player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameGeorge E.
LastnameLyttleton-Rogers
GenderMale
CountryIreland
Date of birth1906-07-10
Place of birthAthy, County Kildare, Ireland
Date of death1962-11-19
Place of deathLos Angeles County Hospital, Los Angeles, Californ, United States of America

About

A Biographical Sketch of George Lyttleton Rogers (1906-62)

By Mark Ryan

Although some sources list his birthplace as Dublin, George Lyttleton Rogers, the last Irish lawn tennis player to enjoy significant success on the international circuit, was in fact born in the market town of Athy in County Kildare, to the west of County Dublin, on 10 July 1906. He was the third of the three children – all sons – of Francis William Lyttleton Rogers (1853-1916), a native of County Kilkenny and inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary, and Hester (‘Hessie’) May Rogers (née Lloyd Sherrie; 1871-1952), who was from Dublin.

The marriage of Francis Lyttleton Rogers and Hester Lloyd Sherrie is registered as having taken place in Dublin in 1894, although Francis appears to have been living in Coleraine, County Derry, at the time. He had been posted there in his role as a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary, the armed police force of the United Kingdom in Ireland in the years 1814-1922. The Rogers’ first two children were both born in Coleraine: Francis Lyttleton Lloyd Rogers on 4 February 1895, and Richard Henry Lyster Rogers on 18 September 1896.

In the decennial Census of Ireland, taken on the night of 31 March 1901, the Rogers family were living in a house on Lower Abbey Street in the townland of Ardnanagh in County Roscommon, in the west of the country. The address indicates a change of posting for Francis Lyttleton Rogers, who completed the census return, listing his occupation as ‘District Inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary’. His wife is listed as ‘Lady’, while the two boys, six-year-old Francis, junior, and four-year-old Richard, are both listed as ‘Scholars’.

Also present when the census return was completed were sixty-year-old Marie Sherrie, Hessie’s mother, who is listed as ‘Widow (Lady)’; Marie’s place of birth is given as Sierra Leone, Africa. Two female servants and a male groom round off the list of people mentioned in the census form.

Ten years later, when the Census of Ireland was taken on the night of 2 April 1911, Francis Lyttleton Rogers, senior, was living in a house in Leixlip, in north-east County Kildare, on the border with Dublin. In the census return he listed his occupation as ‘Gentleman Farmer; Retired District Inspector, Royal Irish Constabulary’. The only other people listed on the return were two male farm servants and a female cook. Hessie Rogers and her three children, including four-year-old George, were more than likely staying in the family home in Merrion Square, Dublin, when the census was taken.

Located on the south side of Dublin city centre, fashionable Merrion Square was in those days largely residential. Sir William Wilde, the renowned Irish eye and ear surgeon, and his family, including their son Oscar, had had a house at No. 1 when Oscar was attending nearby Trinity College in the years 1871-74. The eldest of the three Rogers sons, Francis, would attend the Engineering School at the same university.

Following the outbreak of World War One, and before he had completed his engineering studies, Francis Rogers, junior, enlisted with the Royal Field Artillery (RFA), which provided support to the regular British Army. According to the website http://www.1914-1918.net/rfa_units.htm: “As with all elements of the regular army, these units were, after being mobilised in August 1914, manned by a mixture of serving regulars, army and special reservists.

“From around October 1914 they began to be supplemented by wartime recruits and by the war’s end the majority of the complement of most regular units were not career soldiers. In general, the regular RFA units were under command of the regular divisions, until from late 1915 they were increasingly mixed into the new army divisions.”

Francis Rogers, junior, was subsequently sent into combat in France and reached the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He was killed in action on 7 January 1916 in the commune of Neuve-Chapelle in the Pas-de-Calais département in northern France, a month before what would have been his twenty-first birthday.

Like his elder brother before him, Richard Rogers, the second of the three Rogers siblings, also enlisted soon after the outbreak of war. He had already been a member of the Royal Field Artillery before the war, having previously entered the Royal Military College at Woolwich in south-east London. Richard was also posted to France, where he reached the rank of Lieutenant.

Richard Rogers was killed in action on 4 October 1917, near Arras, the historic, administrative and university capital of the Pas-de-Calais département. Arras is located just to the south of Neuve-Chapelle, where Francis Rogers, junior, had been killed in January 1916. He had celebrated his twenty-first birthday just two weeks before his death.

The death of Francis William Lyttleton Rogers, father of Francis, Richard and George, was recorded in south Dublin during the first quarter of 1916, around the time when Francis, junior, was killed in action in France. In later life the widowed Hester Lyttleton Rogers lived with relatives in Canada. She died in Victoria, British Columbia, in November 1952 at the age of 81.

Although he would later enjoy a good deal of success at lawn tennis, it appears that George Lyttleton Rogers was a somewhat sickly child. According to the entry for him in the The Dictionary of Irish Biography: “After the death of his father, his mother brought a then delicate Rogers to live for much of the year in the south of France for the benefit of his health. From a wealthy Dublin family of private means on his mother’s side, he became a top class tennis player largely by spending much of his time on the French Riviera, playing with other top-class players, and regularly competing in the championships held in Nice, Monte Carlo, Beaulieu and Cannes.”

