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J. F. Foulkes

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J.F. Foulkes
Canada's 1913 Davis Cup team; J. F. Foulkes is at the right.
Full nameJohn Fortescue Foulkes
Country (sports)Canada
Born10 July 1872
Middlesex (now London), England
Died22 June 1948(1948-06-22) (aged 75)
Canada
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
Wimbledon3R (1908)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games3R (1908)
Team competitions
Davis CupF (1913)

John Fortescue Foulkes DSO (10 July 1872 – 22 June 1948), also known as Captain Foulkes, was an early star of Canadian tennis.[1] Foulkes may have been a three-time winner of the Canadian national championship, today known as the Rogers Cup. He was also a member of the Canadian team which reached the finals of the Davis Cup.[2]

Early life and family

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Foulkes was born in Middlesex, England, the second of six children born to Rev. Augustine Lempriere Foulkes and Francesca Forster (née Godfrey). His father, who had been a cricket player, was a graduate of Queen's College, Oxford, vicar of Steventon.[3] He had three brothers (Godfrey, Louis Augustine and Leonard) and two sisters (Francesca and Catherine). Louis was the father of Sir Nigel Foulkes.[4]

On 2 December 1899, he married Margaret May Thomas and they had two children.[5]

Tennis career

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He moved to Canada as a teenager in 1891, and quickly began winning tournaments. A member of the Victoria Lawn Tennis Club, Foulkes may have captured the Canadian national championship in singles 1907, 1909, and 1910 - at least one source says otherwise however.[6] His 1907 win, if it did occur, broke a string of 13 consecutive wins by an American player and only the second for a Canadian in 18 years. The source that disputes that Foulkes won his titles claims he was, instead, runner-up in 1907 and again in 1908.

He competed in the men's singles and doubles events at the 1908 Summer Olympics.[7]

Foulkes along with fellow Victoria natives B. P. Schwengers, R. B. Powell and Victoria-based Henry Mayes reached the final of the 1913 Davis Cup in the country's first attempt. (All four players were members of the Victoria LTC.[8]) With the entire tournament played at Wimbledon in June–July, the upstart Canadians, with Powell and Schwengers playing each match, beat South Africa, 4 wins to 1 and then Belgium, 4-0, to reach the final. In the final, however, they were overwhelmed by the Americans losing each set of three matches they contested.

Foulkes was also a British Columbia, five-time Pacific Northwest champion, and two-time Washington State champion. He was ranked No. 1 singles in the USTA Pacific Northwest in 1914.[9]

Foulkes has been elected to both the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the 1913 Davis Cup team. He was also elected to USTA Pacific Northwest Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008.[2][10]

Captain Foulkes

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Foulkes served in the Canadian Army during the Boer War, earning the Queen's Medal with four clasps. From then on he was frequently referred to as "Captain" Foulkes.[11][12][13] He served again during the First World War in the 4th Canadian Division in the Canadian Service Corps.[2] He was awarded the Order of Agricultural Merit from France and was mentioned in despatches three times in 1917 and 1918.[14] In the 1919 New Year Honours following the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.[15]

His wife's younger sister was the poet Rosemary Thomas. Her book of poems, Immediate Sun (1951), includes a poem about Foulkes entitled "The Colonel".[16]

References

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  1. ^ "J. F. Foulkes". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "John Fortescue Foulkes". Tennis Archives.
  3. ^ Holland, Arthur William (1904). Oxford & Cambridge Yearbook. S. Sonnenschein & Company, Limited. p. 216. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  4. ^ [https://www.ukwhoswho.com/display/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-16236 "Foulkes, Sir Nigel (Gordon)" in Who's Who online, accessed 21 October 2023 (subscription required)
  5. ^ "Margaret May Thomas 1879-1967". Ancestry.ca. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Media Guide Montreal 2010 Page 52". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
  7. ^ "J. F. Foulkes Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  8. ^ "OakBay Tennis Club". Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  9. ^ Hall-of-Fame-and-Historical - | USTA Pacific Northwest
  10. ^ "USTA PNW Hall of Fame Inductees". USTA. 17 May 2017.
  11. ^ Lefroy, W. (1908). Canada: An Illustrated Weekly Journal for All Interested in the Dominion. p. 5. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  12. ^ Wright & Ditson's Lawn Tennis Guide. 1914. p. 190. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  13. ^ Wright & Ditson Officially Adopted Lawn Tennis Guide. Wright & Ditson. 1911. p. 179. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  14. ^ Quarterly Army List for the Quarter Ending 31st December, 1919 - Volume 4. Andrews UK Limited. 2012. p. 1960. ISBN 9781781502990. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  15. ^ "No. 31092". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 21.
  16. ^ Thomas, Rosemary (1951). Immediate Sun. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. p. 49.
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