Game, set and match to Leamington Gem

The town even has a plaque in tribute to Major Harry Gem, who in 1872 joined his Spanish friend Augurio Perera and two doctors from Warneford Hospital in playing the first game of doubles in the grounds of what was then the Manor House Hotel.

But rival claims about who actually invented the game still re-surface from time to time...not least from the Wimbledon side of the country.

Sue and Chris, who have extensively researched the roots of the modern match, know the major moved from Birmingham to Leamington in 1872 and was a keen member of the Real Tennis Club in Bedford Street.

This is the indoor “royal” game which evolved over 500 years from striking a ball with a gloved hand to a racquet. Major Gem devised a fresh-air version that more people could play over a net, without also resorting to the walls.

Sue, the author of a book entitled From Whalebone to Lycra - the history of Midlands Lawn Tennis, explains: “We are passionate about preserving and promoting the crucial role the Midlands had in producing and developing the national game.

“Major Gem is likely to have been playing a form of tennis on the croquet lawns of his friends from as early as 1859 - a long time before that first match in the grounds of the Manor House Hotel.

“But we need to uncover letters, diaries or even newspaper cuttings which can give us primary source evidence to firmly quash rival claims from the south of England.”

These “rival claims” are largely made by supporters of another retired major - Walter Clopton Wingfield - who marketed the first boxed set of equipment.

Chris points out: “We know Major Clopton Wingfield can be credited with introducing the game to the London aristocracy - he persuaded Lord Lansdowne to play tennis on the lawns of Landsdowne House in Berkeley Square.

“But by then Major Gem and his friends were already working out the laws of the game while playing in the gardens of Edgbaston and then Leamington. He founded the Leamington Lawn Tennis Club, the first in the world, and set up three years before the game was ever played at Wimbledon.”

Today there is a plaque to Major Gem attached to a low wall at the site of his demolished Leamington home in Hamilton Terrace. His playing partner, Augurio Perera, moved to Leamington at the same time with his wife and family and lived at 33, Avenue Road, opposite the Manor Court Hotel.

Sue says: “We are searching for source material and can’t help wondering whether any reader of the Courier or Weekly News can step up to the plate with a letter or diary - just one single piece of evidence that records Major Gem playing lawn tennis before 1872.”

Anyone with family archives they think might help with the research can contact Sue or Chris on 01564 824739.