player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameCharles Percy
LastnameDixon
GenderMale
CountryEngland
Date of birth1873-02-07
Place of birthGrantham, Lincolnshire, England
Date of death1939-04-29
Place of deathWest Norwood, Greater London, England

About

A Biographical Sketch of Charles Dixon

By Mark Ryan

Charles Percy Dixon was born on 7 February 1873 in the market town of Grantham in Lincolnshire. He was the youngest of the seven children – four sons and three daughters – of William Dixon (b. 1833), a clothing manufacturer and native of Grantham, and Susannah Dixon (née Woodcock; 1834-1915), who was from the city of Leicester. Charles Dixon’s siblings were Arthur William (1859-c.1890); John Auger (1861-1931); Clara (1863-1924); Emily Woodcock (1869-75); Frederick James (1865-1963); and Ada Mary 1867-1939).

In addition to Charles Dixon, his two surviving brothers, John and Frederick, would also excel at sport. According to the Birmingham Daily Post newspaper of 24 August 1893, an uncle of theirs, the Reverend Joseph Dixon, a keen cricketer, was responsible for instilling a love of sports in his nephews when they were young. John Auger Dixon would go on to become a renowned cricketer and footballer, while Frederick Dixon was also a good cricketer. Fred Dixon studied medicine at Cambridge University and later became a doctor.

Charles Dixon attended Haileybury public school in Hertford Heath, near the town of Hertford, before going up to Cambridge University, where he matriculated at the beginning of the Michaelmas term in 1891. While at Cambridge, he studied law and also excelled at racquets, an indoor sport, at which he won the gold medal.

During his time as a student, Charles Dixon was articled to a law firm in the city of Nottingham, where his family had lived for a number of years. While in Nottingham, Dixon also continued to develop as a lawn tennis player. He had begun to show real talent at this sport while still at Cambridge. However, he did not enter many lawn tennis tournaments before the beginning of the twentieth century, probably because he was establishing himself as a solicitor. His first big success in the men’s singles event a tournament came at the Surrey Championships in Surbiton in July 1900, when he won the title by defeating his countryman Major Ritchie in the final in four sets: 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

By the time of his success at the Surrey Championships tournament in 1900, Charles Dixon was already 27 years old. He was also a married man. On 17 August 1897, at the parish church in the town of Spilsby in Lincolnshire, he had married Louise Robinson (1867-1950), herself a native of Spilsby. The marriage would remain childless.

When the Census of England and Wales was taken on Sunday 31 March 1901, Charles and Louise Dixon were living in a house in the south London district of Streatham. Also present in the house was a female servant. According to the census in question, Charles Dixon was a solicitor (working on his own account).

The year 1901 was a notable one for Charles Dixon in lawn tennis terms. In that particular year, at his fourth attempt, he reached the all-comers’ final of the men’s singles event at Wimbledon. (In those days the winner of what was known as the all-comers’ event would then take on the holder of the title in the challenge round.) In 1901, however, Charles Dixon was defeated in the all-comers’ final at Wimbledon by his compatriot Arthur Wentworth Gore, who went on to beat Reggie Doherty, the holder, in the challenge round. Gore easily beat Dixon, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3.

Although he took part in a few lawn tennis tournaments in 1902, there is a significant gap in Charles Dixon’s lawn tennis career after 1901. In fact, he did not return to competition until 1906. The reason for this might have been professional. In any case, in mid-August 1906, he won the men’s singles title at the Lincolnshire Championships in Spilsby which, in some respects, was his local tournament. In the final he defeated an A.K. Brook in four sets, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. (Dixon would win the same title at the same tournament in 1907 and 1908).

In the years 1907-14, Charles Dixon enjoyed his greatest successes on the lawn tennis court, winning many singles and doubles titles in those eight years as well as contributing to British victories in Davis Cup and its medal tally at the Olympic Games of both 1908 and 1912.

The outdoor lawn tennis events at the Olympic Games of 1908 were held in early July, at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon. In the men’s doubles event Charles Dixon and his partner Clement Cazalet had a walkover in the first round, but then won two matches to reach the semi-finals. At that stage they met their compatriots Reggie Doherty and George Hillyard and were beaten in five sets, but only after a titanic battle. The final score in favour of Doherty and Hillyard was 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 17-15, 6-4 and, although Dixon and Cazalet were beaten, they finished with the bronze medal.

Four years later, in 1912, the Olympic Games were held in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The indoor lawn tennis events took place in early May, at the Östermalm Athletic Grounds. In the men’s singles event Charles Dixon won the silver medal. He was beaten in the final match by the Frenchman André Gobert, who won 8-6, 6-4, 6-4. In the semi-final Dixon had notably beaten the New Zealander Tony Wilding, the reigning Wimbledon singles champion.

