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The Birth of Lawn Tennis

I may be wrong, but I don't think that they were members at Edgbaston Archery. I was a member there in the late 1980s/early 1990s and alhough there was a big thing about them being the oldest club, I don't remember Gem or Perera being mentioned. As I was already living at my current house, I think that I would have probably taken a special interest.

I'm going to the library tomorrow, so I'll have a look to see what else I can find. I also need to ring the lady who now owns Fairlight as she said that she had some newspaper cuttings.
 
That's fantastic Leslam thanks - he looks pretty ill there doesn't he, perhaps he had one match too many!
 
Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

There's an interesting article in to-days Sunday Mercury referring to a Major Harry Gem born on May 21 in 1819 and served with the 1st Warwickshire Volunteer Rifle Corps. It is mentioned that in 1859 Harry and a close friend Augurio Perera, a Spanish merchant based in Birmingham came up with what is believed to be the first version of lawn tennis.

The article goes on to say "Harry Gem's legacy is something Birmingham can justifiably be proud of."

He was apparently buried in Warstone Lane cemetery in 1881, the funeral being attended by thousands of people (a picture in the paper shows Key Hill cemetery where the unmarked grave of Major Henry Gem is located?).

The purpose of the article was to call for a memorial and clean up of the grave, which is said lies in ruins.


Steve
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

Harry Gem was also a superb archer, having a particular fascination for the ancient 'longbow'. He also once ran, for a bet, from Birmingham to Warwick.
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

MORE INFO;

Lawn Tennis 1859


The game was invented in 1859 by Major Thomas Harry Gem, a solicitor, and his friend Batista Pereira, a Spanish merchant, who both lived in Birmingham. They played it first on a lawn in the Edgbaston area, calling it ‘pelota’, after a Spanish ball game.
In 1872 both men moved to Leamington, and with two doctors from the Warneford Hospital, played pelota on the lawn behind the Manor House Hotel. The hotel bears a plaque erected during the centenary celebrations held on 11 June 1972, which reads: ‘In 1872 Major Harry Gem with his friend Mr. B. Pereira, joined with Dr. Frederick Haynes and Dr. A. Wellesley Tomkins to found the first lawn tennis club in the world and played the game on nearby lawns’. In 1874 they formed the Leamington Tennis Club, setting out the original rules of the game which form the basis of the modern ones. The Courier of 23 July 1884 recorded one of the first tennis tournaments, held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall.(demolished 1948)
One of the first real or royal tennis courts was built in Bedford Street to the North of the town in 1846 and survives to this day as a private club.
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

It would be nice if this thread could be joined to Aidans "The Birth of Lawn Tennis"started 5 days ago. Dek
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

Yes please and A scan of the article & picture would be nice too (we don't get the Mercury down here - wonder if they have been reading the thread?)
 
leslam said:
I may be wrong, but I don't think that they were members at Edgbaston Archery.
Click to expand...

JohnO (on another thread that I hope gets joined to this one - Update: THANKS) suggests that Gem was an expert with the Longbow - so it would indicate he was part of a club rather than his backgarden
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

dek carr said:
It would be nice if this thread could be joined to Aidans "The Birth of Lawn Tennis"started 5 days ago. Dek
Click to expand...
Threads merged.
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

Aidan said:
Yes please and A scan of the article & picture would be nice too (we don't get the Mercury down here - wonder if they have been reading the thread?)
Click to expand...

Aidan i should think so.If they have the research has been done for them. good to see the 2 threads are now 1 . Dek
 
I went to the library on Friday and spent the whole morning on Gem and Perera. There were no references that I could find to Perera. We're a bit stuck because we're not sure what exactly happpend to him after Leamington.

I have numerous things to scan, transcribe and upload about Gem, including a copy of the announcement and report of the funeral. I haven't had a chance to check the attendees in the report. There is a whole reel of his scrapbook that I went through in the Archives. Much of it is devoted to his ability with words and lyrics - copies of verses etc., but there are some good photos of him and caricatures of him as a solicitor. There is also a set of rules from Leamington and a letter from about Walter Wingfield (see wikipedia)

I have photographed his full obituary that appeared in Egbastonia and skimmed though a book he wrote on the Warwickshire voluneers.

