Miss Maud Watson became the first women’s singles champion of the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, England. She was 19 years old.. (see photo above)

Newspaper clippings

1885 - L.R.C. vs Cricket Club return Tennis match

1886

"There was even an Interport match before 1886, when Singapore sent up a team to compete in singles and doubles, which was a great success"

- "History of the Ladies Recreation Club" - 1960.

1886 - Photo shows 6 courts and the "Pavilion".

1903 - L.R.C. Ladies Singles Championship

China Mail, 8 December 1903

1911 - L.R.C. Mixed Doubles Handicap

Daily Telegraph, 7 November 1911

1912 - Sunday Tennis? Shocking.

"So keen were some members that they urged that play on Sunday afternoons should be allowed - a bold suggestion in those days. There was "a terrific uproar at the Committee meeting, it was strongly disapproved", remembers one, while another speaks of "a lost battle in which those in favour of the status quo (no Sunday tennis) had been urged on by the Chaplain of the Cathedral, the Rev. H. Copley-Moyle". - "History of the Ladies Recreation Club" - 1960

Hong Kong Daily Press - 20 April, 1912

"Mr. Ede pointed out that to open the Club on Sundays would involve extra expense and he reckoned that those members who desired to play on Sundays would need to provide an additional sum of $750 per annum"

"Twenty members in favour, thirty-nine against".

1950s - Ladies B Team

1884 - LRC Opening Day

Hong Kong Daily Press, 2 February 1884

"The ladies of Hong Kong deserves much credit for the energy independent spirt they have shown in combining to provide means for their own healthy recreation. The less worthy sex have long had a Recreation Club, a Cricket Ground, and various other means of amusement, and now the ladies have united their efforts for the formation of a Ladies' Recreation Club. The movement had not long been mooted ere it began to take some tangible form, and now the club is an accomplished fact.

So far as the Club has gone, it's name might bear the somewhat more limited scope of the lawn tennis club, since what has been achieved at present is confined to the construction of lawn tennis courts. Of course the selection of ground for the purpose here, where so little is to be had, was a matter of some difficulty, but the ladies have succeeded in finding a suitable place. The site is beside the Peak Road just above Belle Vue, and has been cut out into four terraces, each Terrace being levelled out as a tennis ground. The two lower courts are laid out in chunam*, and the other ones in turf, and these are reached from the road above by a winding chunam roadway, which is carried down in steps in the lower part. Each court is provided with a wire fencing, and to prevent the balls going off the court and taking a run down the ravine, high netting is fixed round them. The upper terrace is not as yet marked out as a court, and it appears to be contemplated to use this for refreshments, spectators, and a kind of lounging place.

The opening ceremony took place yesterday afternoon, when a considerable number of ladies were present, including Lady and the Misses Bowen, Mrs. Marsh and Miss Thornton, the Misses Sargent etc. There were also nearly as many gentlemen present as ladies. The Band of the Buffs was in attendance, and saluted Lady Bowen with the National Anthem on her arrival, besides discoursing a programme of music during the afternoon. Her Ladyshop played the first ball in one of the courts, and the grounds were then opened. During the afternoon the number of those attending increased considerably in spite of the weather being raw and unpleasant, and several games were played."

* [ Chunam is made with cement, hydrated lime, non-organic soil and water to form a durable and impermeable material; ]

1924

Tennis at the Club for Mrs. Peggy Beard and her friends

1935 - Tennis ladies

Trophies

A member writes in 2008:

"I did indeed play tennis in my time, much of it at the LRC, but not to the standard required for the Hong Cup. Many of the names, particularly in the earlier years, are all too familiar. Few of them were the battering force of today's players. Rather the Owen Hughes, Len Stokes and T.W.Yau, who represented Jardines in 1960 and again in 1976, depended on guile. There were some right crafty players amongst those cup winners."

[Malcolm Grant, Colin Grant, Ken Grant (in N.Z.) sons Malcolm and Colin LRC members, (Peter Grindey - is that Mike Brown). ]

"Ladies Challenge Shield" - annual tournement

1929 - AGM newsclipping reported

* Court 1 - cracks filled in and court repainted
* Court 4 - a hard court - entirely relaid
* Court 5 - relaid as a sand court

1931 - AGM

o Court 5 - relaid

1932

* Court 1 - entirely resurfaced
* Court 2 -
* Court 3 -
* Court 4 -
* Court 5 - entirely resurfaced
* Court 6 - entirely relaid
* small grass court converted to a hard one

1935 AGM - convert the large grass court to a hard court approved

1937 AGM - red court proved popular

1930's - replaced a concrete court with brick dust court - first in Hong Kong

1941 - only two of the concrete courts and none of the grass courts remained

1946 - five red brick and one concrete court had been restored

1959 - court 4,5 resurfaced with en-tous-cas

1961 - 7,8 and 9 en-tous-cas - flood lighting installed

1978 - Mateflex replaced the en-tous-cas courts, clay courts replaced with Laykold