Rogers later became a member of the prestigious Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin, which had been founded in Dublin towards the end of 1877. The original location of this club was Upper Pembroke Street, just around the corner from Fitzwilliam Square, the venue for the Irish Lawn Tennis Championships from 1879 to 1902, the tournament’s golden era.

In 1880, the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club moved to grounds at Wilton Place, close to Fitzwilliam Square, but a little further from the city centre. The Irish Lawn Tennis Championships were first held at the Wilton Place grounds in 1903 and, with one exception, these grounds would remain the venue for the tournament until 1972.

It was at Wilton Place that Rogers would won the men’s singles title at the Irish Championships three times: in 1928, when he was just 22, and again in 1936 and 1937. He also won the men’s doubles title twice at the same tournament: in 1936 with fellow Irishman Trevor McVeagh, when they beat the Pole Adam Baworowski and Georg von Metaxa of Austria in the final, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2; and in 1938 with Josip Pallada, who was born in Croatia and played under the Yugoslavian flag; in the final they beat another Irish player, Edward McGuire, and Dennis Coombe of New Zealand, 6-3 5-7 10-8 3-6 7-5.

A victory in the mixed doubles event at the Irish Championships in 1936 with the Chilean player Anita Lizana saw Rogers take the ‘triple crown’ that year. In the final they beat the Dubliner Norma Stoker and Georg von Metaxa, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. Rogers had also won the mixed doubles at the same tournament in 1932, with the Polish player Jadwiga Jedrzejowska. In the final they beat Frances Fleming, of Omagh, and Edward McGuire, 6-3 4-6 6-1.

Other victories in the men’s singles event at grass court tournaments throughout Rogers’ career include those at the West of England championships in Bristol in the years 1929-31; at the North of England Championships in Scarborough in 1932 and 1937; at the Northern England Championships in Manchester in 1937; and at the Welsh Championships in Newport in 1938. He also won the men’s doubles and mixed doubles titles at several other tournaments during his career.

In addition to his successes on fast grass courts, Rogers also enjoyed a good deal of success on slower clay courts, in particular at the tournaments held during the early part of the season on the French and Italian Rivieras. This is not surprising given that he had been playing on such courts since his childhood.

Some of his most notable tournament victories on the French Riviera include winning the men’s singles title at the South of France Championships in Nice in 1931, 1933 and 1934, the Côte d’Azur Championships in Cannes in 1931, the Championships of Monaco in Monte Carlo in 1932 and the Cannes Championships in 1932 and 1938.

In seven appearances at the French Championships in Paris between 1928 and 1939, Rogers reached the quarter-finals of the men’s singles event twice, in 1930 and 1932. He played at Wimbledon every year from 1928 to 1939, his best performance in the men’s singles event coming in 1933, when he lost in the fourth round to the Czech-born player Roderich Menzel, 6-1, 6-1, 12-10.

According to the entry for Rogers in The Dictionary of Irish Biography: “Particularly noteworthy was his defeat of Australian Jack Crawford in the Davis Cup in 1930, three years before Crawford won Wimbledon and his defeat of the German [future] three-time Wimbledon runner-up Gottfried von Cramm when the Irish team knocked the Germans out of the Davis Cup. He defeated Henri Cochet (winner of Wimbledon in 1927 and 1929) twice, and also beat Ellsworth Vines at Forest Hills in 1931, the year before he won Wimbledon.”

Rogers was a mainstay of the Irish Davis Cup team for several years in the 1930s and sometimes even captained the team. He took part in 17 Davis Cup ties for Ireland between 1929 and 1939, finishing with a win-loss record of 18-15 in singles and 6-10 in doubles.

Where Rogers’ playing style is concerned, his entry in The Dictionary of Irish Biography notes the following: “At almost 6 ft, 7 in (2 m), Rogers was the tallest top-class player of his era, and his enormous reach, coupled with a very strong backhand and an extremely hard serve, made him a formidable opponent. He reputedly had a fierce temper, however, and this could have an effect on his timing.”

Although the entry on him in The Dictionary of Irish Biography also states that Rogers emigrated to the USA in 1939, he took part in a number of Italian tournaments in April and May of 1940, and his name only begins to appear regularly in the draws of American tournaments in the summer of 1940. Indeed, in a ‘manifest’ he completed on 2 April 1949 after crossing the border between the USA and Canada, Rogers states that he had been living in the USA since 10 June 1940, when he arrived in the port of New York aboard the SS Manhattan, an American luxury liner.

Rogers’ arrival in New York in early June 1940 ties in perfectly with his playing in several tournaments during the lawn tennis season in the USA. (He had been to North America at least once before, in the summer of 1930, when he notably won the men’s singles title at the Canadian Championships in Toronto.)