I now have quite a bit of transcribing to do; so it's going to take me several days (I've been away this weekend), so please be patient as I suspect that it will take me several days . I'll also phone the lady about going to Fairlight to see if she has anything further on Perera
 
I didn't know that there had been a thread started previously, that is why i started a seperate one. I read the story about his grave in the Sunday Mercury and thought that it would be of interest if i entered it in the cemeteries posting.

I'm not too sure how to upload a copy of the report onto this thread. If anyone wants to IM me with their e-mail address i will send it to them and perhaps it could then be uploaded. A word of warning though, my scanner has been playing up and when i send attachments i have been told that they are being received in various shades of colours.

There is added information on the 'net about Gem. Just put his name in your search engine and see what pops up.

Regards

Steve
 
This is the first of several posts over the next day or so with scans of pictures and reports that were on the scrapbook reel in the archives. I will have to make another visit at the end of the week as one of the print outs was oddly in negative (I'm sure I didn't choose that button!). I also seem to be missing the death annoucement card that was in the scrapbook and some of the correspondence with Leamington club - I'll admit to being 'machine-sick' by the time I had worked my way through the whole reel!

The upload should include the following:
Portrait (no date)
Silhouette of Mrs Gem (1857)
Full-length portrait of Harry Gem in Volunteers uniform (undated)
Obituary and letters
Report on funeral
​
The funeral was a very significant, military affair, with a procession for the station (Snow Hill I guess). It is interesting to note that he was interred in the same grave as his father-in-law. I have looked through the list of reported attendees, and there is no reference to Perera (or even to tennis).
 
Hi leslam.

Well done for researching and making avilable the information on Major Gem. The attendence of people from varying walks of life showed the great respect they had for him. It must have been a marvellous site. To read about it all is an honor to behold.

Well done

Steve
 
Attached are the first four pages of the full report from the Edgbastonia magazine of December 1881. It includes a lot of information on Gem's tennis and drama activities. [It was quite hard to photgraph because it is bound into a volume. Hoefully there isn't too much distortion]
 
Final three pages.

Also included is the copy of the entry in the admons registers. It shows his adddress in Leamington.
 
Wonderful info Les, it is amazing he is not better known but hopefully this research has put that right
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

What fantastic information I had no idea about this man. I hope his grave can be restored so people can visit it. I think this information should be in a book.......well done all for your imput.
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

What a really interesting thread this is - I look forward to hearing about the proposed meeting with the house's owner.

On a lighter note - the original post wondered what would happen if we had the 'Wimbledon' championships in Birmingham. Answer - traffic chaos!
I was lucky enough to go to Wimbledon a couple of times in the 80s and the traffic was snarled up for miles around what is normally a pleasant residential area.
I recall sliding down my seat in acute embarassment as my impatient husband drove across the centre of a traffic island to reach the road we needed after sitting for hours in a queue! :redface: (no traffic cameras then thank goodness)

However, it is said that many of the residents let their houses for an absolute fortune during Wimbledon fornight and go off on expensive holidays!
 
I corresponded with the owner of an Ancestry Tree containing Gem and received this info (thanks):

As you know Thomas Henry Gem was born 21st may 1819 and died 4th Nov 1881. Unfortunately I can't find any official record of his birth, I've even been through the records for St Mary's church Handsworth, but no luck.

He married Ellen Maria Wilcox on 27th March 1852, she was a lot younger than him, but as far as I can find they had no children (at least living).

His father was William Henry Gem, also a solicitor and Clerk to the Justices in B'ham and he had 1 brother George and 4 half siblings, that I'm aware of. Although I can find his step mother and her marriage to his father, I can find no record of his mother, although I am certain that the wife I have for his father is a second marriage.

