Ernest George Meers (1849 – 20 August 1928) was an English

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player, organist and gum merchant.

Biography

Meers was born in

Kingsnorth Kingsnorth is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Ashford in Kent, England. The civil parish adjoins the town of Ashford. Features The Greensand Way, a long distance footpath stretching from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Ken ...

, near Ashford,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Music from

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

and was later chairman and managing director of Watts Ltd, gummakers. He married Eliza Rose, daughter of Captain Henry Douglas-Hart of the

Madras Army The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations manda ...

, who was assassinated while serving in India in 1858. They had three sons and two daughters who survived him.

Tennis career

His played first tournament at the

North of England Championships The North of England Championships and later known as the Rothmans Open North of England Championships (for sponsorship reasons), was a men's and women's grass court tennis tournament founded in 1884 as the North Yorkshire Tournament. It was mainly ...

in Scarborough in 1884 going out in the round of 16. He reached his first final at Sittingbourne in 1885 losing to

Ernest Wool Lewis Ernest Lewis may refer to: * Ernest Lewis (tennis) Ernest Wool Lewis (5 April 1867 – 19 April 1930) was a British lawn tennis player who was active at the end of the 19th century. He twice won the Irish Championships in 1890 and 1891, and w ...

. Meers played at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

between 1890 and 1895, reaching the quarterfinals of the all-comers competition in 1894 and the semifinals in 1895. He reached the semifinals of the U.S. National Championships in

1889 Events January * January 1 ** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada. ** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in the Dakotas ...

and won the

British Covered Court Championships The British Covered Court Championships (BCCC) was an indoor tennis event held from 1885 through 1971 and played in London, England. The tournament dates fluctuated between October and March. History For its first five years the tournament was hel ...

in 1892. His other singles successes included winning the

indoors on hard wood courts in 1891. He won the

Kent Championships The Kent Championships also known as the Kent All-Comers' Championships and later Kent Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts in Foxgrove Road, Beckenham, Kent, England between 1886 and 1996 and was held in the first half of ...

on grass three times (1888, 1890–91). In addition he also won three titles at the

Essex Championships The Essex Championships also known as the Essex County Lawn Tennis Championships or Essex Grass Court Championships was a combined men's and women's grass court tennis tournament established in 1881 at Brentwood, Essex. In 1946 it was moved to the ...

(1887–88, 1890) and the Chingford Open (1888), the

Middlesex Championships The Middlesex Championships. or Middlesex Lawn Tennis Championships and also known as the Middlesex Open Tennis Championships was a men's and women's grass court tennis founded at the Chiswick Park Lawn Tennis Club,Chiswick, Chiswick Park, Chiswick ...

onetime in 1891. He played his last tournament at the British Covered Court Championships in 1896 going out in the quarter-finals.Nieuwland, Tennis Archives

References

1849 births 1928 deaths People from the Borough of Ashford 19th-century male tennis players Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford English classical organists English male tennis players British male tennis players Tennis players from Kent 19th-century English sportsmen {{UK-tennis-bio-stub