In 2009 David Appleton published a book entitled The History of the Scottish Croquet Championship 1870 – 1914 (ISBN 978-0-9520246-6-8). Since then more facts and more photographs have come to light and the SCA has received a trophy which was won by two past champions. What appears here is therefore an extended version of the book, but histories are never complete and David would be pleased to hear from anyone with any further information relevant to the early history of Scottish croquet.
Text Copyright © 2009-2011 David Appleton
The right of David Appleton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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We know from William Crawford’s painting of the Middleton children, presented by Gail & Tremaine Arkley to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, that croquet had reached Scotland by 1864. That was the year before England’s first club was formed (in Worthing) and three years before what is now regarded as the first British Open Championship (at Evesham). Scottish tournaments began not long after and this article describes the major ones that took place before the First World War.