With regard to his burial, the following is information I obtained from Handsworth cemetry:
Section/grave: P 1564
Description: Raised body stone with Gothic Sides
Inscription: John Willcox died Jan 2nd 1856 aged 68 years, also Thomas Henry Gem Major WRV died Nov 4th 1881 aged 62 years, Also Ann wife of John Willcox died Feb 14th 1888 aged 69 years.
Disposal: Raised body stone buried on site

In the 1950's Birmingham City Council removed a number of memorials and these were recorded by the Council before removal.

I have attached a copy of the cemetary plan and a plan showing where the actual plot is.

I believe he is buried with his wife's parents.

A copy of his will is available through the National Archives, it's nothing too monumental
 
Re: Major harry gem, article in birmingham sunday mercury to0day (27 june 2010)

It is so upsetting to find a grave which has been buried I know my family grave was. Thankfully with financial help from the family mine has been restored. I am sure if a fund was set up this grave could be restored as it is important to the history of the city.
 
My Grandma lived in the house next to the Botanical Gardens in the 1930s, no photos anywhere though.
Mike.
 
Thomas Henry and Ellen were married in Aston Juxta. I have to look something else up for that church, so I'll add it to the list!

Do we know why we think that he was born in Handsworth? Apart from St Mary's, what other churches were round there (particularly in view of the next paragraph)?
Whilst I was at the library last week I went through the Aris Gazette obituary index looking for Gems. There is a page and a half, but one of them is particularly relevant:
Gem Elizabeth (Mrs W H) of Bordsley Place, Aston died 23 Nov 1835
I suspect that this was Thomas Henry's mother.

[I have just spotted another marriage for a Thomas Henry Gem in 1865, St George's, Birmingham. I don't think that this is anything to do directly with 'our' Gem, but we need to be careful as the wife's name was Emma]
 
I think that I have the death of William Henry Gem (THG's father) Q4 1855, Aston 6d 155.

Having found the census return for 1871, this has caused me to have a rethink on my entry in #56
The following are at 18 Congreve Street:
Thomas H Gem, 51, Attorney (Clerk to Justices and Commisioner of Taxes)
Ellen M Gem, 37
George S Gem, 28, Brother, Attorney's Assistant (born Aston)
​
The brother (George Stanley) is interesting - he is mentioned by the owner of the tree in #53. However, as he was born in Q1 1842, I can't see how the entry for the death of Elizabeth Gem that I found in Aris for 1832 can be T H G & George's mother - maybe there were two generations of W H Gem! Alternatively, perhaps George was a step-sibling as well?
I am inclined to think the latter as I have just George as an articled clerk on the 1861 cenus, living in Northfield with his widowed mother, Sarah (fundholder) + his siblings Charles (b 1838), Frances (b 1840) and Agnes (b 1842). All born Handsworth.

I can find no trace of George (or indeed any of the family) in 1851. Nor can I find Thomas and parents in 1841. I've tried both Ancestry and Findmypast - the enumerator must have got it very wrong!

Looking thorugh the Aris Gazette entries for Gem, there are two more deaths that might be potentially useful for the owner of the tree:
Gem Sarah Maria infant daughter of W H Gem. Died at Lozells. d 19 Jan 1837
Gem Edith daughter of W H Gem of the Lozells. d 26 April 1848
​
 

Looking at the directories for the period around 1870 (all entries for Gems)
1867-72 Gem & Docker, solicitors, 2 Bennett's hill
1867-72 Gem Edward & Co. hardware & general merchants, 27 Charlotte street
1867-72 Gem Edward, vice-consul for Austria, 27 Charlotte street
1868-72 Gem George, solicitor, see Gem & Docker
1867-72 Gem Sarah (Mrs.), milliner & hosier, 149 Coventry road
1868-72 Gem Thomas Henry, grocer, 42 Spring hill, (1872 & ale & porter stores, 54 Spring hill)
1867-72 Gem Thomas Henry, solicitor, clerk to the commissioners of taxes & clerk to the magistrates, 18 Congreve street
So it looks like the Gem name is well –in in soliciting circles. , and possibly Thomaas Henry (or his son of the same name) went into the grocery and drinks business.
Mike
 
Just a silly thought has come into my head i assume there would be no connection with the Gem St that was located between Coleshill St and the Fire station or am i wrong? Dek
 
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