Bayly Nash
Akroyd
Male
England
1850-04-27
Streatham, London, England
1926-11-24
Marylebone, London, England
Bayly Nash Akroyd was born on 27 April 1850 in Streatham, South London. He was the fourth of the six children – five sons and one daughter – of John Akroyd (1819-94), a stockbroker and native of Stepney, East London, and Mary Nash (née Fisher; 1820-78), who was also from Stepney. John Akroyd and Mary Fisher were married on 11 December 1844 in Saint Peter’s Church in Mile End, also in the East End of London.
In the years 1865-68, Bayly N. Akroyd was a pupil at Radley College, a boarding school for boys located near the town of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. While at the school, he was a member of the cricket eleven and the football team, an indication that he had a talent for more than one sport.
A right-handed batsman and a round-arm bowler, Akroyd later became a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (aka Lord’s) and represented Surrey at cricket, his first-class career lasting for most of the 1870s. He made a total of eight appearances in first-class cricket, scoring a total of 129 at an average of 8.60, with a high score of 30. For Surrey he scored 108 runs at an average of 9.00.
Although Akroyd was better known as a cricketer and real tennis player, he was also one of the 22 men who took part in the first Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships tournament, which was held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club on Worple Road, Wimbledon, from 9-19 July 1877. This was probably the only lawn tennis tournament Akroyd ever took part in. He won one match before losing in straights sets in the second round to William Marshall, the eventual runner-up.
In June 1886, Akroyd took part in the real tennis competition for the Marylebone Club Gold Prize, which was held annually on the real tennis court at Lord’s. He had a walkover in the first round, then won two matches to reach the final, where he was beaten by John Moyer Heathcote. Akroyd thus became holder of the “silver racquet”.
Heathcote was one of the best real tennis players of all time and was one of the men who helped draw up the first set of rules for lawn tennis at Lord’s in 1875. These rules were amended in 1877, when the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club proposed the holding of a lawn tennis championship at its grounds in July 1877, the tournament in which Akroyd took part. The rules of lawn tennis have remained virtually unchanged since then.
Bayly Akroyd married Nona Barron (1850-1926) on 6 April 1875 in Holy Trinity Church, Paddington, London. She was a native of Camberwell in London and one of the eight children – six sons and two daughters – of Charles Barron and Elizabeth Barron (née Pigeon), both of whom were also Londoners by birth. Bayly and Nona Akroyd had two children together: Arthur Bayly Akroyd (1876-1945) and Percy Bayly Akroyd (1879-1935).
Like his father before him, Bayly Akroyd became a stockbroker and a member of the London Stock Exchange. On his death in London on 24 November 1926 at the age of 76, Bayly Akroyd left effects to the value of nearly £33,000, a considerable sum in those days. He had been predeceased by his wife, Nona, who died in January 1926 in Folkestone, Kent, at the age of 75.
1877 - 1877
0
2
1
Round 1
Bayly Nash Akroyd 1 *
George Nicol
6-0
6-0
6-4
Round 2
William Cecil Marshall 1 *
Bayly Nash Akroyd
6-4
6-2
6-2