Bertha Thompson – A Forgotten Golf Champion

‘Bertha Thompson – A Forgotten Golf Champion’ chronicles the golfing life and achievements of arguably the best English lady amateur golfer of the Edwardian era (1901-1910). At the pinnacle of her distinguished amateur career, Bertha was arguably the best lady amateur golfer in the world.

And yet…if you run a query via the Google Search Engine with the keywords ‘Bertha Thompson Wikipedia‘ to find her entry on the free online encyclopedia the tranche of results returned are for the 1972 movie ‘Boxcar Bertha’, which tells the story of the fictional train robber (Boxcar) Bertha Thompson!!

Thus research for this article in our series ‘History and Legends of Golf’ literally began with a blank piece of paper. Whilst researching her life and achievements I was concurrently researching for a possible short story on the origins of the Curtis Cup, the biennial team event between women amateur golfers from the United States and Great Britain & Ireland…incredibly the respective research trajectories collided. Was it a coincidence? Was it synchronicity? Was it computational geometry? Absolutely no idea!!

Whatever the reason, I have assimilated the abridged origins of the Curtis Cup into the central chapters of Bertha’s remarkable story, which is pivoted mostly around the British Ladies Amateur Championship and maybe one day, the real Bertha Thompson will have an entry on Wikipedia so that her achievements will be known by the global golfing community ad infinitum.

(Since this article was first published on 21st July 2020 an entry for Bertha Thompson the golfer has now been added to Wikipedia)

I hope you enjoy Bertha Thompson’s story.

(This drawing of Bertha Thompson appeared in ‘THE BEVERLEY RECORDER AND GENERAL ADVERTISER’ on Saturday, June 10 1905. Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

Family Tree

Bertha Mildred Thompson was born on 25th October 1876 in the village of Terrington, North Yorkshire, England. She was the 5th daughter of George and Dora Thompson (née Cayley). George and Dora were members of Beverley & East Riding Golf Club, the oldest inland course in the county of Yorkshire, England. Dora was the ladies captain in 1895 and George was the club’s captain in 1898.

Bertha’s maternal great grandfather was Sir George Cayley, the 6th Cayley Baronet of Brompton, near Scarborough, England. He was a Member of Parliament, engineer and aviator but is best remembered as the pioneer of aeronautical engineering. Aeroplanes are designed on his discoveries aligned to weight, lift, drag and thrust. The road sign as you drive into the village of Brompton-by-Sawdon proudly reads ‘Brompton, The Birthplace of Aviation‘.

Bertha’s paternal grandmother was Anne Maister. The Maister family were merchants who settled in Kingston upon Hull, England during the 16th Century and Maister House is a hidden architectural treasure within Hull’s historic old town. In 1898 a set of golf clubs were found in a boarded-up cupboard in Maister House, along with a newspaper dated 1741. It is believed these are the oldest golf clubs in existence, possibly dating back to the time of the Stuart Kings. They are collectively known as the ‘Adam Wood Clubs’ as in 1915 they were gifted by Adam Wood (a past captain of Royal Troon and collector of golf memorabilia) to Royal Troon Golf Club. The clubs are now on display at the British Golf Museum, St Andrews with replicas on display in the clubhouse at Royal Troon.

Ladies Badge

Beverley & East Riding Golf Club was established in 1889…though I have been unable to discover exactly when Bertha started playing golf or joined the ladies section of the club.

The earliest newspaper report of Bertha playing in a golf competition is dated Friday 19th April 1895 when several Beverley & East Riding Ladies played on Wednesday 17th April 1895 for the ‘Ladies Badge’. Miss Maud Thompson, one of Bertha’s older sisters, won with a (gross) score of 93 whilst Bertha finished 3rd with a score of 97.

In November 1895, Beverley & East Riding Ladies defeated a ladies team from Scarborough Golf Club in a match which comprised of morning foursomes and afternoon singles…Bertha’s golf must have improved over the intervening months following the ‘Ladies Badge’ as she played in the top match in the foursomes and singles, winning both…this was also the first-ever match for Beverley & East Riding ladies.

At around this time, Bertha also became a member of Scarborough Golf Club…more on this as the article unfolds.

