Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Society
Encyclopedia
Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Society, informally known as The Archery and based in the Edgbaston
Edgbaston
Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....

 area of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, is the oldest lawn tennis club in the world.

The club was founded as an archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

 club called the Edgbaston Archery Society in 1860 following a meeting at the Birmingham and Midland Institute
Birmingham and Midland Institute
The Birmingham and Midland Institute , now on Margaret Street in the city centre of Birmingham, England was a pioneer of adult scientific and technical education and today offers Arts and Science lectures, exhibitions and concerts. It is a registered charity...

, and the club moved to its current premises next to Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
The Birmingham Botanical Gardens are botanical gardens situated in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. The gardens are close to the centre of Birmingham and open every day of the year, from sunrise to sunset. They are located at ....

 in 1867. The game of croquet
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...

 was introduced from 1870, with the society's name being amended to reflect this.

It is not known exactly when tennis was established as part of the club's activities. The game itself was developed by Harry Gem
Harry Gem
Major Thomas Henry Gem , known as Harry Gem, was an English lawyer, soldier, writer and sportsman.Alongside his friend Augurio Perera, he is credited as the earliest inventor of the game of lawn tennis.-Biography:...

 and his friend Augurio Perera
Augurio Perera
Juan Bautista Augurio Perera was a Spanish-born, English-based merchant and sportsman, credited alongside his friend Major Harry Gem as the earliest inventor of the game of lawn tennis.-Life:...

 in Edgbaston between 1859 and 1865, but although Gem was a member of The Archery from 1864 to 1869 there is no proof that he directly introduced the game to the club in this period, and the short-lived tennis club that Gem and Perera established in Leamington Spa
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...

in 1872 is the first that can be shown to have existed. The Archery's fixture card for 1875 shows tennis to have been well-established by this date, however, which makes The Archery the oldest still to survive.

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