Tennis became the second competitive sport to be played regularly by female students at Mount Allison during the spring and autumn months. By 1911 eight tennis courts were spread across the campus. Although never a varsity sport, tennis had become very popular.
Attempts to move the court game "real tennis" outdoors were not successful until Europeans were able to manipulate rubber in the mid-1800s and create a ball that could bounce on a grass surface. Major Walter Wingfield of North Wales, is credited for the invention of lawn tennis following the publication of his rules for the game in 1873. [1]
Between 1886 and 1890 Ladies' College students are seen holding tennis racquets. [2] Male students and faculty of the University and Academy are pictured with tennis racquets in 1891 [3] and Ladies' College students are again seen holding tennis racquets between 1892 and 1893. [4] The latter image also features tennis balls attached to each student's waist with a rope. Identification of the significance of this combination is lacking. There is no evidence to suggest that tennis was played on campus for at least another five years.
From an 1897 Argosy [5] we know male students were playing tennis but it did not receive much attention until May 1902 when students of the Ladies' College staged a lawn tennis tournament as part of the school's closing week ceremonies. [6] In November 1902 Josiah Wood (Class of 1863, merchant, senator, and mayor of Sackville) funded the construction of two new tennis courts in the Ladies' College Park [7] next to the recently excavated pond. Josiah Wood's son, Herbert Mariner Wood, was the president of the Sackville Tennis Club when it held its first annual meeting in May 1904. [8]
View looking north toward Allison Hall. Lingley Hall is in background at right, partially obscured by trees.
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/163. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
People, left-right, top half: Rice, Henry Clarence; Seaboyer, Benjamin C.; Archibald, Raymond Clare; Potts, T. Amos; Burrell, R. Herber; Mosher, Thornton; Rice, Cyrus Herbert; Sprague, Fred W.; Patterson, Sampson; Walker, David; Colpitts, Edwin; Marr, Hedley D.; McLeod, Alex D.; Hetherington, Luther R.; Allison, David (University President); Harrison, Harry; Smith, Alfred Deane; Smith, James; Brecken, Ralph (Rev.); [unidentified]; Hunton, Sidney W.; Gregg, G. Spicer; Patterson, Harry Prescott; Huestis, Harry; Alcorn, W. Morley; Bayley, Sedgwick Alexander; Beer, Edgar George; Phalen, John. People, left-right, bottom half: Archibald, Thomas D. [holding left tennis racket]; Patterson, Arthur H.; [unidentified]; DesBarres, Fred W. [holding middle tennis racket]; Sanford, Albert M.; Corbett, Fred A.; Parlee, William K.C.; Darby, Thomas B.; Seller, William E.W.; Leonard, Stanley C.; Day, Frederick B.; [unidentified]; King, Robert M.; Ryan, Woffard M.; Jost, William B.; Beckwith, William H.H. [holding right tennis racket]; Costin, William W.
Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/9/2/1, page 46, picture 2 of 2. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
People, left-right, back row: Lovitt, Elizabeth.; Deinstadt, Lillian J.M.; Vickerson, Martha; Borden, Elizabeth M. Second row: Tweedie, Nettie E.; Gibson, Alma Mary; Johnson, Lilian B.; [unidentified]; [unidentified]; Taylor, Lillian Bertha; Woods, Winnifred. Third row: Olive, Harriott S.; Large, Mary S. Bottom row: McEwen, Alice Maud; Crowe, Emma H.; Palmer, Nellie.
Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/9/2/1, page 24, picture 2 of 2. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
In autumn 1903 students of the Ladies' College arranged their own tennis club [9], with an aim of creating increased interest in the sport among its 32 members. [10] In November 1903 an article in the first issue of the Ladies' College student journal, Allisonia, recorded:
"The game has an atmosphere of good sportsmanship that gives its devotees the best ideas of honor, of respect for the opponent, and of the kind of honesty that comes from scoring fairly." [11]
Between 1903 and 1910 tennis was played primarily at the Ladies' College. Joining basketball, it was the second competitive sport to be played on a regular basis by female students at Mount Allison. By 1911 students at both the University and the Ladies' College were actively playing tennis. There were five courts on campus in 1911 [12] and by autumn 1912 there were eight. [13]
View looking north.Buildings, left-right: Barn (located behind President's Cottage); Borden Hall; Domestic Sciences Building (former Ladies' College gymnasium).