(In 1907, Scarborough Golf Club changed its name to Ganton Golf Club…Ganton is recognised as one of the best championship golf courses and has hosted the Ryder Cup, Walker Cup, Curtis Cup and the Amateur Championship inter alia…)

Luck of the Draw

The British Ladies Amateur, now known as The Women’s Amateur Championship, was established in 1893 by the Ladies Golf Union (LGU).

By 1897 Bertha was playing off scratch and for the first time entered the British Ladies Amateur, played at Gullane Golf Club. After a bye in the 1st round, she won her 2nd and 3rd round matches with commentators impressed by her ‘excellent form’…but in the 4th round (last 16) she lost to Madeline Campbell (North Berwick Golf Club), the older sister of Dorothy Campbell (who in 1909 became the first woman to win the British and American Championships in the same year).

The following year at Great Yarmouth & Caistor Golf Club, Bertha easily won her 1st round match by 8&6 but in the 2nd round came up against the formidable and very experienced Issette Pearson, losing finalist in the first 2 championships and the first honorary secretary of the LGU. Despite the gulf in experience, Bertha only succumbed on the 18th.

In 1899 the British Ladies Amateur was staged at Royal County Down Golf Club where the draw was not seeded. Not for the last time, Bertha Thompson received a really tough draw, this time a 1st round match against none other than Lottie Dod, who by 1893 had won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles Championship 5 times…an incredibly talented and versatile sportswoman, she turned her attention from tennis to golf, a sport she eventually mastered to become a champion golfer. Not surprisingly the match was labelled ‘the tie of the round’ where Lottie Dod’s match play experience prevailed by 3&2.

(I actually uncovered an error in several newspapers from 1898 where it stated that Bertha had previously reached the semi-finals in 1896…this is incorrect, as it was actually Lena Thomson, who in fact lost in the final)

International Debut

At this time, the annual championship meeting of the Ladies Golf Union usually comprised of:

• Triangular International matches between England, Scotland and Ireland (Wales joined in 1908 to create a four-team Home Nations tournament).
• A standalone 18 hole strokeplay competition.
• The British Ladies Amateur Championship.

Following her ever-improving performances (in victory and in defeat) at the British Ladies Amateur, Bertha was selected for England and made her debut in 1899 against Ireland. She would represent England until 1911…more later.

Notable Scalps

The first British Ladies Amateur of the 20th Century was played on the historic links at Westward Ho! (Royal North Devon Golf Club). At long last Bertha received a favourable draw and breezed through to the quarter-finals. But then in her quarter-final match against Molly Whigham, Bertha displayed signs of nervousness and lost by 4&3.

In 1901, normal service was resumed when it came to the draw!! However, this time, Bertha was a much more experienced player…and it showed!! In the 2nd round, she defeated Jesse Magill (losing finalist in 1899) and in the 3rd round she won a titanic match against Maud Titterton (who would win this championship in 1908)…at the 16th it looked like Bertha would lose her slender 1 hole advantage but played a sublime stymie to win the hole!! The archives were ‘patchy’ at this stage of my research so all I know is that she was knocked out before the quarter-finals.

Mixed Fortunes

In 1902, Bertha was elected as Ladies Captain of Beverley & East Riding Golf Club…and as reported at the time, the first unmarried lady to do so!!

After making her debut for England, Bertha’s luck with the draw in the 1902 British Ladies Amateur went AWOL once again…this time losing in the 2nd round against May Hezlet, possibly Ireland’s greatest ever woman golfer. She had won this championship in 1899 and after narrowly defeating Bertha by 2up she proceeded to win her second title.

But Bertha finished the 1902 golfing season on a high by winning the inaugural Yorkshire Ladies County Championship at Huddersfield Golf Club, a title she would win again in 1909.

At the 1903 British Ladies Amateur, she lost in the 3rd round against Florence Hezlet (sister of May) and in 1904 she lost (again) to eventual champion Lottie Dod in the last 16.

Club Loyalties

After 8 appearances at the British Ladies Amateur Championship, Bertha had not progressed further than the quarter-finals…though as narrated in this article her defeats were without exception at the hands of players who had or would win the title or players of the highest calibre…and sometimes compounded by the luck of the draw!!

Throughout, Bertha was a member of Beverley & East Riding and Scarborough Golf Clubs. She proudly represented Scarborough at all of the championships to this point apart from her first appearance in 1897 when she represented Beverley & East Riding…but for all subsequent championships, starting in 1905, she entered as Miss Bertha Thompson (Beverley & East Riding Golf Club).

