Details
AN IMPORTANT AND RARE SILVER PRESENTATION RACKET with a silver engraved presentation plaque and a silver Cambridge coat-of-arms in a fitted velvet-lined Calamander wood box, the plaque engraved "Cambridge University Champion Racquet Won by R. Sainsbury. TRIN: COLL: 1861", George Richards and Edward Brown, London 1860 -- 20.5cms (8in.).
The game of Rackets from which the modern game of squash is derived has contentious origins; one theory is that it originated in English debtors' prisons in the mid 18th century using one or two walls of the prison yard, and it is recorded that a game was played at the Fleet debtors prison in 1749. It follows that gentlemen debtors brought the game from the closed tennis court to the outdoor prison wall. Another view was that it started in the 16th century against one wall of a real tennis court. The game's popularity spread to taverns, and from there to public schools (Harrow claim to have initiated it in 1821). The institution of annual matches between Oxford and Cambridge Universities in 1858, and of the Public Schools Championship in 1868, gave an immense stimulus to the game among amateurs. Of the 51 inter-university (singles) matches from 1858 to 1908, Oxford won 26 and Cambridge 25.
Initially, cut-down real tennis rackets, and leather tennis balls were used, but the mid 19th century saw the emergence of commercial suppliers of rackets, which had small oval heads and weighed between seven and ten ounces.
The game of Rackets from which the modern game of squash is derived has contentious origins; one theory is that it originated in English debtors' prisons in the mid 18th century using one or two walls of the prison yard, and it is recorded that a game was played at the Fleet debtors prison in 1749. It follows that gentlemen debtors brought the game from the closed tennis court to the outdoor prison wall. Another view was that it started in the 16th century against one wall of a real tennis court. The game's popularity spread to taverns, and from there to public schools (Harrow claim to have initiated it in 1821). The institution of annual matches between Oxford and Cambridge Universities in 1858, and of the Public Schools Championship in 1868, gave an immense stimulus to the game among amateurs. Of the 51 inter-university (singles) matches from 1858 to 1908, Oxford won 26 and Cambridge 25.
Initially, cut-down real tennis rackets, and leather tennis balls were used, but the mid 19th century saw the emergence of commercial suppliers of rackets, which had small oval heads and weighed between seven and ten ounces.