Between the wars
Australia · born 1895 · died 1982 · Australasian champion 1924 and three times Australian doubles champion
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1924
Australasian singles champion, beating Esna Boyd 6-3, 3-6, 8-6
3
Australian women's doubles titles in a row, 1923 to 1925
3
Australian singles finals: 1924, 1927 and 1930
10
World ranking in 1924, from A. Wallis Myers
1925
Captain of the first Australian women's team to tour abroad
Sylvia Lance was born on 1 October 1895, the daughter of Charles Carey Lance, an engineer, and Louisa Fuller, a singer and artist, and grew up in Strathfield in Sydney. In 1920 she travelled to England and played Wimbledon, winning a round in the singles before losing to Dorothy Shepherd.
Her best years came in the mid-1920s. She won the Australasian women's doubles and the mixed with Horace Rice in Brisbane in 1923, then in Melbourne in January 1924 she won the singles, beating Esna Boyd 6-3, 3-6, 8-6, and the doubles with Daphne Akhurst; she and Akhurst kept the doubles title in 1925. She was ranked tenth in the world in 1924. In May that year she married Robert Rainy Harper, a decorated Gallipoli and Western Front officer who was then sales manager at Holden's in Melbourne.
In 1925 she captained the first women's team to represent Australia abroad, and played Wimbledon again with Akhurst. She went on playing at the top level as Sylvia Harper, reaching the Australian singles finals of 1927, lost to Boyd, and 1930, lost to Akhurst 10-8, 2-6, 7-5, and three more doubles finals. Her son, Ian, was born in 1932. Her husband died in 1941, and she moved back to Sydney. She died on 21 October 1982.
| Australian singles finals | 1924 in Melbourne: beat Esna Boyd 6-3, 3-6, 8-6. 1927: lost to Boyd 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. 1930: lost to Daphne Akhurst 10-8, 2-6, 7-5 |
|---|---|
| Australian doubles finals | Champion in 1923 with Esna Boyd, beating Margaret Molesworth and Beryl Turner 6-1, 6-4; in 1924 with Akhurst, beating Kathleen Le Messurier and Meryl O'Hara Wood 7-5, 6-2; in 1925 with Akhurst, beating Boyd and Le Messurier 6-4, 6-3. Runner-up in 1927 with Boyd, 1929 with O'Hara Wood and 1930 with Marjorie Cox |
| Australian mixed | Champion in 1923 with Horace Rice, beating Cuthbert St John and Margaret Molesworth 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Runner-up in 1925 with Richard Schlesinger to Jim Willard and Akhurst, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon 1920 | Beat Wimble 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 and lost to Dorothy Shepherd 6-2, 6-4 in the second round; in the mixed, partnering Herbert Roper Barrett, lost in the first round to Gerald Patterson and Suzanne Lenglen 6-3, 6-0 |
| Wimbledon 1925 | With Daphne Akhurst won a round in the ladies' doubles, then lost to Dorothea Lambert Chambers and Ermyntrude Harvey 6-4, 6-1 |
| Australian Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1923 | Women's doubles Australasian Championships | with Esna Boyd Robertson |
| 1923 | Mixed doubles Australasian Championships | with Horace Rice |
| 1924 | Women's doubles Australasian Championships | with Daphne Akhurst |
| 1924 | Women's singles Australasian Championships | |
| 1925 | Women's doubles Australasian Championships | with Daphne Akhurst |
| New South Wales Championships | ||
| 1924 | Women's singles†| |
| 1928 | Women's singles†| |
| New Zealand Championships | ||
| 1923 | Women'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.
Strathfield, c.1897 to 1920
Her father, Charles Carey Lance, was an engineer and her mother, Louisa Fuller, a singer and artist. The family lived at Hillcrest in Woodward Avenue, Strathfield, and from about 1905 at Steephurst in Albyn Road.
Source: Strathfield HeritageWimbledon, 1920
On her first trip to Wimbledon she partnered Herbert Roper Barrett, a former finalist, in the mixed doubles. They drew Gerald Patterson and Suzanne Lenglen in the first round and lost 6-3, 6-0; Lenglen and Patterson went on to win the title.
Source: AELTC player recordSydney, May 1924
Four months after winning the national title she married Robert Rainy Harper at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church in Sydney on 28 May 1924. He had won the DSO and the Croix de Guerre at Pozières in 1916 and later managed Holden's Melbourne branch. She kept playing at the highest level until 1930.
Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography; St Andrew's CollegeSydney, 1941 to 1950
Her husband died in 1941, aged 47, and she moved back to Sydney to a flat at Darling Point. In March 1950 the Principal of St Andrew's College at the University of Sydney wrote to her about their son, Ian, entering the college.
Source: St Andrew's CollegeFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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