Stars and Stripes

Up to and including 1904, the British Ladies Amateur was contested by golfers from the home nations…England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. But then…

• In 1904, the great amateur golfer Walter J Travis became the first American to win the British Amateur Championship. His historic victory triggered a groundswell of interest in golf within the United States.
• Lottie Dod, the champion in 1904, visited the United States as the guest of Mrs Clement A Griscom…mother of champion golfers Frances C Griscom (1900 US Women’s Amateur Champion) and Mrs Samuel Bettle.
• Sisters Harriot and Margaret Curtis were champion golfers who wished to promote friendships in the world of women’s golf.

Thus, as a consequence of the above, an unofficial match between the United States and Great Britain was organised to be played as the first event at the 1905 annual championship at Royal Cromer Golf Club and 8 of the best American women golfers entered the 1905 British Ladies Amateur.

Friendly Rivalry

On 25th May 1905, Great Britain faced the United States in a 7-a-side match.

An indication of the strength of the Great Britain team was that Dorothy Campbell dropped down the order to play the anchor role in Match #7. For the record, Great Britain won by 6 matches to 1 with the only United States success coming in the top match, where the reigning US Champion Georgianna Bishop defeated the reigning British Champion Lottie Dod at the 20th.

Harriot and Margaret Curtis, after whom the Curtis Cup is named, both played in this unofficial match. Their dream was finally realised when the inaugural Curtis Cup match was played in 1932, with the trophy’s inscription reading ‘To stimulate friendly rivalry among the women golfers of many lands’.

Bertha Thompson was not selected for the match against the United States but she did play for England in the triangular international series against Scotland and Ireland.

Quantity and Quality

The 1905 British Ladies Amateur received a record number of 137 entries. This meant that 9 1st round ties were required to reduce the field to 128…thus the eventual champion would have to play a minimum of 7 (18-hole) matches over a period of 4 days.

In addition to the golfers from the United States, all the best players from the home nations apart from Rhona Adair (champion in 1900 and 1903) entered the matchplay knockout draw…without doubt the strongest field ever assembled (up to that point) for the British Ladies Amateur.

Carried Shoulder High

1st Round

There was a massive shock during the preliminary 1st round when Mrs Samuel Bettle from America was defeated.

2nd Round

No real upsets in the 2nd round. For once Bertha Thompson had an easier opening contest, defeating her opponent Mrs Bagnall Oakeley from Royal Norwich by 5&4.

3rd Round

The feature match of the 3rd round was between Margaret and Harriot Curtis!! On this occasion, Margeret won the battle of the American sisters by 3&2…..the following year Harriot won the US Women’s Amateur. The most surprising result was the defeat of 2-time champion May Hezlet. Bertha Thompson had another relatively easy match, this time winning 7&5 against a Miss Shepherd.

4th Round (last 32)

The 4th round witnessed the surprising exits of Georgianna Bishop and Issette Pearson, but the tie of the round was undoubtedly between Bertha and her nemesis, defending champion Lottie Dod!! This time though Bertha took control of the match from the outset to eventually secure victory by 4&2.

5th Round (last 16)

Only 2 American ladies reached the last 16. Molly Adams secured an emphatic win by 6&5 to progress to the quarter-finals whilst Margaret Curtis was up against…yes, you guessed it…Bertha Thompson!! A large crowd watched a ding-dong battle unfold. Bertha opened up a 2 hole advantage after 6 but the power of the American champion’s long game enabled her to finally draw level after 17. The 18th was halved (in 3’s) which meant sudden death…but a lapse of concentration by Margaret Curtis with her putting allowed Bertha to secure victory at the 19th and thus reach the quarter-finals for the second time in her career…later in the year Margaret Curtis reached the final of the US Women’s Amateur, a championship she would eventually win on 3 occasions.

Quarter-Finals

Molly Adams, the sole surviving American succumbed to Winifred Gilroy, who was playing under her married name of Mrs F W Brown. Bertha’s reward for defeating Margaret Curtis in the morning was an afternoon quarter-final against Evelyn Steel of Sheffield, an old adversary from the Yorkshire Ladies County Championship. The newspapers had been highly impressed by Evelyn as she had won her previous 3 matches by 8&7, 8&7 and 5&4!! Bertha lost the 1st hole but quickly established a 2 hole advantage after 5 which she maintained with 3 holes to play. But then, Bertha found trouble in a bunker on 16th and missed a short putt on the 17th…match back to A/S. The 18th was halved so for the second time that day Bertha played extra holes…the 19th was halved but at the 20th Bertha played an approach shot ‘almost dead’ to win yet another tough match.

