Between the wars
Great Britain · born Bangalore, India, 1888 · died 1964 · right-handed · Australasian champion 1919 and winner of the first match on the new Centre Court
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1919
Australasian singles champion, beating Eric Pockley in Sydney
1919
Wimbledon All-Comers singles finalist, losing to Gerald Patterson
6
Kent Championships singles titles at Beckenham, 1914 to 1924
21-7
Wimbledon singles match record, seven appearances from 1914 to 1927
9-8
Davis Cup record for Great Britain, 1919 to 1924
Algernon Robert Fitzhardinge Kingscote, known as Algy, was born in Bangalore in 1888, the son of Colonel Howard Kingscote and the novelist Adeline Kingscote, who wrote as Lucas Cleeve. He learned the game on the courts of the Château-d'Œx club in Switzerland and won the Swiss championship in 1908. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, won the South of England title at Eastbourne in 1911 and the Kent title at Beckenham in 1914, toured America with the British Davis Cup team that year, then served through the First World War, winning the Military Cross.
He was past 30 when tennis resumed, but in 1919 he reached the Wimbledon All-Comers final, beating Max Decugis, Pat O'Hara Wood and Chuck Garland before losing to Gerald Patterson. That winter he captained Great Britain in the Davis Cup final in Sydney and then won the Australasian singles, beating Eric Pockley 6-4, 6-0, 6-3. He won the Kent title four years running from 1919 to 1922 and again in 1924, reached the 1920 Wimbledon doubles final with James Cecil Parke, and won the London Championships at Queen's Club in 1924, beating Gordon Lowe in the final.
In 1922 he played, and won, the first match on the new Centre Court at Church Road. He played for Britain at the 1924 Olympics in Paris and made his last Wimbledon appearance in 1927. He later captained the British International Tennis Club from 1925 to 1932 and chaired it for nearly 25 years, served again in the Second World War, and died at Woking on 21 December 1964.
| Wimbledon 1919 | Beat Max Decugis 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 8-6, 8-6, Pat O'Hara Wood 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 and Chuck Garland 6-1, 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, then lost the All-Comers final to Gerald Patterson 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon, later runs | 1920: lost to Bill Tilden in the fourth round 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. 1921: quarter-finalist, lost to Manuel Alonso. 1922: lost a five-set fourth round to Patterson, the eventual champion. 1924: quarter-finalist, lost to Dick Williams |
| Wimbledon doubles 1920 | With James Cecil Parke won five rounds to reach the All-Comers final, which counted as the final that year, and lost to Chuck Garland and Dick Williams 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 |
| Australasian final 1919 | Beat Eric Pockley of New South Wales 6-4, 6-0, 6-3, and received the first Anthony Wilding Memorial Medal |
| Kent Championships | Six singles titles at Beckenham, including four in a row from 1919 to 1922 |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1914 | Men's singles†| |
| 1919 | Men's singles | |
| 1920 | Men's singles | |
| 1921 | Men's singles | |
| 1922 | Men's singles | |
| 1924 | Men's singles | |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 1911 | Men's singles South of England Championships | |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1919 | Men's singles Australasian Championships | |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1924 | Men's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
The person behind the player.
Switzerland, 1899 to 1908
When he was ten, his mother left England for Switzerland. He learned his tennis on the courts of the Château-d'Œx club, where he practised alongside the young American Dick Williams, the man who would beat him in the 1920 Wimbledon doubles final. He won the Swiss championship in 1908, just days after his mother's sudden death.
Source: Olympedia; Headington historyKingscote Manor
The Kingscote pedigree goes back to 985, and the family home, Kingscote Manor in Gloucestershire, is mentioned in the Domesday Book. His grandfather, Henry Robert Kingscote, was a philanthropist and amateur cricketer.
Source: Olympedia; Wikipedia1914 to 1945
He was commissioned in the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1910, served throughout the First World War, was mentioned in despatches three times and won the Military Cross, and rose to lieutenant-colonel. At over 50 he served again from 1940 to 1942.
Source: Headington history; OlympediaCentre Court, 26 June 1922
After the King had opened the new ground by striking a gong three times, Leslie Godfree served the first ball on the new Centre Court to Kingscote, who netted the return. Godfree ran forward and pocketed the ball as a memento. Kingscote still won the match 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC); AELTC player recordCigarette cards
A cigarette card of the period said he had made a name in lawn tennis before the war, and called him "one of the soundest British players of the past ten years".
Source: Headington historyWimbledon, 1966
From 1966 the winners of Wimbledon's veterans' doubles received a silver cup bearing his name, the A.R.F. Kingscote cup.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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