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Biographies of Female Tennis Players

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#1,502 · (Edited by Moderator)
PFEFFEL, MARIE-LOUISE (Marie-Louise Freiin de Pfeffel)
France
Born 15 August 1882 in Paris, France
Died 29 November 1944 in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, England
Married Stanley F Williams, 24 January 1906
Had daughter Irene

Marie-Louise was the sister of Yvonne de Pfeffel, who also played lawn tennis in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Their German-born father was Christian Hubert Freiherr von Pfeffel, a "freiherr" being a baron. He moved to France at some point and died in Paris. Marie-Louise and Yvonne could probably have styled themselves as baronesses. Their mother, Hélène (née Arnous-Rivière), appears to have been French.

Great-Grandmother of Mayor of London Boris Johnson
 
#1,504 · (Edited by Moderator)
PHILLIMORE, HESTER
Great Britain
Born 7 October 1900
Died 8 December 1949
Md. 1932, Gen. Sir Frederick Alfred Pile, 2nd Bt., G.C.B., D.S.O., M.C., (1884-1976) as 2nd wife. Daughter of George Grenville Phillimore, barrister, of Shedfield, Hampshire
[Active in 1924]

Hester had ties to the Countess of Stradbroke, wife of the Governor of Victoria at this time. Hester accompanied Lady Stradbroke to a number of society events in Melbourne around 1923-24. She only seems to have been Down Under for about 6 months.

She is one and the same with Hester Phillimore, daughter of George Grenville Phillimore, Barrister from Hampshire, who married Sir Frederick Pile in Britain in 1932 and became known as Lady Hester Pile.

Her diary from 1940-49 is in an archives in Hampshire.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222315786?searchTerm=hester%20phillimore%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&searchLimits=exactPhrase|||anyWords|||notWords|||requestHandler|||dateFrom=1923-08-01|||dateTo=1924-09-30|||sortby

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/...|||notWords|||requestHandler|||dateFrom=1923-08-01|||dateTo=1924-09-30|||sortby

[Thanks to GeeTee for this information]
 
#1,505 · (Edited)
BAKSHEEVA, GALINA (Galina Petrovna Baksheeva)
USSR (Ukraine)
Born 12 July 1945
Died 18 December 2019

Name transcribed in different ways. She won the Wimbledon junior championships in 1961 and 1962. Represented the Soviet Union in the 1968 Fed Cup.

A Getty Photo of Galina at Beckenham in 1966
Galina Baksheeva relaxing with an ice lollipop after her victory at...

[Additional info by Rosamund]
 
#1,506 · (Edited by Moderator)
PHYSICK, “JOEY” (Joan Physick)
Great Britain
Born 1920 in Marylebone, London
Died 22 January 2013 London
Married (1) William D David circa September 1941 in Westminster, London
Married (2) John “Michael” Lloyd on 14 August 1950 in Surrey
[Active from late 1930s to at least 1951]

Usually listed as Mrs Joey Davis-then Mrs Joey Lloyd. Her 2nd spouse was a county player from Northampshire. Joey hailed from Surrey.

[A mention of her passing from the school she attended]

Joan LLOYD (nee Physick) died in January 2013, aged 93. Mrs Lloyd was at Francis Holland in the 1930s. During the war, she was an ambulance driver in the Blitz. She was a fantastic tennis player, and played at Wimbledon. Her two daughters, Anne Machin and Julia Browning, (also champion tennis players, among many other talents) both went to Francis Holland in the 1960s and 1970s. During that time Mrs Lloyd was a great support to the Old Girls and to many other pupils. Her granddaughter, Susannah Browning, also attended Francis Holland.

Wimbledon record (1947-1951)

Singles: 0-5
Doubles: 1-5
Mixed: 0-4

Sources:

Francis Holland School newletter

[Thanks to Rollo and Rosamund for this information]
 
#1,508 · (Edited by Moderator)
PICKERING, ALICE (nee Alice Mabel Simpson)
United Kingdom
Born 1860
Died 18 February 1939
Married William Henry Pickering, 28 July 1885
[Active 1888-1901]

Won a smaller tournament in 1888 (Leamington), finalist at least eight times at different tournaments before 1895

Entered Wimbledon from 1895 to 1901. Her singles record at the Championships was 11-7.

