On Wednesday 5th March, Edgbaston Archery & Lawn Tennis Society celebrated its 165th anniversary.

Club historian and trustee Bob Holland shares a bit of history below:

FOUNDED IN 1860

On 16th February 1860 there was held at the Midland Institute, Paradise Street, Birmingham, "A Meeting of Gentlemen favourable to the formation of an Archery Society at Edgbaston." A resolution was passed at this meeting that letters should be "sent to principal families in the neighbourhood, with respect that they will state, before 3rd March, whether they wish their names to be added to a list of subscribers to the Society."

The response was such that at a further meeting on 5th March 1860, at the Old Library, Union Street, it was resolved that "in the opinion of this Meeting the Society shall be forthwith formed." Edgbaston Archery Society had been born.

The Society was never overloaded with funds, although there is evidence that, whilst they held their Archery Meetings, they did things in style and used to have a military band from Great Brook Street, one that is quoted several times in the minute book as "the band of the Royal Dragoon Guards."

CROQUET

It was in March 1870 that the game of croquet was introduced by resolution, which allowed play "after the shooting at the Meetings, but at no other times on the actual archery ground." A month or two later, Monday and Friday evenings were set apart for croquet and, in the same year, the name of the Society was altered to include croquet.

Lawn tennis appears to have crept in between 1874 and 1875. It was well established by this latter date - two years before the first championship meeting at Wimbledon and while the game was still going through the process of codification - as evidenced by the following announcement: " Weekly meetings are held during the summer for archery, croquet and lawn tennis, at which numerous prizes were distributed."

Here are a couple of pictures showing where the meetings were held:

https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/Library/EdgbastonArcheryLawnTennisSociety?command=Proxy&lang=en&type=Documents&currentFolder=%2F&hash=9844fc933ec25da1cc00535ac384c494afa50f12&fileName=Original%20buildings%20where%20meetings%20were%20held.pdf

The committee and volunteers are planning a series of events in summer 2025 to mark this momentous year - watch this space!