Semi-Finals

The semi-final pairings were Maud Stuart vs. Dorothy Campbell and Mrs F W Brown vs. Bertha Thompson. Dorothy Campbell had been the outright favourite to win the 1905 Championship when the draw was made…1up at the turn it looked highly likely that Dorothy Campbell would reach the final but a fine 3 at the 10th completely changed the momentum of the match in favour of Maud Stuart who subsequently played a succession of good shots/holes on the back nine to reach the final by 3&2.

The opening 12 holes of the second semi-final can easily be summarised as ‘effectively revolving around Bertha’s putting’…at the 2nd and at the 6th she ‘ran down’ very long putts to win both holes…but she also had several 3 putts which resulted in Mrs F W Brown leading by 2up with 6 holes to play. And then, almost to return the favour, Mrs F W Brown missed short putts on the 13th and the 14th for the match to be A/S. A poor tee shot at the 15th and a bad approach shot at the 16th by her opponent enabled Bertha to be dormie 2 and a half at the 17th settled the tie…a very scrappy match but Bertha had reached her first final.

Final

Following a short break for lunch, the 18 hole final was played in front of a very large crowd of ‘interested spectators’…they were not disappointed as the quality of golf from Bertha Thompson and Maud Stuart was by some distance the best seen at that year’s championship. Both players covered the first 9 holes in 39 shots, quite phenomenal when one considers the equipment, the course conditions and the clothing back in 1905.

Bertha won the 2nd, 3rd and 5th holes to quickly establish a 3 hole lead. Maud Stuart then covered the next 3 holes in an incredible ‘level threes’ to bring the contest back to A/S. Bertha regained the lead at the 10th when her opponent putted weakly, a lead she doubled at the 13th when Maud found trouble in a bunker. The next 2 holes were halved but when Maud Stuart struggled in attempting to escape from a bunker on the 16th she graciously conceded the match…never behind at any stage of the final, Bertha Thompson had finally become the British Ladies Amateur Champion.

Upon the conclusion of the match, several of the Scottish competitors carried the champion on their shoulders to the clubhouse to receive the coveted trophy.

Defending the Crown

In a review of Ladies Golf, the January 1906 edition of the periodical ‘THE ILLUSTRATED SPORTING AND DRAMATIC NEWS’ called out Bertha Thompson as sitting on ‘top of the list’ following her sensational victory at Royal Cromer Golf Club…the next challenge was whether she could defend the crown at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club.

In the Home Internationals that proceeded the Amateur Championship, Bertha was now the nominated #1 player in the England team, but all eyes were on how she would handle the additional pressure of being the defending champion…the response from Bertha was emphatic:

• 1st Round – Won 7&5
• 2nd Round – Won 10&8
• 3rd Round – Won 8&6
• 4th Round – Won 4&3
• 5th Round – Won 5&4

(In the first 3 rounds, she did not lose a single hole!!)

Semi-Finals

In the first semi-final, Bertha Thompson was up against Mrs G B Sumpter (Hunstanton Golf Club) and continued her dazzling form by winning the first 5 holes!! She then won the 8th, lost the 9th, to be 5up at the turn…this soon became dormie 5 and although Bertha lost a couple of holes she reached a second consecutive final by 3&2.

In the second semi-final, Mrs Alice Kennion (Brighton and Hove Golf Club) took an early lead over the Scottish champion Dorothy Campbell (North Berwick Golf Club)…Alice Kennion won the 1st and 3rd holes to be quickly 2up and although Dorothy Campbell kept plugging away she never looked like winning, finally losing 3&1 just as the heavens opened with a hailstorm of biblical proportions!!

Final

Bertha Thompson was the strong favourite against the less experienced Alice Kennion and effortlessly went 2up after 4…but then disaster struck when she badly damaged her thumb and according to newspaper reports was in considerable pain…Bertha did not use this as an excuse for her (way below-par) performance over the remaining 14 holes but the final which started so promisingly quickly turned in favour of Alice Kennion who eventually ran out a comfortable winner by 4&3.

