Lawn Tennis at All Souls
Foundation Years
In 1878 the Oxford University Tennis Club (OULTC) was founded by Kenelm Digby Cotes and Frederick Presocott Pennt, Bible Clerks at All Souls College, William Anson, Fellow and later Warden of All Souls College and R.W. Bradell, Worcester College.
It is likely that tennis courts appeared on the Great Quad in the late 1800s so that the Bible Clerks and Fellows interested in tennis could practise during the summer months.
Club tennis was officially played at Norham Gardens, land to the north of Lady Margaret Hall, on a site leased from St.John’s College. Courts were first laid out there in 1879 by Mr Burrin, the groundsman at Iffley Road running track.
The inaugural Oxford University Men’s Doubles Championships was announced in a letter from Kenelm Digby Cotes, published in The Times on 15th April 1879. The letter invited lawn tennis players to enter a doubles competition to be held during the May Races.
A report on the Championships was later printed in the Oxford University Herald, 31 May 1879.
The tournament was held for the following four years, until a dwindling number of competitors meant that it was handed over to the All England Club, along with the Silver Challenge Cup. The Wimbledon programme still includes winners and runners up from the 1879-1883 Oxford Men’s doubles in the results of the All-England Men’s Doubles.
Bible Clerks
The founders of Oxford University Tennis Club included two Bible Clerks from All Souls College, namely Frederick Presocott Penny (1877-80) and Kenelm Digby Cotes (1876-78).
In the late nineteenth century there were usually four bible clerks living at All Souls College, housed in four sets of rooms in the inner quadrangle above the kitchen. In return for helping with daily chapel services and ringing the chapel bell each clerk received accommodation, lighting, heating and tuition as well as 6 s. 1 ½ d. a week towards battels.
According to a memoir written by R.E Eason, Bible Clerks were selected on the basis of ‘reasonable scholarship, the ability to read clearly, lack of money and a certain proficiency at games’.i Traditionally, the Bible Clerks practised golf, athletics and tennis.
Tennis courts appeared on the Great Quad at All Souls College from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. The last of the Bible Clerks left the College in 1924 and the tennis courts disappeared with them.
Sir William Anson
William Anson was elected to a fellowship at All Souls in 1867, after graduating in Classics from Balliol College, Oxford. He was called to the bar in 1869, and in 1874 he was appointed Vinerian reader in English Law at Oxford. Anson negotiated with the University Commissioners about new statutes for the College, including a reform of the prize fellowships and the creation of more research fellowships. In 1881 he was elected Warden as he was the first lay head of the college. He died in 1914, and a memorial to him was placed in All Souls chapel in 1918.
i Eason, E.L. and Snoxall, R.A., The Last of Their Line, The Bible Clerks of All Souls College Oxford, Some Notes and Reminiscences (Oxford, All Souls College, 1976), p. 2
In celebration of Billie-Jean King receiving an Honorary Degree from the University of Oxford, All Souls put out a display on the history of tennis at the College for honorands and guests arriving for 2026 Encaenia Lunch.
