The North of Ireland Championships was an early

Victorian period In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

men's and women's

grass court A grass court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament. While grass courts are more tra ...

tennis tournament founded in 1879. The championship was played at the Cliftonville Cricket Club,

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The tournament ran annually for fifteen editions until 1894. It was the precursor tournament to the later Ulster Grass Court Championships.

History

The regional tennis tournament the North of Ireland Championships tournament was established early as 1881, at the Cliftonville Cricket Club on Cliftonville Road in

. Some time later the club was renamed as the Cliftonville Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club. The North of Ireland Championships tournament ran until 1894 when it was abandoned. cancelled after 1894. Following World War One in 1919 new regional lawn tennis was established representative for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

called the

Ulster Grass Court Championships Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); the remaining three are in the Republic of I ...

staged at the Belfast Boat Club, South Belfast. This

tournament ran until at least 1980. In 1928 a second regional tournament was established known as the Ulster Hard Court Championships that was played on

clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis is played. Clay courts are built on a foundation of crushed stone, brick, shale, and other construction aggregate, aggregate, with a thin layer of fine clay particles ...

s that was staged through to the 1950s. The former tournaments were both amateur events, but in the mid-1960s a professional event was staged in Belfast called the Ulster Professional Championships. Notable male players who this championship includes

Manliffe Goodbody Manliffe Francis Goodbody (20 November 1868 – 24 March 1916) was an Irish tennis and football player. Career Goodbody was born on 20 November 1868, at Dublin, the son of Marcus Goodbody and Hannah Woodcock Perry. He represented Ireland at foot ...

who won it three times (1889, 1890, 1893). The North of Ireland and Ulster grass court tournaments have survived into the 21st century where today as two separate events is known as the North of Ireland Open, and the Ulster Senior Open.

Finals

Men's singles

(incomplete roll)

Women's singles

(incomplete roll)

References

{{Reflist, 2

Sources

* Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes (1889). Volume LI. January - June. Vinton & Co Ltd, London. * Routledges Sporting Annual (1882) George Routledge and Son. London. * The Belfast Telegraph (3 July 1965), Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Defunct tennis tournaments in the United Kingdom Grass court tennis tournaments