Rogers’ decision to emigrate appears to have been at least partially motivated by Great Britain’s decision to declare war on Germany on 3rd September 1939. Although his two elder brothers had effectively died fighting for Great Britain during World War One, by 1939 the Irish Free State had been founded and would remain neutral throughout World War Two.

Although the declaration of war led to the postponement of lawn tennis tournaments in many countries from September 1939 until 1945, notably in Great Britain, the sport continued to thrive in the USA, especially during the early years of the war. By 1939 George Lyttleton Rogers, who turned 33 on 7 July of that year, had passed his prime as a player and was unable to add any more singles titles to those he had already won. In three appearances in the men’s singles event at the U.S. Championships (in 1940, 1941 and 1942), he failed to make it past the third round.

In March 1945, Rogers renounced his amateur status and joined the professional tour, where players were paid for their performances. He did not achieve any notable success on this other tour, but became president of the World Professional Tennis Association when it was founded in early 1945. By this time the war was drawing to a gradual close and a large number of players, both amateur and professional, from many countries had been in military service.

Although he would not have been too old to serve, there is no evidence that Rogers joined the U.S. military. He did, however, arrange and take part in some exhibition matches and other events benefitting the Red Cross and the sale of war bonds. Some of these matches pitted amateurs and professionals. After the war Rogers continued to take part in some professional lawn tennis tournaments, but was better known as a promoter and coach.

There is concrete evidence that George Lyttleton Rogers married at least four times. In 1931, he became engaged to Marjorie Schiele (1913-2008), usually described in contemporary sources as an ‘American heiress’. However, this engagement was broken off at the insistence of her mother and the pair did not marry. The following related report was published in The New York Times on 30 December 1931:

“Nice, France, December 30.– Maternal objection has upset an Irish-American romance. The engagement of Ireland’s Davis Cup player, George Lyttleton Rogers, and Miss Marjorie Schiele, 19-year-old Cincinnati heiress, announced a few months ago, has been broken.

“‘While it is not for me to make comment,’ Mr Rogers said today, “nevertheless it is true the engagement has been broken. Marjorie’s mother told her to wait a year before she marries, but I am unable to concur in this viewpoint because the delay will make me most unhappy. Miss Schiele is a marvellous girl. We are still friends despite the maternal dictum.’ Mr Rogers and the Schieles are residing at Monte Carlo. The champion said he intended to fulfil engagements in Riviera Winter tournaments.”

Marjorie Schiele later became a noted artist and patron of the arts, and spent most of her life in Europe, where she died in Monte Carlo in 2008 at the age of 95.

In 1939, Rogers married Margarete (‘Greta’) Konenberg (1905-99), a native of Kreuznach in Germany. According to the following report, published in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser newspaper on 8 July 1939, Rogers had been married once before, but his first, unnamed wife had died on the operating table in 1937:

“Lyttleton Rogers Marries Again

“George Lyttleton Rogers, six foot seven inches Irish champion, has married again. His bride, Mlle Greta Konenberg, is the girl whose sympathetic message after the tragic death of his first wife two years ago Lyttleton Rogers never forgot. Three years ago, when he was in Switzerland with his young first wife, they were introduced to Greta, a delighful Swiss-German girl, a dress expert who travelled Europe for Paris and other dress houses and spoke five languages. Her home is at Montana, in the Swiss mountains.

“A year later, while Rogers was playing a Davis Cup match at Montreux, Switzerland, he was told that his wife, in hosptial for an operation, was dying. George, frantic with anxiety, induced the broadcasting people to let him speak a message of encouragement over the air to this wife in the hospital. Then he hurried home – but was too late.

“In his grief there came to him a letter of sympathy from Switzerland. It was from Greta, of whom they had hardly heard since the introduction. ‘That letter was so genuinely kind, it got at my heart strings,’ George said. ‘However, I thought nothing more of it except of its kindliness. A year or so later, having heard nothing further, whom should I meet at the Sporting Club of Monte Carlo but Greta, having a holiday in the south of France? Old memories were revived. The acquaintance ripened, and here we are back from a month’s honeymoon at Wiesbaden.’”

Like George Lyttleton Rogers, Greta Konenberg settled in the United States and subsequently filed a petition for naturalization. She died in New York in July 1999 at the age of 93. She and Rogers had divorced before 1951 because on 2 September 1951, in Tahoe Township, Nevada, Rogers married again. His third wife was June Elizabeth Sears (1914-2009), who was born in the state of Montana. The marriage produced no children and the pair later divorced.

On 21 November 1961, in Nevada, George Lyttleton Rogers married once again. His fourth and final wife was Betty Lou Schlesinger (1934-2018), a native of New York. She was 28 years his junior. The marriage produced one child, a daughter. Almost exactly one year after marrying Betty Lou Schlesinger, George Lyttleton Rogers died on 19 November 1962 in Los Angeles County General Hospital, Los Angeles. He was 56.
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The main sources for the preceding biographical sketch are:

www.ancestry.com
www.tennisarchives.com
http://www.1914-1918.net/rfa_units.htm
The Dictionary of Irish Biography
The New York Times
The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile
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