# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Heathcote, John Moyer

The article's usage of "tennis" refers to real tennis, not lawn tennis.
​HEATHCOTE, JOHN MOYER (1834–1912), tennis player, the eldest son of John Moyer Heathcote, of Conington Castle, near Peterborough, by his wife, the Hon. Emily Frances, third daughter of Nicholas William Ridley Colborne, first Baron Colborne, was born in London 12 July 1834. He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, whither he proceeded in 1852. Heathcote was a man of many interests in sports and games, an amateur artist of some repute, and a graceful writer on sporting subjects. In middle life shooting, skating, and lawn-tennis were among his diversions, but he will always be best remembered as the finest amateur tennis player of his generation and as one of the greatest who has yet appeared.
Heathcote began the game at Cambridge, and he played regularly at the court in James Street, Haymarket, from 1856 to 1866, when that famous court was finally closed. His chief professional teacher and opponent in those days was Edmund Tompkins, for some years champion of tennis. Gradually Heathcote ​reduced the odds between them till he could play his former master level. About the year 1869 he was the equal of any player in the world, but after that George Lambert [q.v.] began to surpass him. Meanwhile there was no amateur player who had any chance against Heathcote, and for a number of years he could give his nearest rivals fifteen. Heathcote succeeded to the position of amateur champion about the year 1859, when C. G. Taylor retired from single match play. There was at that time no formal competition for the championship, but from 1867 the Marylebone Cricket Club annually offered prizes to its members for play in the court at Lord's, and the gold prize carried with it the blue riband of amateur tennis. Heathcote won this every year till 1882, when the Hon. Alfred Lyttelton [q.v.] defeated him. The next summer he regained the title, but after this Lyttelton passed him in the race, though Heathcote won the gold prize once more in 1886, when Lyttelton was unable to play. Heathcote kept up the game for many years and played in a number of courts after he had retired from competition play, and until the end of his life he was present at most of the great matches. He died at Conington 5 October 1912.
Heathcote was a fine all-round player, but his strongest point was return. Without having such a crushing attack as some of his predecessors and successors, he could cut the ball fairly heavily and could lay short chases with some certainty. He had a sound volley and he gave both the side-wall and the drop-service effectively.
Heathcote contributed largely to Tennis (1890) in the Badminton Library, and also wrote on Speed Skating (1891) in the same series. Lawn-tennis players owe him a debt of gratitude, for in one way he did as much as anyone to develop that game. It was he who first suggested and tried the experiment of covering the ball with flannel.
[The Times, 12 May 1915; Julian Marshall, The Annals of Tennis, 1878; Tennis, Rackets, and Lawn Tennis (Badminton Library), 1890; E. B. Noel and J. O. M. Clark, A History of Tennis, 1924.]
E. B. N.