player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameFrank Lorymer
LastnameRiseley
GenderMale
CountryEngland
Date of birth1877-07-06
Place of birthClifton, Bristol, England
Date of death1959-02-06
Place of deathTorquay, England

About

Frank Lorymer Riseley was born on 6 July 1877 in Clifton, Bristol, the son of Henry Lorymer Riseley, a native of Bristol who ran an insurance business, and Phoebe Riseley (née Greenway), who was from the town of Pontypool in Wales. Four of Frank Riseley’s siblings – Edith, (Phoebe) Beatrice, Arthur and Stanley – also took part in lawn tennis tournaments, but Frank had the most success at the sport.

On 4 June 1902, in Clifton, Frank Riseley married Elizabeth Mary Colthurst (1880-1977), who was also from Bristol. They had one child together, a daughter, also called Elizabeth (1904-78). During World War One Frank Riseley served with the Grenadier Guards, an infantry regiment in the British Army.

In addition to lawn tennis, Frank Riseley also played football and rugby, and was a member of the Clifton and Bristol Rugby and Football Club. Like their father, Frank and Arthur Riseley were involved in the insurance business. In later life both brothers became directors of the Cornhill Insurance Company. Frank Riseley died on 6 February 1959 in Torquay, Devon.
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From The Times, 7 February 1959:

Obituary – Mr Frank Lorymer Riseley – A Great Lawn Tennis Player

By Brigadier Sir John Smyth, V.C.

“The death of Mr Frank Lorymer Riseley at the age of 82 removes from the world of lawn tennis one of the greatest of the old British champions. Many people do indeed consider him to have been the most dynamic and effective doubles player Britain has ever produced. Although Frank Riseley kept his form remarkably into his late forties and was still good enough in 1922 to partner Colonel Algernon Kingscote in an easy doubles victory against Italy in the Davis Cup, and in 1924 to win the British Hardcourt doubles title at Torquay with John Wheatley, it was at the turn of the century that he was at the peak of his game.

“And, had not his peak years coincided, exactly with those of the great Doherty brothers, Frank Riseley’s name would have appeared much more frequently on the champions’ rolls at Wimbledon than it did. The 10 years, from 1897 to 1906, during which the Dohertys, Reginald (Reggie) and Lawrence (Laurie), won the Wimbledon singles title between them nine times and the doubles title together eight times, were years of Britain’s greatest world supremacy in lawn tennis. Oversea contenders for the Wimbledon singles and doubles titles battered in vain at the gates. Their challenges were thrown back by the Dohertys, Arthur W. Gore, Sidney H. Smith, and Frank Riseley.

“And it was not until these five stalwarts retired from the fray in 1906 that the Wimbledon singles and doubles titles were first taken overseas by those very fine Australasian (the combination of Australia and New Zealand) players, Norman Brookes and Anthony Wilding. As a doubles pair the Dohertys were terrific. Their eight Wimbledon doubles titles and their unbeaten record for Britain in the Davis Cup speak for themselves. But there was one other pair in the world – a British pair – who beat them three times, once on the Riviera and twice at Wimbledon, in 1902 and 1906. And it was these three victories over the world-famous brothers that were the highlights of Frank Riseley’s lawn tennis career.

“Following their victory in 1902 Smith and Riseley were beaten by the Dohertys at Wimbledon three years running. Then they met again in the Challenge Round of 1906. Mr Frank R. Burrow, who was the Wimbledon referee for 18 years, wrote of this match: ‘I have seen a great many fine doubles in the last 30 years, but none of them excelled the last battle the Dohertys were ever to wage on the Centre Court. It was not due to any demerit on their part that they went down; it was because Frank Riseley rose to the highest pinnacle of his game, and it was too good for them. No louder applause had ever been heard at Wimbledon than that which accompanied, and greeted, the conclusion of this match.’

“The two pairs presented a remarkable contrast. The Dohertys played the modem men’s doubles game to perfection covering the court like a well-oiled machine. Smith and Riseley adopted an extraordinary mixed double formation with Smith racing along the baseline and Riseley dominating the net. But the combination of Smith’s pulverizing forehand drive and accurate lobbing, coupled with Frank’s devastating serving, smashing, and volleying, gradually broke up the perfection of the Dohertys’ game and reduced Reggie Doherty to a state of complete physical exhaustion.

“And Frank Riseley was no mean singles player either. In 1904 he won both his singles for Britain in the Challenge Round of the Davis Cup, and won the all-comers’ singles at Wimbledon three times, but could never overcome the genius of Laurie Doherty. In 1904 he was concerned in a unique incident at Wimbledon in the semi-final of the singles, when playing his doubles partner, Sidney H. Smith. Having run themselves to a standstill on a very hot day, they decided to toss for it at two sets all and Frank Riseley won. He then defeated Major Ritchie in the all-comers’ final, for the loss of only four games, but once again went down to Laurie Doherty in the Challenge Round.

“Frank Riseley was a magnificent figure of a man: big, strong, and as active as a cat. And he retained his good looks right into his old age which he accepted, as Sir Winston Churchill does, with a certain amused tolerance. I have seldom met a more lovable man nor one with a finer character. Whether it was in the world of lawn tennis – and particularly the International Lawn Tennis Clubs and at Wimbledon – or in the Bristol branch of the Old Comrades’ Association of the Grenadier Guards, to which he made a great contribution, and in many other spheres, Frank was a person whom it was always an inspiration to be with.

“And his friends and admirers were legion and of all ages. He put so much into life that he deserved to get so much out of it. He was a great West Country man, a great ornament to the game of lawn tennis, and a great English gentleman, whom one felt proud to be in the same world with.”
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