Maud Edith Eleanor Watson, MBE (9 October 1864 – 5 June 1946) 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 and the first female

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 ...

champion.

Biography

Born in Harrow, Middlesex, the daughter of a local

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

Henry William and Emily Frances Watson. She learned to play tennis in the garden with her sister and did not find it difficult because she had already played squash racquets. At the age of sixteen Watson played her first match at the Edgbaston Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club. It was a successful debut, winning the singles competition by defeating her sister Lilian in the final and winning the doubles competition with her. In 1884 Watson participated in the Irish Lawn Tennis Championships and defeated the reigning Irish champion May Langrishe 6–3, 6–2, 6–2. She was also victorious in the mixed doubles tournament winning the title with multiple Wimbledon champion William Renshaw. Undefeated in tournament play, in 1884 the nineteen-year-old Watson won the first-ever Ladies' Singles title at

. Playing in white corsets and petticoats, from a field of thirteen competitors, she defeated Lilian 6–8, 6–3, 6–3 in the final to claim the title and a silver flower basket valued at 20 guineas. 1885 was a year of great success for Watson, who remained unbeaten in singles and lost only one set. She successfully defended her title at the 1885 Irish Championships against Louise Martin. For two sets, there was little to choose between them, but in the decider, Watson outlasted her opponent to win 6–2, 4–6, 6–3. At the end of June 1885 she took part in the second major tournament of the year at the Northern Championships held in Manchester where she defeated Edith Davies in straight sets In July 1885 she won 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 ...

. In a field of just 10 entries she easily won the quarter- and semi-finals and in the final defeated

Blanche Bingley Blanche Bingley Hillyard (née Bingley; 3 November 1863 – 6 August 1946) was an English tennis player. She won six singles Wimbledon championships (1886, 1889, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1900) and was runner up seven times, having also competed in the ...

6–1, 7–5. She became the first woman to win all three major titles in the same calendar year. In 1886, the year the Challenge Round was introduced for women, Bingley turned the tables, defeating Watson 6–3, 6–3 in the final to take the title. In 1887 and 1888 Watson, was handicapped by a sprained wrist, symptoms of such amplified with time. Her final competition came at the Edgbaston tournament in June 1889. She entered three events (doubles, mixed doubles and handicap singles) and won them all. While on holiday in

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

she went swimming off the coast and nearly drowned. She was rescued with difficulty and suffered an illness afterwards which she took a number of years to recover completely from. Maud Watson worked as a nurse during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

for which she was made a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

.Little (1983), p. 15 Watson, who did not marry, died on 5 June 1946, aged 81, at Hammonds Mead House in

Charmouth Charmouth is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the mouth of the River Char, around north-east of Lyme Regis. Dorset County Council estimated that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 1,31 ...

.Collins (2010), p. 10

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Maud 1864 births 1946 deaths 19th-century female tennis players 19th-century English sportswomen 20th-century English sportswomen English female tennis players British female tennis players People from Harrow, London Tennis players from the London Borough of Harrow People from the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull People from West Dorset District Sportspeople from Dorset Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era) Members of the Order of the British Empire Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles British women in World War I