# Derbyshire Championships

The Derbyshire Championships originally known as the Championship of Derbyshire was a men's and women's grass court tennis tournament held at the Buxton Lawn Tennis Club, Buxton, Derbyshire, Great Britain from 1883 to 1953.

## History

A tennis tournament was originally held at Buxton Garden's as early as 1880. By 1883 the club had attracted more players and a men's championships was staged for the first time which was won by Minden Fenwick, he went on to win the New Zealand Championships three times from (1892–1894). In 1884 the owners of the Buxton Gardens, the Buxton Improvements Company, decided to stage a fully open event featuring men's and women's singles, with ladies' and gentlemen's singles played under the title 'Championship of Derbyshire', and a ladies' doubles played with the imposing title of 'The All-England Ladies Doubles'. The inaugural ladies' singles champion was Agnes Noon Watts. This latter championship was the first of its kind, being inaugurated before Wimbledon. In July 1914 the Derby and District Lawn Tennis Association was officially incorporated, this organisation later became known as the Derbyshire Lawn Tennis Association who were responsible for the staging of this event. The championships were not staged during World War I or World War II. It remained a featured tournament in the annual tennis tours. The tournament is still held today as a closed tennis event.
Notable winners of the men's singles included Grainger Chaytor (1892–1894, 1899), Wilberforce Eaves (1904), Laurie Doherty (1909), Adrian Quist (1936) and Franjo Kukuljević (1949). Previous women's singles champions included Louisa Martin (1886), Blanche Bingley Hillyard (1906), Elizabeth Ryan (1921) and Gem Hoahing (1948). The Derbyshire Championships ran until 1953 when it was abolished. The final men's singles champion was Nigel Cockburn from South Africa and the final women's singles title went to Britain's Mary Harris.

