continued to take part in lawn tennis tournaments in England, sometimes also playing in some of the early season tournaments held on the French Riviera.
As late as 1926, at the age of 55, Isabel Perrett was taking part in some of the smaller lawn tennis tournaments held in Great Britain during the summer. At that time it was not very unusual for some lawn tennis players to continue taking part in tournaments well into their forties or fifties, and not just in veterans’ events.
Isabel Perrett died on 21 February 1957 in Bristol. She was 86 years old. Her entry in the National Probate Calendar for England and Wales reads as follows: “PERRETT, Isabel Blanche, of Victoria Square, Clifton, Bristol, widow, died 21 February 1957. Probate Bristol 1 May to Westminster Bank Limited. Effects £13,007, 9s, 3d.”
Sources:
Archive - Draws Archive : Perrett - 2015 Wimbledon Championships Website - Official Site by IBM
Mrs J.B. Perrett, an early lawn tennis player from the Isle of Wight (Hampshire & IOW Lookup Requests) Page 1 RootsChat.Com [Mrs J. B. Perrett, an early lawn tennis player from the Isle of Wight]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/te...edon/8609721/Wimbledon-2011-diary-Hopping-heroics-give-hope-to-Rafel-Nadal.html
[Thanks to Newmark for his research and Jimbo for comments]