Mount Allison University Archives, Mount Allison University Registrar's Office fonds, accession 7913/359 (slide). May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
People, left-right: Perry, Doris; Corning, Mildred; Fuller, Annie Alice; Crosby, Mildred; Baker, Peggy.
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/33. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
In May 1911 a tournament was held between Mount Allison and the town. Two months later University student Daisy Gass, Class of 1911, won a tennis championship against competitors from ten other colleges at the YWCA Muskoka Conference in Ontario. This is the only record of tennis being played against students of other colleges. Hopes of starting an intercollegiate league were recorded in The Argosy (April 1914) but never materialized.
Mount Allison's closing week ceremonies in May featured tennis between 1911 and 1914. In 1913 men's singles and mixed doubles tournaments were held. In 1914 both the University and Academy had tennis clubs and an interclass tournament was played during the closing ceremonies. By October 1914 interest in tennis among students of the Ladies' College began to wane, while the popularity of basketball among female students grew once again.
There is no indication that women at Mount Allison played tennis on campus from 1915 to the end of the First World War. University men continued to play interclass tennis during the autumn months between 1916 and 1918, competing for a cup donated by Allisonian and chemistry professor Harold Eugene Bigelow.
Photograph taken in front of Owen's Art Gallery. Centennial Hall and tennis court in background. People, left-right: Manning, Pauline; Jones, Gertrude I.; McAnn, Ada M.; Spicer, Lorena.
Mount Allison University Archives, M. Aleida Hawes fonds, accession 8615/17. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
View looking north over Salem Street. Buildings, left-right: Sprague House, Centennial Hall.
Mount Allison University Archives, Donald F. Taylor fonds, accession 7601/2/100. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
[1] Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia, 15th edition, 1977, “Tennis and Allied Court Games,” p. 131
[2] Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, 2007.07/163.
[3] Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/9/2/1, page 46, picture 2 of 2
[4] Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/9/2/1, page 24, picture 2 of 2
[5] Argosy, vol. XXIV (ns) (XXVII os) no. 1, Oct. 1897, "The Field and Gym, p. 22; Argosy, Mar. 9, 1940, "Mount Allison Of Earlier Years," by E.E. Hewson '91, p. 16 (author says tennis had not arrived by 1891)
[6] Programme, "Anniversary Exercises," 1892, located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/5, p. 53
[7] [Sackville] Tribune, Nov. 6, 1902, "Ladies College," p. 1
[8] [Sackville] Tribune, May 5, 1904, "Tennis Meeting," p. 6
[9] Allisonia, vol. I, no. 1, Nov. 1903, "College Sports," p. 18
[10] Allisonia, vol. I, no. 1, Nov. 1903, "College Sports," p. 18
[11] Allisonia, vol. I, no. 1, Nov. 1903, "College Sports," p. 18
[12] Argosy, vol. XXXVII, no. 8, May 1911, "Athletics," p. 411. Note: [Saint John] Globe, May 15, 1912, located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/2/3, p. 110 says there are three courts (two near the pond, and one to the west of the art building)
[13] [Saint John] Globe, May 15, 1912, located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/2/3, p. 110 (describes where courts are being built); Argosy, vol. XXXVIII, no. 8, May 1912, "LC Notes," p. 411 (says Ladies’ College tennis courts will be ready in the fall); Mount Allison University Archives, Map Collection, Plan of Campus of the Mount Allison University, 1914, by “V.C.E.” (map shows where all eight courts are located)
[14] Argosy, vol. XXXVII, no. 8, May 1911, "Athletics," p. 411
[15] [Sackville Tribune], Jul. 28, 1911, "Mount Allison Girl Won Championship," located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/12, p. 12
[16] Argosy, vol. XL, no. 7, Apr. 1914, "Athletics," p. 400