The Armagh Championship or Armagh ALTC Championship was a combined men's and women's Hard court tennis tournament staged first staged on 28 September 1878 as the Armagh Lawn Tennis Tournament at the Archery and Lawn Tennis Club, Armagh, Northern Ireland. The championship was staged up to at least 1934.
History The Armagh Lawn Tennis Tournament was a late Victorian period tennis tournament that was played on hard courts (one of the earliest known). The tournament was organised by the Archery and Lawn Tennis Club in Armagh, Northern Ireland. This tournament was particularly unique, not for it just being a hard court event, it also staged combined events for men and women in both singles, doubles and mixed doubles. However they were not all held at the same time the events were spread out over a three-month period, being played July through to October.
At the inaugural 1878 tournament only a men's singles event was played, that was won by Walter Francis Templer, the brother of Robert Baron Templer. On 27 July 1882, the Armagh LTC Tournament was concluded that featured a women's singles, doubles and mixed soubles event.Routledge Sporting Annual (1883) Results for 1882. George Routledge and Son's. London. England p.116 The women's singles was won by Miss J M McLintock.Routledge Sporting Annual (1883) The women's doubles event was won by Miss. G McLintock and Miss J M Mclintock,Routledge Sporting Annual (1883) and the mixed double's was won by Major Dashwood and Miss J M Mclintock.Routledge Sporting Annual (1883) In October 1882 a second Armagh LTC Tournament was held for the men's singles event that was held won by Robert Barron Templer.
The tournament continued to staged throughout the 1880s and 1890s. The tournament continued to be held throughout the 1920s, and into the early 1930s which by this point it was known as the Armagh Championship Tournament.Belfast News Letter (1934)
Finals Men's singles (incomplete roll) Year Champion Runner up Score1878 Walter Francis Templer Robert Baron Templer6–5, 5–6, 6–21879 Frederick Lorance Cope (2) Robert Shaw Templer6-51880 F.A. Clark (3) Robert Shaw Templer2–0 sets 1881 Robert Baron Templer (2) Robert Shaw Templer2–0 sets1882 Robert Baron Templer (3) Robert Baron Templer3–1 sets1883 Robert Baron Templer (4) E.J. Wolfe2–1 sets1885 Robert Baron Templer (5) Walter Francis Templerw.o.1886 Walter Francis Templer (2) A. Wolfe2–1 sets1887 Hagan Wilfred Jones T. Dickson2–0 sets 1888 Arthur David Ash Gaussen J. Gordon2–1 sets1934 D'Arcy McCrea George McVeagh6–4, 4–6, 6–4 Men's doubles (incomplete roll) Year Champion Runner up Score 1887 Charles Langham Carter Hagan Wilfred Jones Harold Hardyman Thomas Kelly Murphy2–0 sets
Women's singles (incomplete roll) Year Champion Runner up Score1887 Doireann Boyle Lavinia Chambers6–3, 6–21888 Lena Rice May Langrishe2–1 sets1932 Hilda Wallis Norma Stoker6-1, 6–4 1934Belfast News-Letter Irene Maltby Hilda Wallis6–4, 2–6, 6–3
Women's doubles (incomplete roll) Year Champion Runner up Score1891 Miss. Johnston Miss. McClintock Miss.Marks Miss. Geer6–1, 4–6, 6–4
Mixed doubles (incomplete roll) Year Champion Runner up Score 1887 Rorry Maunsell Lavinia Chambers Harold Hardyman Doireann Boyle2–0 sets
References
Sources Belfast News Letter (25 June 1934). Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland: British Newspaper Archives. Dublin Daily Express. (5 September 1888). Dublin, Republic of Ireland: British Newspaper Archives. Irish Times.(10 July 1891). Dublin, Ireland: British Newspaper Archives. Northern Whig and Belfast Post (14 June 1923). British Newspaper Archives. Routledge Sporting Annual (1883) Results for 1882. George Routledge and Son's. London. England.