The early years
Great Britain · born Belgravia, 1863 · died 1946 · Wimbledon doubles champion 1887 and three times Scottish singles champion
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1887
Wimbledon doubles title with Herbert Wilberforce
3
Scottish Championships singles titles, 1885, 1886 and 1888
4
Scottish doubles titles with his brother H. B. Lyon, 1884 to 1888
3
Wimbledon doubles finals in a row, 1886 to 1888
1945 to 1946
Vice-president of the All England Club
Patrick Bowes-Lyon was born in Belgravia on 5 March 1863, a younger son of the 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. In the tennis records of his day he appears as the Hon. P. B. Lyon. In 1884 he and Herbert Wilberforce helped Cambridge beat Oxford at lawn tennis for the first time. He won the Scottish Championships singles in 1885, 1886 and 1888, and the Scottish doubles with his brother H. B. Lyon in 1884 and each year from 1886 to 1888.
At Wimbledon he and Wilberforce reached the all-comers doubles final in 1886 and lost to Claude Farrer and Arthur Stanley. In 1887, with the Renshaw twins not defending, they won the title. In 1888 they took the first two sets of the Challenge Round from the Renshaws and lost in five.
He became a barrister and stood as the Conservative candidate for Barnard Castle. He married Alice Wiltshire in 1893. He was an uncle of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and a guest at her wedding in 1923. He was one of the champions honoured at Wimbledon's Jubilee in 1926 and a vice-president of the All England Club in 1945 and 1946. He died at Westerham, Kent, on 5 October 1946.
| Wimbledon doubles | 1886 with Herbert Wilberforce: all-comers final, lost to Claude Farrer and Arthur Stanley 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. 1887: beat Ernest Barratt-Smith and James Crispe 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 in the all-comers final and took the title by walkover. 1888: Challenge Round, lost to Ernest and William Renshaw 2-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 |
|---|---|
| Scottish Championships | Singles champion 1885, 1886 and 1888 (Harry Grove won in 1887). Doubles champion with his brother H. B. Lyon in 1884, 1886, 1887 and 1888 |
| Oxford against Cambridge | In 1884 he and Wilberforce gave Cambridge its first win over Oxford at lawn tennis |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1887 | Men's doubles | with Herbert Wilberforce |
| Scottish Championships | ||
| 1885 | Men's singles | |
| 1886 | Men's singles | |
| 1888 | 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.
Cambridge, 1884
The Badminton Library recorded that in 1884 Cambridge "for the first time were able with the powerful assistance of Messrs. Wilberforce and Lyon to defeat Oxford". Three years later the same pair won Wimbledon.
Source: Badminton Library, Tennis; Lawn Tennis; Rackets; Fives (1890)Wimbledon, 1887
The Badminton Library's account of 1887 is brief: "In the absence of the Renshaws the doubles were won by the Hon. P. B. Lyon and Mr. H. W. Wilberforce."
Source: Badminton Library, Tennis; Lawn Tennis; Rackets; Fives (1890)Scotland, 1884 to 1888
The Scottish Championships list for the 1880s shows the doubles won four times in five years by "P. B. Lyon and H. B. Lyon", Patrick and his brother. The one year they missed, 1885, Ernest Lewis and R. M. Watson won.
Source: Badminton Library, Tennis; Lawn Tennis; Rackets; Fives (1890)Wimbledon, 1888
Defending their title in the Challenge Round, Bowes-Lyon and Wilberforce won the first two sets against Ernest and William Renshaw 6-2, 6-1, then lost the next three 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Wimbledon, 1926
At the Jubilee Championships on 21 June 1926, 34 surviving champions paraded on Centre Court and each received a silver medal from King George V and Queen Mary. Bowes-Lyon was presented eleventh, straight after his old partner Wilberforce.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)London, 1923
His elder brother Claude became the 14th Earl of Strathmore, so Patrick was uncle to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. He was a guest at her wedding to Prince Albert, the future King George VI, in 1923.
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