Spencer Gore (sportsman)

Spencer Gore

Full name	Spencer William Gore
Country (sports)	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Born	10 March 1850 Wimbledon, London, England
Died	19 April 1906 (aged 56) Ramsgate, England
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1877, Karoly Mazak)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Wimbledon	W (1877)

Spencer William Gore (10 March 1850 – 19 April 1906) was an English tennis player who won the first Wimbledon tournament in 1877 and a cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club (1874-1875).

Early years

Harrow cricket team of 1869 for the match against Eton. Gore is front row, fourth from the left.

Spencer William Gore was the son of Charles Alexander Gore and Augusta Lavinia Priscilla (née Ponsonby), a daughter of the fourth Earl of Bessborough. His brother was Charles Gore the theologian and first Bishop of Birmingham. He was born and raised within a mile of the All England Croquet Club in Wimbledon Common, Surrey. He was educated at Harrow school, where he excelled at all games, especially football and cricket, and was the captain of the school cricket team in 1869.^[2]

Sporting career

Gore made his first class cricket debut for Surrey against Middlesex in 1874 hitting 17 runs off the first four balls he received in his first match. He played again for Surrey against Middlesex in 1875 when Surrey won by 10 wickets and he did not have a chance to play a second innings. He played cricket mainly for I Zingari at club level, playing his last match for them in 1893. He played two first class matches for I Zingari which were against Yorkshire in 1878 and 1879 and one match for Gentlemen of the South in 1879.

In 1877 the first Wimbledon lawn tennis championship was held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club which had been renamed from the All England Croquet Club since tennis had been established there two years earlier.^[3] Gore won the Gentleman's Singles beating William Marshall 6–1, 6–2, 6–4 on 19 July 1877. He was the first player who ever used the technique of volleying, therefore he is considered the creator of the style of volley.

Gore was among the twenty-two men who paid a guinea to enter the inaugural 1877 championship (women did not have a competition until 1884). The 21 matches were spread over five days. The championship was suspended for the weekend so as not to clash with the annual Eton v Harrow cricket match at Lord's Cricket Ground. The scheduled final on Monday was postponed for four days because of rain.

Dropping only two sets in four rounds, the 27-year-old Gore reached the final after beating CG Heathcote in the semifinal. Against Marshall, he won in straight sets, 6–1, 6–2, 6–4, in forty eight minutes.^[4] Gore collected the first prize of 12 guineas and a silver cup presented by The Field, a sporting magazine.

As the reigning champion Gore did not have to play through the tournament in the following year's Championship but instead played in the challenge round against the winner of the All-Comers tournament. He lost the Gentleman's Singles challenge round to Frank Hadow 7–5, 6–1, 9–7 and did not compete in the Wimbledon Championships again after that match.

Business career

Gore joined Pickering and Smith, the property advisory firm of his father-in-law Edmund James Smith who became President of the Surveyors' Institute. Gore was promoted to partnership and the firm was renamed Smiths and Gore.^[5][6]

Personal life

On 9 January 1875 Gore married Amy Margaret Smith, with whom he had four children—Kathleen Amy, Florence Emily Frances, George Pym (1875–1959) and Spencer Frederick (1878–1914). The last became well known as the artist Spencer Gore while George was a boxing champion and played cricket for Durham.

Gore died at the Granville Hotel, Ramsgate, Kent aged 56. He was buried in Ramsgate Cemetery on 23 April 1906 (grave number AA511).

Major finals

Grand Slam tournaments

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1877	Wimbledon	Grass	William Marshall	6–1, 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	1878	Wimbledon	Grass	Frank Hadow	5–7, 1–6, 7–9

Notes

1. Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis, p. 5.
2. Spencer Gore at Cricket Archive
3. 2006 Wimbledon Compendium, Alan Little, p.9
4. 2006 Wimbledon Compendium, Alan Little, p.336
5. "Edmund James Smith CE FGS". W. H. Auden - 'Family Ghosts'. Stanford University. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
6. "Spencer William Gore". W. H. Auden - 'Family Ghosts'. Stanford University. Retrieved 30 January 2012.