The early years
Ireland · born Bray, County Wicklow, 1869 · died 1942 · Wimbledon champion 1893 and 1894, and a working doctor
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Wimbledon singles titles, 1893 and 1894
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Wimbledon doubles titles with Frank Stoker, 1890 and 1893
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Wimbledon singles finals in a row against Wilfred Baddeley, 1891 to 1894
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Northern Championships singles titles in a row, 1890 to 1893
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Irish Championships singles titles in a row, 1893 to 1895
Joshua Pim was born in Bray, County Wicklow, on 20 May 1869. His father, a barrister, died when he was barely two. He played tennis from the age of 11 and in 1888 joined the Lansdowne club in Dublin, then the All Ireland Lawn Tennis Club, where he was coached by Thomas Burke. That May, aged 19, he took the reigning Wimbledon champion Herbert Lawford to five sets in the semi-finals of the Irish Championships. He entered the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland the same year, qualified in 1891 and became a Fellow in 1896.
In 1890 he won the Irish and Wimbledon doubles with Frank Stoker and the first of four Northern singles titles in a row. He then met Wilfred Baddeley in four Wimbledon singles finals running, losing in 1891 and 1892 and winning in 1893 and 1894. In 1893 he also won the Irish singles, beating Ernest Renshaw, the London Championships at Queen's Club and, with Stoker, the Irish and Wimbledon doubles, the first player to hold the singles and doubles titles of both tournaments at once. He won the Irish singles for a third year in 1895, then went to the United States with Harold Mahony instead of defending at Wimbledon. In 1897 he won the South of England Championships at Eastbourne, beating Laurence Doherty.
Medicine came first. From 1899 he was medical officer of the Rathdown Workhouse Infirmary at Loughlinstown, later St Columcille's Hospital, and combined the post with general practice for 42 years. In 1902 he was recalled for the British Isles Davis Cup team in Brooklyn and lost both his singles; after the US Championships that year he played no more competitive tennis. He was a founder member of Killiney Golf Club in 1903 and died at his home, Secrora, in Killiney on 15 April 1942, aged 72.
| Wimbledon singles finals | All four against Wilfred Baddeley. 1891: lost 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-0. 1892: lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. 1893: won 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. 1894: won 10-8, 6-2, 8-6 |
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| Northern Championships finals | 1890: beat Willoughby Hamilton 2-6, 6-8, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3 from two sets down. 1891: beat Baddeley 4-6, 8-6, 6-4, 7-5. 1892: beat Harry Barlow 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. 1893: beat Harold Mahony 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 |
| Irish Championships 1893 | Final: beat Ernest Renshaw 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, driving him into the left-hand corner and dropping the reply short to the right |
| Eastbourne 1897 | South of England Championships: beat Laurence Doherty 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 |
| Davis Cup 1902 | Crescent Athletic Club, Brooklyn: lost to Malcolm Whitman 6-1, 6-1, 1-6, 6-0 and to William Larned 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1890 | Men's doubles | with Frank Stoker |
| 1893 | Men's doubles | with Frank Stoker |
| 1893 | Men's singles | |
| 1894 | Men's singles | |
| Irish Championships | ||
| 1890 | Men's doubles†| with Frank Stoker |
| 1891 | Men's doubles†| with Frank Stoker |
| 1893 | Men's doubles‡ | with Frank Stoker |
| 1893 | Men's singles | |
| 1894 | Men's doubles†| with Frank Stoker |
| 1894 | Men's singles | |
| 1895 | Men's doubles†| with Frank Stoker |
| 1895 | Men's singles | |
| Northern Championships | ||
| 1890 | Men's singles | |
| 1891 | Men's singles | |
| 1892 | Men's singles | |
| 1893 | Men's singles | |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1893 | Men's singles | |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 1897 | Men's singles South of England Championships | |
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 general opinion of experts would seem to rank Joshua Pim as the finest player the world has ever seen"
The person behind the player.
Dublin, 1891
In 1891 Pim hurt his right hand falling out of a car in Dublin. He lost the Irish final to Ernest Lewis, but with the finger still swollen he won the Northern Championships and reached the Wimbledon final, where Baddeley beat him in four sets.
Source: Killiney Golf Club centenary book; WikipediaWimbledon, 1893 to 1894
After his 1893 final the Newcastle Daily Chronicle noted that Pim had "never been known to lose his temper when playing". A year later, when he beat Baddeley again, the Dublin Evening Telegraph declared: "The champion of England, Ireland and the world is an Irishman, namely Dr J. Pim."
Source: Wikipedia, citing contemporary newspapersBoston, 1895
In 1895 he skipped Wimbledon to play an international tournament near Boston with Mahony. He beat William Larned, Fred Hovey and Malcolm Chace before losing to Clarence Hobart. Professor William Lyon Phelps later wrote: "Pim was so superior to anything we had in America in the nineties that when he came here he was a revelation".
Source: Wikipedia, citing W. L. Phelps (1934)Brooklyn, 1902
Called out of retirement as the token Irishman in the British Isles Davis Cup team, Pim travelled under the name "Mr X". The secret did not last, and he was mocked for his weight, although he had shed two stone in six weeks. Phelps wrote that "those who saw him play saw only Pim's ghost". He lost both his singles.
Source: Wikipedia, citing the Dictionary of Irish Biography and W. L. PhelpsKilliney, 1903 to 1942
Pim and his wife were founder members of Killiney Golf Club in 1903; she played off ten. He kept a scratch handicap into his fifties, eased out to two only in a revision in the mid-1920s, and swam until shortly before his death.
Source: Killiney Golf Club centenary book1951
Half a century after his last match, an American distiller advertising whiskey that would "hit the spot" put a cartoon of Pim in its calendar, recalling Mahony's claim that he could "almost at will hit a tennis ball to land on a shilling in the opposite court".
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