County Kildare’s Wimbledon Champion
Monasterevin was the birthplace of Ireland’s first men’s Wimbledon Champion in 1890! Willoughby James Hamilton was born there in December 1864. His father was Reverend Canon William Alfred Hamilton who was Rector of Monasterevin between 1863 and 1867. Willoughby was a multi-talented sportsman, also playing soccer and badminton for Ireland on the international stage. Several of his brothers also played cricket and tennis at a high-level. It is for tennis and his Wimbledon triumph in 1890 that Willoughby is best remembered however.
Opportunities for leisure and recreational activities for the inhabitants of County Kildare had increased substantially between 1880 and 1900. The foundation of the County Kildare Club in 1881 at Oldtown Naas (Naas Lawn Tennis Club today) facilitated cricket, lawn tennis, archery, polo, rugby and pigeon shooting for example. Membership of this club was restricted to the upper class however. These decades also witnessed huge growth in the number of athletic, cycling, gaelic games and soccer clubs which appealed to a wider range of social classes.
Willoughby James Hamilton’s 1890 Wimbledon success did not come out of nowhere. He won the competitive Irish Open and reached the semi-final at Wimbledon in 1889. Willoughby secured his 1890 victory by defeating seven time champion Willie Renshaw in the final by three sets to two, using his expert running forehand shot known as ‘the Irish drive’ to great effect. He subsequently turned his attention to badminton and worked as a stockbroker. Irish players dominated Wimbledon in 1890, winning all major prizes available including the men’s, women’s and men’s doubles titles. Mixed doubles and men’s doubles titles were not awarded at Wimbledon until 1913.
Another Hamilton with Monasterevin connections – painter Letitia Hamilton – would later claim an Olympic bronze medal in the ‘sport in art’ section at the 1948 Olympic Games. Letitia and her sister Eva lived in Grove House on the Moore Abbey Estate for several years from 1915 onwards. Paintings based on Monasterevin and surrounding district feature in several works by these two famous sisters.
Interestingly, The Leinster Leader of 26 July 1952 noted a local claim that American tennis superstar Maureen ‘Little Mo’ Connolly was a grand-daughter of a Ellistown native. This may just have been a result of ‘Wimbledon fever’ however, as she had recently won her first Wimbledon title. Maureen become the first female player to achieve the tennis grand-slam in 1953 at the age of eighteen. See also https://kildarelibraries.ie/ehistory/rathangan-connections-with-tennis-champion-1952/
