player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameEdward Roy (Roy)
LastnameAllen
GenderMale
CountryEngland
Date of birth1868-12-28
Place of birthSaint Neots, Bedfordshire, England
Date of death1931-11-04
Place of deathPrestbury, Gloucestershire, England

About

Edward Roy Allen, popularly known as Roy, was born on 28 December 1868 in Colmworth Rectory, in the town of Colmworth in Bedfordshire. According to legend, he arrived about twenty minutes after his twin brother Charles Gladstone Allen. They were the children of the Reverend Hunter Bird Allen and Adelaide Maria Allen (née Gladstone). Hunter Allen (1837-1906) was a native of the city of Wells in Somerset. A graduate of Oxford University, he had taken holy orders and was rector of Colmworth at the time of the twins’ birth. Adelaide Allen (1841-1939) was a native of Liverpool and would outlive her three children and her husband.

A third child, a boy named Reginald Mortimer Allen, was born to Reverend and Mrs Allen in 1878, ten years after the birth of Charles and Roy. Reginald Allen died in 1897 at the age of 19.

The Allen twins initially attended Saint Paul’s College in Stony Stratford in Milton Keynes. From Saint Paul’s College they went to Bedford Grammar School, an independent day and boarding public school for boys in the county town of Bedfordshire. After leaving Bedford Grammar School, both of the twins went up to Cambridge University in late 1888. During their time there, they successfully represented the university three years in a row at lawn tennis in the annual tie pitting Cambridge against Oxford. Both twins also earned a “blue” at lawn tennis.

The twins had acquired the rudiments of the sport from their father, who was a keen player himself, although he took part in very few open tournaments and achieved success mainly as a veteran. Roy was the better singles player of the twins.

According to a portrait of the twins published in the English sports paper Pastime in the summer of 1893: “In double play there is little if any difference between the two. They are hard hitters both on the volley and off the ground and show all the quickness and dash which is the mark of good double play. In singles, Edward [Roy] Allen is a good deal the better man. His baseline play is more certain and his severity greater. Perhaps the fact that in his younger days he was a rugby football player of some pretensions, and a good sprinter at the distances from 100 to 150 yards, may have something to do with this.”

The twins enjoyed most of their success at lawn tennis during a long period which extended from about 1894 to 1914. During this time, Roy won the singles title at many of the grass court tournaments held in the British Isles from circa late May until circa late September, while the twins often won the doubles title together at the same tournaments. They also enjoyed success at some of the early French tournaments, most of which were played on clay.

Despite his prowess in singles, and his superiority over his twin in this respect, Roy Allen’s name is missing from the lists of winners of most of the biggest British tournaments during the years in which the twins were active. This is proof that, although he was one of the top English players during the period in question, he was not quite good enough to win first prize at the very biggest tournaments.

The twins only entered The Championships at Wimbledon twice, in 1896 and 1899. In the earlier year both of the brothers lost easily in the second round of the men’s singles event but, together, won three matches over good teams to reach the all-comers’ final of the men’s doubles event. They were beaten at that stage by two of their compatriots, Reginald Doherty and Hugh Nisbet, who won the match in four sets, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-1.

At Wimbledon in 1899, both of the Allen twins again lost in the second round of the men’s singles event. In the men’s doubles event, which had a draw of only fifteen pairs, they easily won their first-round match against the English brothers Roderick and Archibald McNair, who were not twins, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. However, in the next round, which was the quarter-final stage, they lost in straight sets to the American Clarence Hobart and one of their conquerors from back in 1896, Hugh Nisbet. The score was 6-4, 8-6, 6-4. According to fellow lawn tennis player and writer Harold Scrivener, so disgusted were the twins with their performances at Wimbledon in 1899 that they vowed never to play there again – and kept their promise.

Although they were 45 years of age when World War One was declared in August 1914, bringing an end to most sporting activity in the British Isles, they probably would have continued taking part in lawn tennis tournaments for several more years if war had not broken out. When asked later why they did not return to tournament play after the war had ended, Roy Allen reportedly replied: ‘We’re not going to run the risk of being beaten by someone one’s never heard of!’

Roy Allen died on 4 November 1931 in the town of Prestbury in Gloucestershire. He was 63 years old. Charles Allen had died seven years earlier, in December 1924.
--

From Lawn Tennis and Badminton, 22nd November 1931:

The Twin Brothers Allen – Some Personal Reminisces

By Harold S. Scrivener

“Anther link with the past has been severed with the death, recorded in last Saturday’s issue, of Lawn Tennis and Badminton, of Mr Edward R. Allen, one of the famous twin brothers of that name and the survivor of his twin brother ‘C.G.’ by several years. They flourished during the last ten years of the nineteenth and the first ten – roughly speaking – of the present century.

“And yet for all their renown their names only appear once on Wimbledon’s roll of fame. They were second in 1896 in the All-Comers’ Final to Reginald Doherty and Hugh Nisbet, who unsuccessfully challenged the holders, Wilfred and Herbert Baddeley – another famous pair of twins – dethroned in their turn by the Dohertys (brothers but not twins) in 1897.

“But the Allens were never at home at Wimbledon. The importance of the occasion used to get upon their somewhat volatile nerves, and as a matter of fact they only competed there twice. Otherwise Roy (E.R.) Allen, who, at his zenith, was the equal of anyone, might surely have won, or been second in the all-comers’ singles, at least once, although I doubt whether, with the Dohertys barring the way, he would ever have been champion.

