1878 men's tennis season

1878 men's tennis season

Frank Hadow (from Hadow family collection. He won the major event of this year Wimbledon)
Details
Duration	21 May – 12 October
Edition	3rd
Tournaments	15[1]
Categories	Important (1) National (2) Provincial/Regional/State (1) County (1) Local (9)
Achievements (singles)
Most titles	No outright leader
Most finals	No outright leader
← 1877 1879 →

The 1878 men's tennis season^[2][3] was composed of the third annual pre-open era tour. It now incorporated 15 tournaments staged in Great Britain and Ireland the Wimbledon Championships was won by challenger Patrick Francis Hadow defeating the defending champion Spencer Gore.

It began in April in Newcastle Emlyn, Wales and ended in October in Bournemouth, Dorset, England.

This early pre open era tour began in April 1878 with Teifiside Lawn Tennis Club Tournament on grass played at Newcastle Emlyn, Wales the club is still open today.^[4] In May a spring tennis tournament was held at the Bournemouth Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club on Dean Park Cricket Ground, Bournemouth, England the club held a second event in October this year.^[5]

In July the most important event of the year the 1878 Wimbledon Championships was won by the challenger Patrick Francis Hadow who beat Spencer Gore in the all comers final. In August the inaugural Scottish Championships was won by James Patten MacDougall.^[6][7] In September at the inaugural County Wicklow Championships the tournament was won by a Captain Hughes. In September at the South of Ireland Championships held Wicklow in Ireland, the Limerick Cup was won by Vere St. Leger Goold.^[8]

Notes 1: Challenge round: the final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of tennis (from 1877 through 1921),^[9] in some tournaments not all.

Notes 2:Tournaments in italics were events that were staged only once that season

Key

No events

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semifinalist	Quarter finalist
21 - 24 April.[15][16]	Teifiside LTC Championship Teifiside Lawn Tennis Club Newcastle Emlyn, Wales Grass Singles - Doubles	Gwyn Saunders Davies ?	Dacre Tyler

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semifinalist	Quarter finalist
21 - 24 May.[17][18]	Bournemouth CLTC Spring Tournament[19] Bournemouth CLTC Dean Park Cricket Ground Bournemouth, England Grass Singles - Doubles	Edmond Bennet Brackenbury 3 sets to 2	Sir Hubert James Medlycott

Date	Tournament	Winner	All comers' finalist	Semifinalist	Quarterfinalist
July.[20]	All Ireland Lawn Tennis Championships All Ireland Lawn Tennis Club Champion Ground Lansdowne, Dublin, Ireland. Grass Singles	?	?
12 July	Championship of the Esher LTC Esher Lawn Tennis Club Esher, Surrey, England Grass Singles	Clement Edward Cottrell ?	?
9–19 July	Wimbledon Championship[21] London, Great Britain Grass Singles	Patrick Francis Hadow 6–4, 6–4, 6–4	Lestocq Robert Erskine	Herbert Lawford	Charles Gipps Hamilton Arthur Thomas Myers
		Challenger round Spencer Gore[22] 7–5, 6–1, 9–7
24 July.[23]	Staffordshire County Cricket Club Lawn Tennis Tournament. Staffordshire County Cricket Ground Lichfield, Staffordshire, England Grass Singles	Jonas Henry William Gardner ?

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semifinalist	Quarter finalist
12–19 August	Scottish Championships[24] [25] Edinburgh, Great Britain Singles	James Patten MacDougall[26]

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semifinalist	Quarter finalist
6 September.[27][28]	Armagh Lawn Tennis Tournament Armagh Lawn Tennis Club Armagh, Ireland Grass Singles - Doubles	W.F. Templer ?	Robert Shaw Templer
8–9 September	County Wicklow Championships[29] Bromley, County Wicklow, Ireland Grass Singles	Henry Evelyn Tombe ?	Captain Hughes ?	Captain Hughes George Gordon Tombe	S. H. Butcher Augustine Lefroy George Gordon Tombe
16–17 September	Waterford Tournament[30] Waterford, Ireland Grass Singles	Vere St. Leger Goold ?	J. M. Brown	Henry Joseph Gallwey J. C. Roberts	Patrick Joseph Gallwey William Joseph Gallwey Pierce Barron-Newell
23 September.[31][32]	Newon Abbott Lawn Tennis Tournament Newton Abbot Archery and Lawn Tennis Club South Devon Cricket Club Ground Newton Abbot, Devon, England Grass Singles - Doubles	Rev. William Hughes ?	W. Sandilands
26–30 September.[33][34]	South of Ireland Championships Limerick Cricket Club Limerick, Ireland Grass Singles	Vere St. Leger Goold 8–6, 8–6	William Henry Darby	William Henry Darby H H Eliott	Joseph Fritz James Heffernan Considine Robert Howden Kelly Charles Mounoir Sumner
		Heffernan Considine Helena Considine 6-3, 6-5, 6-2	Robert Howden Kelly Miss Lumley

