The early years
Ireland · born Edinburgh, 1867 · died 1905 · Wimbledon champion 1896, the last Irishman to win the men's singles
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1896
Wimbledon champion, the last Irishman to win the men's singles
57
Games in the 1896 Challenge Round, the longest Wimbledon men's final until 1954
3
London Championships titles at Queen's Club: 1894, 1896 and 1899
4
Wimbledon finals: the 1893 and 1898 All-Comers finals and the 1896 and 1897 Challenge Rounds
3
Olympic medals at Paris in 1900: two silver, one bronze
Harold Segerson Mahony was born in Edinburgh on 13 February 1867 into an Irish landed family. His father, Richard John Mahony, a barrister, was one of the largest landowners in Ireland and built a tennis court at the family home, Dromore Castle in County Kerry, where Harold learned the game. He studied at Trinity College Dublin and by the mid-1890s was a regular on the London circuit.
He made his Wimbledon debut in 1890 and lost in the first round, reached the semi-finals in 1891 and 1892, and in 1893 lost the All-Comers final to Joshua Pim. After a spell in America he came back in 1896 to win the All-Comers event and then beat the holder, Wilfred Baddeley, in five sets. Reggie Doherty took the title from him in the 1897 Challenge Round, and Laurence Doherty beat him 14-12 in the fifth set of the 1898 All-Comers final. He also won the London Championships at Queen's Club three times and the Irish Championships in 1898.
At the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris he won silver medals in the singles and in the mixed doubles with Yvonne Prévost, and a bronze in the men's doubles. He was still playing at Wimbledon in 1904 and was entered again in 1905. On 27 June 1905, aged 38, he was killed in a cycling accident near his home in County Kerry.
| Wimbledon 1896 | All-Comers final: beat Wilberforce Eaves 6-2, 6-2, 11-9. Challenge Round: beat the holder Wilfred Baddeley 6-2, 6-8, 5-7, 8-6, 6-3, the longest Wimbledon men's final until 1954 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon finals lost | 1893 All-Comers final: lost to Joshua Pim 9-7, 6-3, 6-0. 1897 Challenge Round: lost to Reggie Doherty 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. 1898 All-Comers final: lost to Laurence Doherty 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 2-6, 14-12, after levelling from two sets down |
| London Championships, Queen's Club | Finals won: 1894 against Harry Barlow 6-2, 6-3, 6-3; 1896 against Reggie Doherty 11-9, 6-4, 6-4; 1899 against Arthur Gore 8-10, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1. Final lost: 1904 to Major Ritchie 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 |
| Irish Championships | Singles champion 1898, beating Wilberforce Eaves 6-1, 5-7, 9-7, 8-6. Runner-up to Wilfred Baddeley in 1896 and to Reggie Doherty in 1899 |
| Kent Championships, Beckenham | Won in 1899, beating Wilberforce Eaves 6-1, 6-1, 6-8, 3-6, 8-6, and again in 1904 against Brame Hillyard |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1896 | Men's singles | |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1894 | Men's singles | |
| 1896 | Men's singles | |
| 1899 | Men's singles | |
| Irish Championships | ||
| 1895 | Mixed doubles†| with Charlotte Cooper Sterry |
| 1896 | Mixed doubles†| with Charlotte Cooper Sterry |
| 1898 | Men's singles | |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
| 1899 | Men's singles | |
| 1904 | 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
"never did acquire the right method of hitting the ball on the forehand"
The person behind the player.
Dromore, County Kerry
His father, a barrister whose main activities were the family estates and oyster-raising, was listed as the sixth largest landowner in Ireland. When Harold, an only son, showed an interest in the game, a tennis court was built at Dromore Castle, and he learned to play there.
Source: The Independent, 2010Style
At 6 ft 3 in he had a long reach that made it hard to pass him when he came to the net, which he did often, and a backhand The Independent called spiteful. The forehand never came. George Hillyard, husband of Blanche Bingley, wrote that he never did acquire the right method of hitting the ball on that side.
Source: The Independent, 2010London, 1890s
Contemporaries wrote of his casual and irresponsible attitude, his generous heart and his banter with the crowds. He was an accomplished amateur musician, much in demand for coaching sessions at country houses, and kept rooms at Earls Court. The 1891 census records him as a guest, on the night of 5 April, at the Cheshire home of Lottie Dod and her widowed mother.
Source: The Independent, 2010Wimbledon, 1904
The young New Zealander Tony Wilding met Mahony at his first Wimbledon in 1904 and lost in four sets. He was pleased to have taken a set from the 1896 champion: "To my great delight I captured a set and made Mahony talk to himself a great deal."
Source: Anthony Wilding, WikipediaCaragh Lake, June 1905
On 27 June 1905 he went out on his bicycle and did not come back. A report of the time said he was descending a steep hill near Caragh Lake, lost control of his machine and was thrown heavily to the ground. He had been entered for Wimbledon that year, and the draw records his opponent, George Orme, as winning by walkover.
Source: Olympedia; Scottish Daily ExpressDublin, 2014
In April 2014 the 18-carat gold medal he won at Wimbledon in 1896 was offered at Adam's in Dublin as the medal of the last Irishman to win Wimbledon, with an estimate of 15,000 to 20,000 euro.
Source: The Irish Times, 2014Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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