“As an indication of their, strength which they developed as a pair quite early in their career, it may be recorded that the Allens played [for Cambridge] in the ‘Varsity match in doubles as freshmen in 1889 (thus just missing myself and Francis R. Burrow, who went down from Oxford in 1888), and also in 1890 and 1891, and that they did not lose a match in the course of those three years.

“They were not chosen to play in singles until 1891, when Roy won all his three matches, and Charlie, playing very disappointingly, lost his three, a sufficient indication that Roy was going to be, as he always was, very much better than Charlie in singles. It is a coincidence that, of the Baddeley twins, who came just before the Allens and the Dohertys, Wilfred was the stronger of the two in singles. Equally does it appear to be a coincidence – of a sort – that nobody seems able to satisfy himself, or anybody else, that either of the two Dohertys, who were not twins, was a better player than the other.

“The Allens, to the casual observer, were extraordinarily alike, and if they appeared to resent being mistaken for each other, they did little, if anything, to help people to identify them. For instance, they dressed exactly alike, even down to their watch-guards, walking sticks and umbrellas.

“Though not tall they were big and strong – stout is perhaps a better epithet, although they always vowed that they did not deserve their nickname ‘the fat boys’, and would be at pains to assure you that they were ‘only fat in the face’. When they were together people who knew that Charlie was bigger than Roy could tell one from the other. There was another clue, only helpful when they were bareheaded; it was that one parted his hair on the right and other on the left. I used to know the answer to this one once upon a time, but have now forgotten it.

“There are many tales illustrative of the way in which they used to think and talk alike, and while they were at a tournament they had pretty well everything in common, including a common purse out of which any drinks that were stood the opponents of either were paid for. All tips and other out-of-pocket expenses relating to the tournament were also rigorously shared.

“When they went abroad the arrangements, including the engaging of rooms, sending entries, and dealing with correspondence, were in the hands of Charlie; but at home Roy was in charge. Nevertheless, when writing for the two of them Roy signed the letter ‘C.G. Allen’. Because (as they explained) ‘C.G.’ was the elder brother by about twenty minutes! This is also the reason why he was captain of the pair; the right of primogeniture, in fact.

“They had no business or profession for they always had enough to live on in comfort. Badminton was the only other game they played except lawn tennis. In the winter Roy was addicted to gardening and Charlie to sparrow-shooting. Their opinion of golf – that it spoils an otherwise enjoyable walk – is historic. It is also typical of the quaint vein of humour that was in them, and enabled them to hit off anybody’s peculiarities with an apposite phrase or nickname that stuck.

“On court they could be riotously funny when they chose, and the crowds that used to flock to watch them, and listen to their backchat, would have caused many a tournament secretary of today to turn green with envy. ‘Hit ‘em! Hit ‘em! What’s the use of a great strong feller like you pattin’ ‘em!’ was a frequent exhortation from one to the other, delivered in stentorian tones. But perhaps the finest of their jibes was made one day when, after Roy had missed a ridiculously easy shot, Charlie looked at him reproachfully, and then in sorrowful and pitying tones ejaculated, ‘And they call you the good Allen!’

“Of a truth there were merrymakers on the earth in those days, and the Allens were among the greatest of them.”
--

From The Times, [23] November 1931:

The late Mr Edward R. Allen

Mr Hope Crisp writes:

“May I be permitted, as an old Cambridge lawn tennis captain, to write a few lines respecting my old friend and mentor, Mr Edward Roy Allen, who died last Wednesday at the age of 62? He and his twin brother, Charles Gladstone Allen (who died three [six] years ago), were in the Cambridge University lawn tennis side from 1889 to 1891, and from then onwards until 1914, used to come up each summer term to play with the coach and the university side.

“They only played twice at Wimbledon, but were runners-up to Reginald Doherty and Harold Nisbet [in the all-comers’ final] in 1896. Of the two, Roy was easily the better and more famous singles player, and on his day was capable of beating anyone. He played from the baseline, was possessed of a most skilful backhand, had an uncanny sense of anticipation and a cunning drop shot which generally caught an opponent guessing. It will easily be imagined, therefore, that few undergraduates ever got the better of him, and it is on record that only the Dohertys [Reginald and Laurence] and Tony Wilding performed that feat.

“I myself played him two or three times a week during the summer terms of 1910 to 1913, and suffered defeat upon defeat, but did eventually manage to obtain a belated victory in September 1913 at the Hythe tournament. No one could have undergone a more strenuous apprenticeship than I did, and one which few of our modern young players can hope for. Possibly if an unkind fate in the shape of a German bullet had not deprived me of a leg I might have profited by it.

“In 1914, the University Club presented the brothers with a silver salver in token of their 25 years’ service, but after the war, although they still went up to the old spot, they refrained from playing. When I asked the reason why, Roy replied, “We’re not going to run the risk of being beaten by someone one’s never heard of!”

“Stories innumerable have been told about these twins concerning their backchat on the court, but this is not the time or place to make particular reference to it. As one who knew them intimately I should like to record what splendid sportsmen we found them, and to acknowledge the great assistance and encouragement they gave without stint to a generation of Cambridge players. Their names will always be remembered with affection wherever old Cambridge men foregather.”
-----

Media

Leave a Reply Cancel reply