Full name | John Fortescue Foulkes |
---|---|
Country (sports) | Canada |
Born | 10 July 1872 Middlesex (now London), England |
Died | 22 June 1948 Canada | (aged 75)
Singles | |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Wimbledon | 3R ( 1908) |
Other tournaments | |
Olympic Games | 3R ( 1908) |
Team competitions | |
Davis Cup | F ( 1913) |
John Fortescue Foulkes DSO (10 July 1872 – 22 June 1948), also known as Captain Foulkes, was an early star of Canadian tennis. [1] Foulkes may have been a three-time winner of the Canadian national championship, today known as the Rogers Cup. He was also a member of the Canadian team which reached the finals of the Davis Cup. [2]
Foulkes was born in Middlesex, England, the second of six children born to Rev. Augustine Lempriere Foulkes and Francesca Forster (née Godfrey). His father, who had been a cricket player, was a graduate of Queen's College, Oxford, vicar of Steventon. [3] He had three brothers (Godfrey, Louis Augustine and Leonard) and two sisters (Francesca and Catherine). Louis was the father of Sir Nigel Foulkes. [4]
On 2 December 1899 he married Margaret May Thomas and they had two children. [5]
He moved to Canada as a teenager in 1891, and quickly began winning tournaments. A member of the Victoria Lawn Tennis Club, Foulkes may have captured the Canadian national championship in singles 1907, 1909, and 1910 - at least one source says otherwise however. [6] His 1907 win, if it did occur, broke a string of 13 consecutive wins by an American player and only the second for a Canadian in 18 years. The source that disputes that Foulkes won his titles claims he was, instead, runner-up in 1907 and again in 1908.
He competed in the men's singles and doubles events at the 1908 Summer Olympics. [7]
Foulkes along with fellow Victoria natives B. P. Schwengers, R. B. Powell and Victoria-based Henry Mayes reached the final of the 1913 Davis Cup in the country's first attempt. (All four players were members of the Victoria LTC. [8]) With the entire tournament played at Wimbledon in June–July, the upstart Canadians, with Powell and Schwengers playing each match, beat South Africa, 4 wins to 1 and then Belgium, 4-0, to reach the final. In the final, however, they were overwhelmed by the Americans losing each set of three matches they contested.
Foulkes was also a British Columbia, five-time Pacific Northwest champion, and two-time Washington State champion. He was ranked No. 1 singles in the USTA Pacific Northwest in 1914. [9]
Foulkes has been elected to both the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the 1913 Davis Cup team. He was also elected to USTA Pacific Northwest Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008. [2] [10]
Foulkes served in the Canadian Army during the Boer War, earning the Queen's Medal with four clasps. From then on he was frequently referred to as "Captain" Foulkes. [11] [12] [13] He served again during the First World War in the 4th Canadian Division in the Canadian Service Corps. [2] He was awarded the Order of Agricultural Merit from France and was mentioned in despatches three times in 1917 and 1918. [14] In the 1919 New Year Honours following the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. [15]
His wife's younger sister was the poet Rosemary Thomas. Her book of poems, Immediate Sun (1951), includes a poem about Foulkes entitled "The Colonel". [16]
Full name | John Fortescue Foulkes |
---|---|
Country (sports) | Canada |
Born | 10 July 1872 Middlesex (now London), England |
Died | 22 June 1948 Canada | (aged 75)
Singles | |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Wimbledon | 3R ( 1908) |
Other tournaments | |
Olympic Games | 3R ( 1908) |
Team competitions | |
Davis Cup | F ( 1913) |
John Fortescue Foulkes DSO (10 July 1872 – 22 June 1948), also known as Captain Foulkes, was an early star of Canadian tennis. [1] Foulkes may have been a three-time winner of the Canadian national championship, today known as the Rogers Cup. He was also a member of the Canadian team which reached the finals of the Davis Cup. [2]
Foulkes was born in Middlesex, England, the second of six children born to Rev. Augustine Lempriere Foulkes and Francesca Forster (née Godfrey). His father, who had been a cricket player, was a graduate of Queen's College, Oxford, vicar of Steventon. [3] He had three brothers (Godfrey, Louis Augustine and Leonard) and two sisters (Francesca and Catherine). Louis was the father of Sir Nigel Foulkes. [4]
On 2 December 1899 he married Margaret May Thomas and they had two children. [5]
He moved to Canada as a teenager in 1891, and quickly began winning tournaments. A member of the Victoria Lawn Tennis Club, Foulkes may have captured the Canadian national championship in singles 1907, 1909, and 1910 - at least one source says otherwise however. [6] His 1907 win, if it did occur, broke a string of 13 consecutive wins by an American player and only the second for a Canadian in 18 years. The source that disputes that Foulkes won his titles claims he was, instead, runner-up in 1907 and again in 1908.
He competed in the men's singles and doubles events at the 1908 Summer Olympics. [7]
Foulkes along with fellow Victoria natives B. P. Schwengers, R. B. Powell and Victoria-based Henry Mayes reached the final of the 1913 Davis Cup in the country's first attempt. (All four players were members of the Victoria LTC. [8]) With the entire tournament played at Wimbledon in June–July, the upstart Canadians, with Powell and Schwengers playing each match, beat South Africa, 4 wins to 1 and then Belgium, 4-0, to reach the final. In the final, however, they were overwhelmed by the Americans losing each set of three matches they contested.
Foulkes was also a British Columbia, five-time Pacific Northwest champion, and two-time Washington State champion. He was ranked No. 1 singles in the USTA Pacific Northwest in 1914. [9]
Foulkes has been elected to both the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the 1913 Davis Cup team. He was also elected to USTA Pacific Northwest Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008. [2] [10]
Foulkes served in the Canadian Army during the Boer War, earning the Queen's Medal with four clasps. From then on he was frequently referred to as "Captain" Foulkes. [11] [12] [13] He served again during the First World War in the 4th Canadian Division in the Canadian Service Corps. [2] He was awarded the Order of Agricultural Merit from France and was mentioned in despatches three times in 1917 and 1918. [14] In the 1919 New Year Honours following the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. [15]
His wife's younger sister was the poet Rosemary Thomas. Her book of poems, Immediate Sun (1951), includes a poem about Foulkes entitled "The Colonel". [16]