The early years
Great Britain · born Bayswater, 1851 · died 1925 · Wimbledon champion 1887
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1887
Wimbledon singles champion
6
Wimbledon singles finals, 1880 and 1884 to 1888
5
Final defeats, a record shared with Arthur Gore
33-11
Wimbledon singles match record
3
Irish Championships singles titles in a row
Born in Bayswater on 15 May 1851, Herbert Fortescue Lawford was educated at Repton and Edinburgh Academy and spent two years at Edinburgh University, where he played cricket. He became a London stockbroker and took up lawn tennis there, winning the Oxford University doubles with Robert Erskine in 1879. He first played Wimbledon in 1878, its second year, and reached the semi-finals at 27. Over the next decade he reached six singles finals and won the title in 1887. He won the Irish Championships three years running from 1884 and the first British Covered Court Championships in 1885. He stopped playing in 1890, retired to Dess, near Aboyne in Aberdeenshire, in 1909, and died there on 20 April 1925. He entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.
| Major singles titles | 1: Wimbledon (1887) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 5: Wimbledon 1880, Wimbledon 1884, Wimbledon 1885, Wimbledon 1886, Wimbledon 1888 |
| Other grass singles titles | 6: Irish Championships 3 (1884, 1885, 1886); London Championships 3 (1882, 1883, 1884) |
| Finals to remember | 1887: beat Ernest Renshaw 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, coming from behind twice. 1880: won the All-Comers' final, then lost the Challenge Round to John Hartley 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6 |
| Against the Renshaws | Met one of the twins in five Wimbledon finals in a row, 1884 to 1888, and won once; lost to William in the 1881 semi-final in five sets |
| Irish Championships finals | Beat Ernest Renshaw 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in 1884 and in five sets in 1885; beat Willoughby Hamilton in 1886. Lost to Ernest Renshaw in 1883 and 1887 |
| Doubles | Oxford University doubles 1879 with Robert Erskine, a forerunner of the Wimbledon doubles, won over seven sets. Irish doubles 1880 with A. J. Mulholland |
| Wimbledon semi-finals | 1878, 1881, 1882 and 1889 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1887 | Men's singles | |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1882 | Men's singles†| |
| 1883 | Men's singles†| |
| 1884 | Men's singles†| |
| Irish Championships | ||
| 1884 | Men's singles | |
| 1885 | Men's singles | |
| 1886 | 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
"Mr. Lawford no longer plays wholly from the back of the court, but volleys a great deal, and very effectively too."
The person behind the player.
Edinburgh, 1868 to 1870
Before lawn tennis existed, Lawford finished his schooling at Edinburgh Academy and spent two years at Edinburgh University, playing in the university cricket team. He also played cricket for Edinburgh Academicals, practised at the Rose Street Racket Court and turned out at least once for the Wanderers football club. It began a lifelong attachment to Scotland.
Source: Scottish Sport HistoryWimbledon, 1880s
Lawford was easy to pick out on court: a thick handlebar moustache, and hats and shirts striped in black and white, like those worn by sports officials. The London News illustrated one of his matches against John Hartley, showing him lunging for a backhand.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameBoston, 1886
The back pages of James Dwight's book Lawn-tennis, published in Boston in 1886, advertise a racquet called the Lawford, "a new shape this season" and "specially adapted for a rapid game", with a smaller head and a longer octagon handle. In the same book Dwight noted that Lawford now volleyed a great deal.
Source: Project GutenbergWimbledon 1887
William Renshaw, the holder, missed the 1887 Championships with tennis elbow. Lawford met Ernest in the All-Comers' final, lost the first and third sets, and came back both times to win 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. With no holder to challenge, he was champion. A year later Ernest beat him in straight sets.
Source: Scottish Daily ExpressWimbledon 1880 to 1888
Lawford reached six Wimbledon singles finals and lost five, the most by any man, a record he shares with Arthur Gore, who won three. The Scottish Daily Express called him Wimbledon's greatest loser; the Hall of Fame suggests he would have won several more titles had the Renshaw twins not taken most of them.
Source: Scottish Daily ExpressAboyne, 1925 and 2017
Lawford spent his last years at Dess, near Aboyne, and is buried in the graveyard of St Thomas's Church there. His is the first name on the Aboyne Tennis Club trophy, and when the club repainted its courts in 2017 it chose Wimbledon purple and green, with a nod to its champion.
Source: Aboyne Lawn Tennis ClubFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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