She was a SF (1895), lost the Challenge Round in 1896-going down to Charlotte Cooper 6-2 6-3, and made the final in 1897. Alice made the QF in her last try at the Championships in 1901.

In 1896 she won the doubles competition at the Irish Championships partnering Ruth Durlacher.

She has a wiki entry at: Alice Pickering - Wikipedia

Image
 
#1,510 · (Edited by Moderator)
PIGEON, "KRISTY" (Kristine Pigeon)
United States
Born 12 August 1950
Married Roy Edgington Crawford after 1974. He is tax attorney.
Played: Lefthanded
[Active in 1967-1974]

One of the Original Nine

A Californian from Danville-blonde Kristy Pigeon took up tennis at the age of 11.

Always game to try new adventures, Kristy drove a garbage truck during a San Francisco sanitation strike as part of raising funds so she could travel the amateur tennis circuit. When she won the 1968 Wimbledon and US junior events some critics picked her to be the next Billie Jean King.

Grass was her favorite surface by far.

In late 1970 Kristy threw in her lot with the "Original Nine", a group of women who agreed to play the women's only Virginia Slims tour. This made her a pioneer in the birth of women's tennis.

“We went out to K-Mart or wherever tennis gear was sold to meet our fans face-to-face. We gave away tickets to encourage folks to come watch us, we really worked hard to build up the respect and the awareness for women’s tennis"-Pigeon on helping sell fans on the Slims tour in the early 1970s
Click to expand...
While never quite living up to the hype of 1968, Pigeon was always dangerous on faster surfaces and will forever be celebrated as part of the founding mothers of women's professional tennis. Her last year on tour was in 1974, when she played World Team Tennis and entered her last US Open.

Titles:

1968: Girls’ Singles Wimbledon Championship in July, the Welsh Open Championships at Newport, the Pennsylvania Lawn Tennis Championships at Haverford, and then US Girls champion.


Having an artistic bent, she attended Mills College in 1968 intending on becoming a medical illustrator. This was a dream deferred but not forgotten, as after retiring from the tour in the mid 1970s she earned an BA degree in Art and Biology from UC Berkeley.

Kristy later ran the Elkhorn tennis resort in Sunny Valley, Idaho. After selling Elkhorn she founded Sagebrush Equine Training Center for the Handicapped (SETCH). SETCH uses horseback riding in healing individuals with disabilities.

In 2017 she was inducted into the Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame.

Pigeon (on left) and Betty Ann Grubb in 1969

Image
Image


1970: The Original Nine holding up their $1 dollar bills. All had signed $1 contracts. Pigeon is the blonde on the far right

Image


Image
Sources:

"California Swinger shows Top Form." New York Times (1923-Current file), Aug 04, 1968, pp. 1, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index, https://search.proquest.com/docview/118364266?accountid=10274.

https://www.usta.com/en/home/about-usta/usta-awards/northerncalifornia/KristyPigeonHOF2017.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristy_Pigeon

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/billie-jean-king-women-tennis-history-original-9/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack9999p/2476452021

[Thanks to to Rollo for this information]
 
#1,512 · (Edited by Moderator)
PILLANS, HELEN (Helen Margaret Pillans)
Great Britain
Born circa 15 April 1870 in Chiselhurst, Kent
Died 19 December 1937 in Oxford
[Active circa 1895-1910]

Helen Pillans was the sister of fellow lawn tennis player Katherine Pillans. They were the daughters of James Mowbray Pillans, a merchant and native of Scotland, and Elizabeth Ann Pillans (née Bew), who was from London and about 25 years younger than her husband.

Often listed as Miss HM Pillans. She played in some of the tournaments on the French Riviera at the beginning of the twentieth century. Her sister Katherine played in some of them too, but with less success than Helen, who was a year or so younger than her. Helen never married.

