History of Ceylon Tea

The first, and only unbeaten Wimbledon Singles Champion in its 136-year history was a coffee planter from Sri Lanka, then Ceylon.

Whilst the achievement itself has now been reduced to an obscure statistic, covered with the dust of history and totally overshadowed by more spectacular Wimbledon performances since the circumstances in which it was achieved makes it a unique feat and one that is not likely to be duplicated in the foreseeable future. For obvious reasons, it should be a fact of great significance to all those involved in the plantation industry, as well as to those who have any interest in this field of national endeavour with its richness of tradition and history, unparalleled in the local context.

Launched in an era when “Racquets “ and “ Real Tennis” were the sports of choice for gentleman – ladies did not then participate in manly sports – from the British public school or university genre, Lawn Tennis was yet to gain popularity amongst the sporting fraternity or the attention of the general public.

The first “ Wimbledon Championship “ , staged in 1877 by the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club ( the latter an addition in April that year to include the new game ), had been essentially a side-show event, organized to raise funds for the repair of a broken pony roller used for the upkeep of the club’s Croquet lawns. The first men’s champion had been Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian who had captained the school at cricket and also been a competent rackets player, beating William Marshall, a Cambridge Real Tennis blue, in the final.

In 1878, the 23-year-old Frank Hadow, an Englishman on leave from his plantation in Ceylon, competed in the second Wimbledon Championship and secured the singles title by defeating Spencer Gore in the Challenge Round – the Final. Until 1922, the defending champion was permitted to stand out the competition rounds, to await the winner of the All-Comers’ matches. Hadow had the distinction of overcoming six challengers in consecutive matches without dropping a set and, then, defeating the reigning champion in straight sets, 6/4 – 6/4 – 6/4 !! One of Frank’s brothers, A. A. Hadow had also competed but had lost to one A.T. Myers in the second round.

Hadow is credited with inventing the “ Lob”, obviously, a potent weapon then as no one had yet learned the overhead smash. This was the era of the “ Underarm “ or “ Sideways “ serve and deviations were considered both illegal and unsportsmanlike.

Neither Hadow nor Gore, competed at Wimbledon thereafter, though Hadow returned to Wimbledon in 1926 for the Jubilee celebrations, to accept a commemorative medal from Queen Mary, as the then oldest living champion. To this day, he remains the only Wimbledon Singles Champion, never to have lost a set. Despite having competed and won the championship, he has clearly been skeptical of either the potential or the suitability of Lawn Tennis , as a serious sport for men , responding negatively to the question as to whether he would return to defend the title, with the dismissive comment that “no….it is a sissy’s game played with a softball”. However, there is also the theory, unconfirmed, that he was unable to defend his title in 1879 as he had not been able to obtain home leave that year.

Hadow came from a distinguished family sporting tradition, having attended Harrow school along with six of his seven brothers, who became collectively known as the “ Harrow Hadows “. Whilst at Harrow, Frank had played cricket for the school and also won the Public School Rackets Championship, demonstrating sporting skills that would explain his later competence at Lawn Tennis which, in the early stages of its development, was a much less demanding sport than other popular ball games then. Frank’s brothers also distinguished themselves as cricketers. His eldest brother, Douglas, was a member of the first group of mountaineers to summit Matterhorn but, tragically, died during the descent.

Frank’s father, Patrick too had been educated at Harrow and, following a university career at Balliol College, Oxford, eventually, become Chairman of the P & O Shipping Company. Coupled with the fact that Hadow Snr was able to afford education for seven sons at one of the most prestigious, and expensive, English public schools, his progress is a pointer to the sound economic and social standing the Hadow family would have enjoyed, then.

As for Frank Hadow’s planting career, it is on record that between 1880 and 1892 he had served on Keenagashena, Dotlands, Serendib, Ledgerwatte, Hurlingham, Sarnia and Unugalla, all located in the Uva region. On most of these plantations, he had been either manager or, with his brother, CM Hadow, the co-owner. Given that he was on home leave in 1878 when he won the championship, his planting career straddles the closing stages of the Coffee era and the beginnings of Tea. After retirement from planting, he became a well known big game hunter in Africa, with the 1928 Rowland Ward, “ Big Game Records “, listing his trophies of Sable Antelope, Cape Buffalo, Uganda Kob and Eland.

As a cricketer Hadow had represented MCC, Middlesex, the Orleans Club, the South and the Gentlemen of England as a right-handed batsman in several first-class games, between 1883 and 1891. He is also said to have played cricket whilst in Ceylon.

He died on 29^th June 1946, in Bridgewater, Somerset.

By Anura Gunasekera
13^th July 2016