Frank Hadow - The Ceylon Tea Planter who won a Wimbledon
Born 170 years ago today, "Frank" Hadow was a Tea Planter and Cricketer for MCC, Dimbula and Kandapola CC. He also won the 2nd Wimbledon in 1878, while on holiday!
What does the flavourful Ceylon Tea and the prestigious Wimbledon Tennis Championship have in common? The answer is Frank Hadow, a Ceylon Tea planter and Cricketer from England who won the 2nd edition of the Wimbledon in 1878 while he was on holiday!
Born on this day in 1855, Patrick Francis Hadow was one of seven brothers and attended Harrow School, where five of his brothers also attended and they were known as the "Harrow Hadows." Soon after his days at Balliol College, he settled in Ceylon as a Planter.
Ceylon and his Sporting Career
He and his brother C.M. Hadow together started "P.F. & C.M. Hadow" where they started with Coffee and later moving into Tea cultivation during the "transitional stage" of Ceylon Tea.
It should also be noted that was a First Class Cricketer who even played for Middlesex, the Maryleborne Cricket Club (MCC) and while in Ceylon, the Dimbula Athletic and Cricket Club which is the oldest sports club outside Colombo, an exclusive planters sports club.
It is also recorded that in 1888, Hadow was the first cricketer in Ceylon to score three consecutive centuries when he played for Kandapola, scoring 164* (vs Nuwara Eliya), 126 (vs Dickoya-Maskeliya CC) and 130 (vs Bogawantalawa) on the trot. This is originally mentioned in the History of Ceylon Cricket by S.S. Perera.
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