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semifinalist	Quarter finalist
October.[35][36]	Moy and Charlemont LTC Tournament Moy and Charlemont Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club Moy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland Singles	Robert Baron Templer ?	S. Phipson	Robert Baron Templer H. Ringwood	Archibald Alexander Hamilton H. Ringwood Robert Shaw Templer
7–12 October	Dublin University Championships[37] Dublin, Ireland Hard (Asphalt) Singles	James Jackson Sherrard ?	William Morgan Jellett	Henry James Daly ? William Morgan Jellett	Henry James Daly Richard Manders George Henry Shannon
10 October.[38][39]	Bournemouth CLTC Autumn Tournament Bournemouth CLTC Dean Park Cricket Ground Bournemouth, England Grass Singles - Doubles	Hubert James Medlycott ?

No events

Important tournament in bold

• Patrick Francis Hadow – Wimbledon-(1)
• W.F. Templer – Armagh-(1)
• Edmond Bennet Brackenbury – Bournemouth 1st-(1)
• Sir Hubert James Medlycott – Bournemouth 2nd-(1)
• Henry Evelyn Tombe – Bromley-(1)
• James Jackson Sherrard – Dublin-(1)
• James Patten MacDougall – Edinburgh-(1)
• Clement Edward Cottrell– Esher-(1)
• Jonas Henry William Gardner–Lichfield-(1)
• William Henry Darby – Limerick-(1)
• Robert Baron Templer –Moy-(1)
• Gwyn Saunders – Newcastle Emlyn-(1)
• Rev. William Hughes – Newton Abbott-(1)
• Vere St. Leger Goold – Waterford-(1)

Source: The Concise History of Tennis, 6th edition, 2016

Karoly Mazak World Rankings for 1878[40]
#	Player
1	Patrick Francis Hadow (ENG)
2	Spencer Gore (ENG)
3	William Marshall (GBR)
4	Lestocq Robert Erskine (SCO)
5	C.G. Hamilton (GBR)

• 1878 women's tennis season
• 1878 Tennis Season
• 1878 in sports

• A Social History of Tennis in Britain: Lake, Robert J. (2014), Volume 5 of Routledge Research in Sports History. Routledge, UK, ISBN 9781134445578.
• Ayre's Lawn Tennis Almanack And Tournament Guide, 1908 to 1938, A. Wallis Myers.
• British Lawn Tennis and Squash Magazine, 1948 to 1967, British Lawn Tennis Ltd, UK.
• Dunlop Lawn Tennis Almanack And Tournament Guide, G.P. Hughes, 1939 to 1958, Dunlop Sports Co. Ltd, UK
• Lawn tennis and Badminton Magazine, 1906 to 1973, UK.
• Lowe's Lawn Tennis Annuals and Compendia, Lowe, Sir F. Gordon, Eyre & Spottiswoode
• Spalding's Lawn Tennis Annuals from 1885 to 1922, American Sports Pub. Co, USA.
• Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice, Nauright John and Parrish Charles, (2012), ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, Cal, USA, ISBN 1598843001.
• The Concise History of Tennis, Mazak Karoly, (2010), 6th Edition, 2015.
• Tennis; A Cultural History, Gillmeister Heiner, (1997), Leicester University Press, Leicester, UK.
• The Tennis Book, edited by Michael Bartlett and Bob Gillen, Arbor House, New York, 1981 ISBN 0-87795-344-9
• The World of Tennis Annuals, Barrett John, 1970 to 2001.
• Total Tennis:The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia, by Bud Collins, Sport Classic Books, Toronto, Canada, ISBN 0-9731443-4-3
• Wright & Ditson Officially Adopted Lawn Tennis Guide's 1890 to 1920 Wright & Ditsons Publishers, Boston, Mass, USA.
• http://www.tennisarchives.com/
• https://thetennisbase.com/

• 1878 Scottish Championships
• 1878 South of Ireland Championships, The Limerick Cup Ireland Archived 2016-10-26 at the Wayback Machine