Eleven teams entered the indoor men’s doubles event in Stockholm in 1912, with Charles Dixon partnering Alfred Beamish. Although they were beaten in the semi-finals by the French pair of Maurice Germot and André Gobert, they won the bronze medal match, against their compatriots Arthur Gore and Herbert Roper Barrett. The final score was 6-2, 0-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

The indoor mixed doubles event in Stockholm in 1912 comprised a total of eight teams. Charles Dixon partnered Edith Hannam (née Boucher) and they won two matches to reach the final. Their opponents in the last match were their compatriots Helen Aitchison and Herbert Roper Barrett. After a three-set match Dixon and Mrs Hannam emerged the winners of the gold medal. The final score was 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. This brought Dixon’s overall tally of Olympic medals to four: two bronze, one silver and one gold.

Charles Dixon represented what was then called the British Isles in the Davis Cup four times: in 1909, 1911, 1912 and 1913. The British Isles won the cup once during this period, in 1912, and Dixon played a key role in its success. In the semi-finals, which pitted the British against France and was played in mid-July 1912, at the Pleasure Gardens in Folkestone, Kent, Dixon won his two singles matches and, with Herbert Roper Barrett, the doubles, as the British Isles triumphed by 4 rubbers to 1.

In 1912, the United States withdrew from the all-comers’ final of the Davis Cup. This meant that the British Isles went through to the challenge round to face the holders, Australasia (made up of Australia and New Zealand). The challenge round tie was played at the end of November 1912, at the Albert Ground in Melbourne. Charles Dixon won the second singles match, defeating the Australian Rodney Heath in four sets, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Although Dixon was beaten in straight sets by the Australian Norman Brookes in the first of the reverse singles, the British Isles won the tie and the cup due to a Herculean performance by the Irishman James Parke, who won both of his singles, against Heath and Brookes, for the loss of just one set. Australia won the doubles match, but the British Isles triumphed by 3 rubbers to 2.

The following year, 1913, the holders were dispossessed of the Davis Cup by the United States in the challenge round tie, which was held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, at the end of July. The doubles match proved pivotal, and the Americans Harold Hackett and Maurice McLoughlin won it, though not before Charles Dixon and Herbert Roper Barrett had had a match point at 5-4 in the fourth set. However, the Americans saved it and went on to win the match in five sets, 5-7, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, and the tie by 3 rubbers to 2. The challenge round tie of 1913 marked Charles Dixon’s last appearance in the Davis Cup.
When the Census of England and Wales was taken on Sunday, 2 April 1911, Charles Dixon and his wife Louisa were living in a house on Chestnut Road in West Norwood, a suburb located in the south London borough of Lambeth. Also present in the house were a female servant and 88-year-old Eliza Robinson, Charles Dixon’s widowed mother-in-law. In the section in which a person’s profession is recorded, Dixon wrote ‘Solicitor (but not practising)’, an indication that he no longer worked as a solicitor. The fact that he no longer had to focus on a professional career left Dixon more time to focus on lawn tennis, and it is not surprising that most of his biggest successes at the sport, including those already mentioned, came in the years leading up to World War One.

Additional successes in those years included Charles Dixon reaching the all-comers’ final in the men’s singles event at Wimbledon for the second time, in 1911. He won six matches to reach that stage, notably defeating players such as Major Ritchie and Max Decugis along the way. However, there was disappointment for Dixon again in the all-comers’ final when, despite leading Herbert Roper Barrett by two sets to love, he faded and lost in five sets, by the score of 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

In late December 1912 and early January 1913, a month after the British Isles’ success against Australasia in the Davis Cup in Melbourne, Charles Dixon and several other members of the British team were in the city of Hastings in New Zealand to take part in what was then known as the Australasian Championships, the forerunner of the Australian Championships. The Australasian Championships tournament had first been held in 1905 and rotated between different venues in Australia and New Zealand each year. Initially it featured only a men’s singles and a men’s doubles event.

In Hastings, Charles Dixon lost early in the men’s singles event to his compatriot Alfred Beamish, but in partnership with James Parke he won the men’s doubles event. In the final they beat Beamish and another Englishman, Gordon Lowe, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. This meant that Dixon became the holder of the men’s doubles event at not just the Australasian championships, but also at Wimbledon. Earlier in the lawn tennis season of 1912, Dixon and Herbert Roper Barrett had won the men’s doubles title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club for the first time.

