On 21st August 1935, the Revd John Thorneycroft Hartley, British Tennis Champion died. He was the only clergyman to win Wimbledon.

Born in Wolverhampton, John Hartley was ordained priest in the Church of England and was appointed the Vicar of Burneston in North Yorkshire. He appears to have held the living for a good number of years and was by all accounts an energetic and conscientious priest. His chief claim to fame before his victory at Wimbledon was to have married Alice Lascelles, one of the nieces of the Earl of Harwood. It is said that when he was courting her he would take a short cut to her family home by riding to the river and then swimming across it. Alice would meet him in a carriage and then take him home in it.

In 1879 the Wimbledon quarter-finals were held on a Saturday, with the semi-finals to be played on Monday and the final on Tuesday. On Saturday evening, having won his quarter final, the Reverend Hartley took the train back to Yorkshire and took services and preached a sermon as usual on Sunday. He was then told that one of his parishioners was ill and likely to die. Hartley went to see him and spent the whole night there until the man died in the early hours of Monday morning.

Hartley then went back to the vicarage and after collecting some sandwiches, rode his horse to Thirsk station and got the steam train to London. From King’s Cross station he hailed a horse drawn cab to Wimbledon, changing into his tennis clothes on the journey. Fortunately for him his semi-final against C. F. Parr was interrupted by rain, which gave him a chance to rest.

On Tuesday he had to play the final against an Irishman, Vere St Leger Goold, who had had the advantage of having had a rest day on Monday.  Goold was a very energetic player and was one of the earliest to be noted for coming off the base line.  Hartley was a baseline player and is described as playing “steadily”.   Despite the disadvantage which his exertions must have created, Hartley won 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Goold was a notorious gambler and socialite who was later to become famous himself as the only Wimbledon finalist to be convicted of murder.

Reverend Hartley won the title the next year in 1880. when he again won, beating H. F. Lawford, 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

In 1881 Hartley again reached the final but this time he lost 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 to W. C. Renshaw. Renshaw went on to become the winner of the most Wimbledon men’s singles titles, totalling 7 – a feat only equalled by Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. 1881 was also the shortest title match on record, lasting only 37 minutes. It was reported that Hartley was suffering from “English cholera”. Use your imaginations.

Hartley disappears from tennis history at this point but he continued to be the vicar of Burneston until 1919. It is likely that he retired from active ministry at that time. He died in 1935, aged 86

Sources: Wikipedia and http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/genealogy/hartley/hartley.htm