## Finals
### Men's singles

    Incomplete Roll:
| Year | Champions | Runners-up | Score |
| 1883 | Minden Fenwick | Robert Parsons Earwaker | 6-2, 6-3 |
| 1884 | Charles Walder Grinstead | Ernest Browne | 5-7, 6–2, 6–2, 5–7, 6–4. |
| 1885 | Eyre Chatterton | James Dwight | 6-2, 6–1, 6–3. |
| 1886 | Tom Campion | Percy Bateman Brown | 5-7, 6–2, 6–1, 9–7. |
| 1887 | Tom Campion (2) | William Drumond Hamilton | 6-2, 6–3, 6–4. |
| 1888 | Tom Campion (3) | Percy Bateman Brown | 7-5, 6–4, 7–5. |
| 1889 | Percy Bateman Brown | T.G. Hill | 6-2, 6–2, 6–1. |
| 1890 | Manliffe Goodbody | Harry Sibthorpe Barlow | 6-2, 7–5, 6–3. |
| 1891 | Grainger Chaytor | George Ball-Greene | 6-1, 6–1, 6–3. |
| 1892 | Grainger Chaytor (2) | Tom Chaytor | w.o. |
| 1893 | Grainger Chaytor (3) | Alfred Ernest Crawley | 6-0, 6–2, 6–2. |
| 1894 | Grainger Chaytor (4) | Harry Sibthorpe Barlow | 6-1, 6–2, 1–0, ret. |
| 1895 | Harold Mahony | Grainger Chaytor | 6-2, 3–6, 2–6, 7–5, 6–3. |
| 1896 | David Davy | J.A. Rooke | 6-4, 6–4, 6–4. |
| 1897 | Sydney Howard Smith | George Hillyard | 6-2, 6–2, 6–2. |
| 1898 | Sydney Howard Smith (2) | Grainger Chaytor | 6-3, 6–0, 6–2. |
| 1899 | Grainger Chaytor (5) | Sydney Howard Smith | 6-3, 6–3. |
| 1900 | George Hillyard | Frank Riseley | 3-6, 6–4, 6–1, 6–4. |
| 1901 | Laurie Doherty | George Hillyard | 6-4, 7–5, 3–6, 6–2. |
| 1902 | George Hillyard (2) | George Ball-Greene | 2-6, 6–3, 6–8, 6–3, 6–2. |
| 1903 | Xenophon Casdagli | Walter Cecil Crawley | 6-3, 7–5. |
| 1904 | Wilberforce Eaves | E.V. Jones | 6-1, 6–3, 6–4. |
| 1905 | Xenophon Casdagli (2) | Ernest Charlton | 8-10, 0–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–2. |
| 1906 | Roy Allen | John Frederick Stokes | 8-6 6–4. |
| 1907 | Alfred Leonard Bentley | Geoffrey Blenkinsop Youll | 3-6, 6–2, 6–4. bi |
| 1908 | Xenophon Casdagli (3) | Arthur Wallis Myers | 6-2 4-3 ret. |
| 1909 | Roy Allen (2) | Xenophon Casdagli | 6-2, 7–5, 7–5. |
| 1910 | Charles A. Orpen Tuckey | C. Whitehouse | 6-3, 6–3, 6–3. |
| 1915/1918 | Not held (due to world war one) | Not held (due to world war one) | Not held (due to world war one) |
| 1919 | Louis Bosman Raymond | Brian Norton | 6-3, 6–3, 6–3. |
| 1920 | Alain Gerbault | Roger Worthington | 6-3, 6–3, 6–2. |
| 1921 | Henry Vere Shirley Dillon | Cecil Campbell | 6-4, 6–4, 8–6. |
| 1922 | Edward Darcy McCrea | George Fletcher | 6-4, 6–4. |
| 1923 | Edward Darcy McCrea (2) | José Domingo | 6-3, 6–4. |
| 1924 | Charles Kingsley | Horace Keats Lester | 6-1, 6–4. |
| 1925 | Gordon Crole-Rees | George S. Fletcher | 6-2, 6–4. |
| 1926 | Charles Kingsley (2) | George S. Fletcher | 6-2, 3–6, 6–4. |
| 1927 | Gordon Crole-Rees (2) | George Golding | 2-6, 6–0, 6–1. |
| 1928 | Gordon Crole-Rees (3) | Norman Farquharson | 3-6, 9–7, 6–1. |
| 1929 | Gordon Crole-Rees (4) | Donald Greig | 5-7, 6–0, 7–5. |
| 1930 | Horace Keats Lester | Eric Conrad Peters | 7-5, 6–2. |
| 1931 | Vernon Bob Kirby | Frank Wilde | 6-2, 6–3. |
| 1932 | James Edmett Giesen | Colin Ritchie | 6-4, 5–7, 6–4. |
| 1933 | Vernon Bob Kirby (2) | Irving Wheatcroft | 6-2, 6–2. |
| 1934 | Douglas Freshwater | Jimmy Jones | 8-6, 3–6, 6–3. |
| 1935 | Jimmy Jones | George Lyttleton-Rogers | 8-6, 3–6, 6–3. |
| 1936 | Adrian Quist | Murray Deloford | 6-2, 6–4. |
| 1937 | Cristea Caralulis | Ronald Shayes | 8-10, 10–8, ret. |
| 1938 | Murray Deloford | Jimmy Jones | 3-6, 7–5, 6–4. |
| 1939 | Don Butler | Alejo Domingo Russell | 9-7, 3–6, 6–4. |
| 1940/1945 | Not held (due to world war two) | Not held (due to world war two) | Not held (due to world war two) |
| 1946 | Dennis Slack | C.F. Hall | 6-3, 6–2. |
| 1947 | Khan-Iftikhar Ahmed | Constantin Tanacescu | 4-6, 9–7, 6–3. |
| 1948 | Franjo Kukuljević | Matt Murphy | 6-1, 6–3. |
| 1949 | John Horn | George Godsell | 6-3, 6–3. |
| 1950 | Geoff Brown | Brian Rooke | 6-0, 6–1. |
| 1951 | Nigel Cockburn | Andras Kalman | 8-6, 6–2. |