At Wimbledon in 1912, Dixon and Roper Barrett won four matches to reach the all-comers’ final of the men’s doubles event, where they defeated Alfred Beamish and James Parke in five sets, 6-8, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the challenge round they took on the holders, the French pairing of Max Decugis and André Gobert, and won in four sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

One year later, in July 1913, Dixon and Roper Barrett were back at Wimbledon to defend their title. In the challenge round their opponents were the Germans Heinrich Kleinschroth and Friedrich Wilhelm Rahe, who had won six matches to reach that stage. Dixon and Roper Barrett retained their title after a four-set match, the final score being 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. This was a remarkable achievement because Dixon had turned forty in February 1913, while Roper Barrett himself was just a few months away from his fortieth birthday. The following report on the challenge round match in the men’s doubles event at Wimbledon in 1913 is taken from The Times of 5 July 1913:

“In the match between Mr Charles Dixon and Mr Herbert Roper Barrett, the holders, and Herr Friedrich W. Rahe and Herr Heinrich Kleinschroth in the doubles, the English pair drew ahead early in the first set and won it at 6-2. They were playing their strokes, slowly and with drag, and these tactics baffled the Germans. The second set went the same way as the first, but after a harder fight. The third was won by the Germans, who had slightly modified their methods; they were now less anxious to force the pace, and with both sides sparring for openings their superiority overhead began to tell.

“At this period it seemed quite likely that the English pair would fail after all, for Mr Dixon had lost some of his severity and Mr Roper Barrett had gone lame. In the fourth and last set, however, Mr Dixon was again at his best, he continually forced his opponents beyond the side lines; Mr Roper Barrett cut off the returns, and so the Doubles Championship is retained in this country. The English pair won – as they won last year against the Frenchmen – by cramping the game of their hard hitting opponents. Their object was to keep the ball low and to drop it just over the net, where it could be hit neither hard nor down. Thus they drove the Germans from the net to the service line, and there they plied them with half-volleys.

“Mr Roper Barrett judged the elevation with an exquisite touch, but as has been said he was lame, and that he was slower and less certain than usual is not surprising. This meant, of course, additional work for Mr, Dixon, who was equal to all demands on him. Mr Dixon has all the shots “in his bag,” and the only fear of his friends is that he should have forgotten the bag – as sometimes happens. Yesterday, however, he set all anxiety at rest at once. It was not only that he was controlling his half-volleys and placing his back-hand drive towards the sides with perfect strength; at the same time he was hitting hard when necessary. He does not smash, but his slightly hooked horizontal forehand volley and his forehand drive sent the ball travelling at a great pace.”

All sporting activity in Europe came to an end with the outbreak of World War One in late July 1914, just a few weeks after the end of that year’s Wimbledon tournament. Charles Dixon and Herbert Roper Barrett had lost their men’s doubles title there, being defeated in four sets in the challenge round by Norman Brookes and Tony Wilding, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 8-6.

When war broke out, Charles Dixon was 41 years old. He joined the National Volunteer Reserve, but did not see action. The first lawn tennis tournament to be held in England after the end of the war was the Covered Court Championships, which took place at the Queen’s Club in Kensington, London, from 7-12 April 1919. Charles Dixon did not take part in that tournament. Indeed, after the war he played very little competitive lawn tennis (he turned 46 in February 1919).

However, Dixon did win some minor singles and doubles titles in the years 1919-26, including several at the indoor tournament held in the spring and autumn at the covered courts facility located on Cottage Road in the south London district of Dulwich. This tournament was held in a convenient location for Charles Dixon, who lived on Chestnut Road in nearby West Norwood until the end of his life. He died at his home in West Norwood on 29 April 1939 at the age of 66. The following obituary appeared in The Times on 1 May 1939:

“We regret to announce that Mr Charles P. Dixon, one of the best lawn tennis players of his time, died at his home in London on Saturday at the age of 66. He seemed to have recovered from a severe illness and the news of his death will be a shock to his many friends wherever the game is played. To the modem generation of players Dixon was probably best known as a shrewd, kindly critic. His keen interest in lawn tennis never flagged; no meeting at Dulwich was complete without his presence; and in recent years he wrote extensively out of his wide knowledge in Lawn Tennis and Badminton, especially about the juniors.

“The records of tournaments all over the country bear testimony to his skill at singles, but it was as a doubles player, with such partners as Major Ritchie, Herbert Roper Barrett, and Stanley Doust, that Dixon was preeminent. He led the English Davis Cup team to victory in Australia in 1912, and previously represented England against America at Philadelphia in 1909. In 1910 he reached the final of the all-comers’ singles at Wimbledon, where he was beaten in a five-set match by Roper Barrett, with whom he won the doubles championship in 1912 and 1913.

“Dixon also won prizes at Auteuil, Stockholm, Hastings (New Zealand), New York, Paris, Saint Petersburg, Ostend, and Dieppe, and won the Welsh Championships in 1914. After winning the all-England veterans’ doubles championship at Eastbourne with Roderick J. McNair in 1913 he won the doubles championship of Europe with Gordon Lowe at Dulwich.

“He played for the International Club in later days and retained his association with Wimbledon as an umpire and became the president of the Umpires’ Association. Dixon excelled at other ball games. He played for Cambridge at rackets and won the silver medal in 1891, won several medals and prizes at golf, was a fine billiard player, and also visited Paris as a member of the British international fencing team.”
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