The sporting history books can rightly never be changed…though there is no doubt that Bertha Thompson was a much more accomplished player in 1906 despite relinquishing her crown.

Aluminium Putter

Despite being England #1 in the Home Internationals, Bertha was knocked out in the last 16 in the British Ladies Amateur Championship in 1907 (at Royal Portrush) and in 1908 (at St Andrews). On the Old Course, she was defeated by the eventual champion Maud Titterton by 1 hole, but it was a match in which she really should have been victorious.

Bertha held a slender 1 hole lead playing the 11th and with her opponent in some trouble, she should have easily doubled her advantage. But to the surprise of the watching spectators, Bertha selected her aluminium putter to navigate around a greenside bunker but for whatever reason, the ball ended up in a hopeless position within the bunker and Bertha ended up losing the hole!!

(At the time, an Aluminium Putter was in vogue when a player wished to use a short stabbing stroke to roll the ball onto the green in preference to using their putter which would require a much longer putting stroke…in the men’s game, golfers such as Braid & Vardon used this club to great effect)

Setting Par

Such was Bertha Thompson’s standing in the game that in 1907 she was invited to play a round of golf at Scarborough Town Golf Club to set the Par for the Ladies section…a Par of 75 was set which was believed to be incredibly tough as the Par for Gentlemen was 74!!

In the early 1920s, the club changed its name to Scarborough South Cliff Golf Club and today it is one of the best courses in the North of England.

England Captain

Due to the tragic and sudden death of Maud Titterton’s fiancé, Bertha Thompson was awarded the captaincy of the England Ladies Team, a position she proudly held for 3 years until her retirement from international golf in 1911…as another illustration of her status within ladies golf, the top order of the England Team in her final year was as follows:

1. Bertha Thompson
2. Cecil Leitch, who during her glittering career won a record-equalling 4 British Ladies championships, 5 French and 1 Canadian
3. Gladys Ravenscroft, the British Champion in 1912 and the US Champion in 1913

Fighting Spirit

Bertha again reached the quarter-finals in 1909 but after an unexpected 2nd round loss the following year her time within the elite echelon of ladies’ golf was starting to draw to a close. A recurring elbow injury effectively wrote off the 1912 season and further early exits in the 1913 and 1914 championships finally brought the curtain down on her incredible amateur career.

Like all great champions, Bertha had an inner fighting spirit that never dies even when the ability starts to wane…a perfect illustration of her golfing ability and resilience was during her 4th round match against Violet Pooley, one of Canada’s greatest ever amateur golfers, in the 1911 British Ladies Amateur at Royal Portrush.

Bertha was really struggling and found herself five down at the turn…this quickly became 6 down after losing the 10th…then, and as the newspapers reported the following day:

“Bertha recovered herself, rediscovered her splendid form, and proceeded to win the next 7 holes…a halve at the last securing a memorable win”

Marriage

On 30th June 1914, Bertha married John Walker from Spilsby, Lincolnshire in Ripon Cathedral…I know very little about her husband other than on the (National Archives) 1939 England and Wales Register, which provides a snapshot of the civilian population of England and Wales just after the outbreak of the Second World War, he and Bertha were living in the village of Raithby, Lincolnshire where he was working as an Estate Agent and serving as an Air Raid Warden.

Champion Golfer

Bertha’s love of (and involvement with) golf continued until she died on 8th December 1953, aged 77.

She was an active committee member of the Yorkshire Ladies Golf Club (which I believe was a forerunner of the Yorkshire Ladies County Golf Association) and in 1933 Bertha was the Ladies Captain of Ganton Golf Club…and a few years later she was still competitive at Ganton playing off a 12 handicap.

She moved home one last time to Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire where her house was ‘across the road’ from the ‘The Hotchkin’, one of the best inland championship golf courses anywhere in the world…a fitting end.

Bertha Thompson was and will always be a champion golfer whose golfing story and achievements will never be forgotten.

Acknowledgements

And finally…a massive thanks to the following without whom this article would not have been possible:

• Beverley and East Riding Golf Club
• British Newspaper Archives
• Ganton Golf Club
• Michael Cayley
• New York Times Digital Archives
• PA Images
• Royal Cromer Golf Club