### Women's singles

    Incomplete Roll:
| Year | Champions | Runners-up | Score |
| 1884 | Agnes Noon Watts | Florence Stanuell | 6-3, 6–3, 8–6. |
| 1885 | Blanche Bingley | Louisa Martin | 6-3, 6–3. |
| 1886 | Louisa Martin | May Langrishe | 6-3, 6–0. |
| 1887 | May Langrishe | Bertha Steedman | 6-3, 6–4. |
| 1888 | Blanche Bingley Hillyard (2) | May Langrishe | 7-5, 6–1. |
| 1889 | Bertha Steedman | Louisa Martin | 5-7, 6–4, 6–3. |
| 1890 | Louisa Martin (2) | Mary Steedman | 6-2, 6–4. |
| 1891 | May Marriott | Beatrice Wood | 6-2, 6–2. |
| 1892 | Helen Jackson | Miss Vicars | 6-0, 6–1 |
| 1893 | Blanche Bingley Hillyard (3) | Helen Jackson | 6-0, 6–1 |
| 1894 | Blanche Bingley Hillyard (4) | Charlotte Cooper | 6-4, 4–6, 7–5 |
| 1895 | Helen Jackson (2) | Blanche Bingley Hillyard | 6-3, 3–6, 6–3 |
| 1896 | Blanche Bingley Hillyard (5) | Bertha Steedman | 6-4, 3–6, 7–5 |
| 1897 | Alice Simpson Pickering | Blanche Bingley Hillyard | 6-4, 5–7, 6–4 |
| 1898 | Ruth Dyas | Blanche Bingley Hillyard | 6-2, 6–4 |
| 1899 | Muriel Robb | Blanche Bingley Hillyard | 6-3, 6–3 |
| 1900 | Muriel Robb (2) | Blanche Bingley Hillyard | 7-5, 6–3 |
| 1901 | Blanche Bingley Hillyard (6) | Alice Simpson Pickering | 6-2, 7–5 |
| 1903 | Dorothea Douglass | Ethel Thomson | 6-2, 6–1 |
| 1904 | Dorothea Douglass (2) | Ethel Thomson | 6-2, 4–6, 6–3 |
| 1905 | Connie Wilson | Dorothea Douglass | 4-6, 6–1, 7–5 |
| 1906 | Blanche Bingley Hillyard (7) | Connie Meyer | 6-4, 6–3 |
| 1907 | Maude Garfit | Connie Meyer | 3-6, 6–3, 6–4 |
| 1908 | Charlotte Cooper Sterry | Maude Garfit | 6-2, 6–2 |
| 1909 | Maude Garfit (2) | Helen Aitchison | 2-6, 6–2, 6–2 |
| 1910 | Maude Garfit (3) | Helen Aitchison | w.o. |
| 1911 | Ethel Thomson Larcombe | Helen Aitchison | 6-3, 6–1 |
| 1912 | Ethel Thomson Larcombe (2) | Hilda Lane | 6-0, 6–1 |
| 1913 | Ethel Thomson Larcombe (3) | Winifred Longhurst | 6-2, 6–1 |
| 1915/1918 | Not held (due to world war one) | Not held (due to world war one) | Not held (due to world war one) |
| 1919 | Elizabeth Ryan | Ethel Thomson Larcombe | 3-6, 6–4, 7–5 |
| 1920 | Elizabeth Ryan (2) | Ethel Tanner | 6-1, 6–2 |
| 1921 | Elizabeth Ryan (3) | M. Wright | 6-0 6–1 |
| 1922 | Kathleen McKane | Irene Bowder Peacock | divided title |
| 1923 | Blanche Duddell Colston | Phylis Radcliffe | 6-0, 6–4 |
| 1924 | Joan Fry | Kathleen McKane | 6-4, 3-4 retd |
| 1939/1945 | Not held (due to world war two) | Not held (due to world war two) | Not held (due to world war two) |
| 1950 | Doreen Wedderburn | Gladys Southwell Lines | 6-0, 6–8, 6–4 |
| 1951 | Billie Woodgate | Gladys Southwell Lines | 6-0, 6–8, 6–4 |
| 1952 | Billie Woodgate (2) | Beryl Penrose | divided title |
| 1953 | Mary Harris | Rosemary Walsh | 7-5, 5–7, 6–2 |

## Statistics
### Mens singles

| Most titles | Grainger Chaytor | 4 |
| Most titles | Gordon Crole-Rees | 4 |
| Most consecutive titles | Grainger Chaytor (1890–1894) | 4 |

### Women's singles

| Most titles | Blanche Bingley Hillyard | 7 |
| Most consecutive finals | Ethel Thomson Larcombe (1911–1913) | 3 |
| Most consecutive finals | Elizabeth Ryan (1919–1921) | 3 |