Oldest photo in Buxton Advertiser’s sport archive dates back to 1885

The first record of tennis in Buxton is from 1880 when the Buxton Gardens hosted a tennis tournament for visitors.

On Buxton Tennis Club’s website it states: “By 1883, the tournament was attracting so many entries that in 1884 the proprietors of the Gardens, the Buxton Improvements Company, decided to run a proper open tournament with ladies and gentlemen's singles played under the title 'Championship of Derbyshire' and a ladies doubles played with the imposing title of 'The All-England Ladies Doubles.”

This latter championship was the first of its kind, being inaugurated before Wimbledon, or anyone else, could appropriate this title and it was played under this name until the tournament ceased in the 1950s.

At a later stage gentlemen's doubles, mixed doubles and handicap events were introduced but it was the championship events that were the backbone of the tournament.

All the information about the oldest photograph in the Buxton Advertiser sports archives says ‘the Advertiser's oldest sport picture is this tennis final from 1885’.

However, looking at the records of the final match it was between Eyre Chatterton, an English tennis player who was an eminent Anglican author and also served as a bishop in India, against American James Dwight, who was known as the ‘Founding Father of American Tennis’.

The match ended 6-2, 6–1, 6–3 to Chatterton.

We do not sadly know if those pictured are Chatterton and Dwight.

In 1889 the Buxton Guide advertised the availability of both grass and gravel courts in the Gardens.

Tournaments resumed in 1919 after the First World War and the 1920s saw a considerable increase in the local facilities. In 1920 the Buxton Corporation bought the Ashwood Park Hotel along with the grounds and during the next few years developed the park with bowling greens, putting green and four hard tennis courts. The Derbyshire Championships ran for 60 years from 1883 until 1953 with the men’s team finishing in 1951 and the women’s tournament two years later. The tournament is still held today as a closed tennis event.