Howard Francis Walton (23 July 1916 – 14 December 1989) was a British

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 active in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He also represented England at the

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men ...

. Walton, youngest of six children, was the only son born to Percival Walton and Florence Bargery in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He was known for having a distinctive cramped style of tennis which came about from the way he had practised as a child. While living in Manchester, his father had turned two of their

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

s into a court. Due to the cramped space there was not even enough room for a forehand drive so his own style of play developed. First playing tournament tennis while he was in the RAF, Walton won the

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

county title four times and regularly featured at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

post war. By the time of his last Wimbledon appearance in 1963 he was the only English player, along with

Geoffrey Paish Geoffrey Lane Paish MBE (2 January 1922 – 3 February 2008) was a noted tennis player and administrator. Paish was born in Croydon, Surrey and educated at Mid-Whitgift School (now Trinity School) in Croydon. Career After World War II Paish ...

, to have not missed a main draw during this period. In 1948 he earned a call up to the

Great Britain Davis Cup team The Great Britain Davis Cup team has represented the United Kingdom internationally since 1900 in the Davis Cup. Organised by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), it is one of the 50 members of International Tennis Federation's European associatio ...

for a tie against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in Harrogate. His selection was aided by the fact he had a week prior beaten two of the Indian players when he won a tournament in Paddington. He featured in two singles rubbers for Great Britain and lost in both, to Dilip Bose and Sumant Misra. Great Britain still won the tie and progressed to play Norway in Oslo, but Walton was replaced in the team by Headley Baxter. Walton was married in 1964 to Betty Green, a company director from

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden. Neighbouring areas includes Childs Hill to the north, Frognal to the east, Swiss Cottage to the south-east, South Hampstead to the south and Kilburn to the south-west. The neighbourh ...

, London.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Howard 1916 births 1989 deaths English male tennis players British male tennis players English male table tennis players Tennis players from the West Midlands (county) Royal Air Force personnel of World War II 20th-century English sportsmen

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