Source:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJDK-1YY8

[Thanks to Newmark for this information]
 
#1,513 · (Edited by Moderator)
PILLANS, KATHERINE (Katherine Madeline Pillans)
Great Britain
Born 24 January 1869 in Chiselhurst, Kent
Died 6 November 1965 in Chiselhurst, Ken
Married Thomas Paine Hilder, 17 October 1905 in Chiselhurst, Kent
[Active circa 1895-1905]

Katherine was the sister of Helen Margaret Pillans

They were the daughters of James Mowbray Pillans, a merchant and native of Scotland, and Elizabeth Ann Pillans (née Bew), who was from London and about 25 years younger than her husband.

Thomas Hilder was a stockbroker. He and Katherine didn’t have any children together. He died in 1929. Katherine survived him by 36 years, dying in her birthplace of Chiselhurst in November 1965 at the age of 94.

[Thanks to Newmark for this information]
 
#1,515 · (Edited by Moderator)
PINCKNEY, VIOLET (Violet Millicent Pinckney)
United Kingdom
Born 11 March 1871 at Alderbury,Salisbury,Wiltshire,England,
Died 1955 at New Forest, Hampshire, England.
Unmarried
Career span: as early as 1892. 1903-1925 was the span she first and last played Wimbledon in singles.

She Took part in the 1908 Olympics. She played in the Indoor Tennis Singles. in 1908.
Champion of London in 1907-08. Her brother William Percy also played the circuit.
 
#1,516 · (Edited by Moderator)
RASTALL, MIRA (Mira Herbert Rastall)
United States
Born 20 December 1887
Died 12 October 1918
Married Howard Biddle in 1913 in Philadelphia
[Active in 1905]

The youngest of the 3 sisters from Philadelphia based out of the Belmont Country Club.

Mira won an event at Germantown in 1905 in doubles with Anna Elizabeth Wallace as her partner.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=69997272
 
#1,517 · (Edited by Moderator)
PITT, MILLICENT (nee Millicent Maude Fraser-Watson)
South Africa
Born 27 April 1896 in South Africa
Died 6 January 1952
Married to Charles Kidder Pitt (1884-????) 31 March 1919 in London, St Finchley Parish.
2 children.
[Active in the 1920s]

Won Western Province Championships in 1922 and 1923.
Millicent entered Wimbledon in 1923.

Daughter of Harrison Fraser Watson, who lived in 12 Park Lane in Johannesburg in 1902, as evidenced by a Blue Plaque reading:

"Built before the war for Harrison Fraser Watson, a stockbroker and keen sportsman from the Cape Colony. As a British subject he had to leave the Transvaal, returning to the Cape to join the Colonial forces. In his absence Robert Kuranda lived here. He accepted the most unpopular task of commandeering goods, horses and equipment for the Z.A.R. Watson returned when the Stock Exchange re-opened on 24 December 1901."

Her mother Emily (nee Baker) was also a tennis player:
http://www.tennisforum.com/79607881-post4560.html
 
#1,518 · (Edited by Moderator)
#1,519 · (Edited)
PITTMAN, ELSIE (nee Elsie Alice Goldsack)
United Kingdom
Born 21 January 1904 Lewisham, England
Died 28 March 1975
Married (1) John “Bernard” Pittman, 04 January 1930, divorced 1939 (sep. since 1937)
Married (2) Gordon Fordell Rowbottom, 05 February 1942
Married (3) Sir George Warren Furlonge, 21 June 1952
Active 1920s to 1948

Its PITTMAN with two T’s not one. Often listed as Mrs JB Pittman.

Most impressive as a doubles player, she made the final of the Wimbledon doubles in 1937. World Ranked #10 in 1929 and 1931.

Elsie made the semis at Wimbledon in 1929, falling to Helen Wills 6-2 6-0. Also at SF at 1932 US Nationals, losing to eventual winner Helen Jacobs 6-3 6-2.

She stopped playing in 1948. Won 52 singles titles, the first at Reigate in July 1925 and the last at Wellingborough in August 1939. Was the runner-up in 39 singles tournaments from 1925 to 1938.

Image



"Jaja" Jedrzejowska-Marjorie Sachs,Elsie Pittman, and Joan Ridley-1931 Wimbledon. 2R (Pittmann-Ridley won the match)

Image


[Additional info by Austimrunner1]
 
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