Ernest Meers | |
Fullname: | Ernest George Meers |
Birth Date: | 1849[1] |
Birth Place: | Kingsnorth, Kent, England[2] |
Death Date: | 20 August 1928 (aged 79)[3] |
Death Place: | York, Yorkshire, England |
Plays: | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
Turnedpro: | 1885 (amateur tour) |
Retired: | 1895 |
Singlesrecord: | 95-57, (62.5%) [4] |
Singlestitles: | 8 [5] |
Wimbledonresult: | SF (1895) |
Usopenresult: | SF (1889) |
Wimbledondoublesresult: | F (1888) |
Ernest George Meers (1849 – 20 August 1928) was an English tennis player, organist and gum merchant.
Meers was born in Kingsnorth, near Ashford, Kent. He earned a Bachelor of Music from Queen's College, Oxford and was later chairman and managing director of Watts Ltd, gummakers.[6] He married Eliza Rose, daughter of Captain Henry Douglas-Hart of the Madras Army, who was assassinated while serving in India in 1858. They had three sons and two daughters who survived him.[7]
His played first tournament at the North of England Championships in Scarborough in 1884 going out in the round of 16.[8] He reached his first final at Sittingbourne in 1885 losing to Ernest Wool Lewis.[9] Meers played at the Wimbledon Championships between 1890 and 1895, reaching the quarterfinals of the all-comers competition in 1894 and the semifinals in 1895.[10] He reached the semifinals of the U.S. National Championships in 1889 and won the British Covered Court Championships in 1892.[11] His other singles successes included winning the British Covered Court Championships indoors on hard wood courts in 1891.[12] He won the Kent Championships on grass three times (1888, 1890–91).[13] In addition he also won three titles at the Essex Championships (1887–88, 1890) and the Chingford Open (1888), the Middlesex Championships onetime in 1891.[14] He played his last tournament at the British Covered Court Championships in 1896 going out in the quarter-finals.[15]