The World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. The sport was developed in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India. Professional English billiards player and billiard hall manager Joe Davis noticed the increasing popularity of snooker compared to billiards in the 1920s, and with Birmingham-based billiards equipment manager Bill Camkin, persuaded the Billiards Association and Control Council to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season. In 1927, the final of the first snooker world championship was held at Camkin's Hall; Davis won the tournament by beating Tom Dennis in the final. Davis also won the title in 1928, 1929, and 1930, with Dennis runner-up in three of the first four years of the championship, the exception being 1928, when Fred Lawrence lost to Davis in the final.