Marjorie Bain's Wimbledon Elopement

Marjorie Bain, a tennis player from Christchurch, set off on a big trip in 1922. She was the first woman to represent New Zealand at Wimbledon, and she spent a winter in continental Europe.

She was born in 1897 in Christchurch to a family of modest means, but she had a wealthy widowed aunt in Queensland. Marjorie played tennis for Christchurch Girls' High and Canterbury University, and she competed in national championships. She even wrote a book later in life about her memories, including seeing US Davis Cup players in Auckland and the black influenza that followed World War I.

In 1922, her rich aunt offered to take her to England and Europe. Marjorie was in her mid-20s, and her two sisters were already married, so she was the obvious choice. Her aunt's late husband had found gold and died young, leaving her very wealthy. This aunt traveled on cargo ships that only took 12 passengers and was known by some as the "wicked old devil," but Marjorie also saw her as a "fairy Godmother."

Marjorie got a year's leave from her teaching job, and the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association nominated her for Wimbledon. She later wrote that she wouldn't tell what happened to her at the tournament. It was 1951 before another New Zealand woman, Evelyn Webster, competed there. The 1922 Wimbledon Championships were the first at the current Church Road location, and some thought it would be a "white elephant." The family still has Marjorie's competitor card and postcards. She described the new center court grandstand as a "huge circular concrete affair" and wrote, "give me New Zealand climate every time." That tournament was the most disrupted in history, with rain every day.

Marjorie loved England, went to London's West End, and then traveled with her aunt to France, Italy, Switzerland, and Paris. But she wasn't ready to return to New Zealand when her leave was up. While at Wimbledon, her aunt warned her against Herbert Tasman Ethelbert Davies, an Australian official. He was a metallurgist, charming and clever, but her aunt called him an inventor and a "rolling stone." Marjorie ignored the warnings, and they eloped to Paris to get married, which angered her aunt, who then sailed back to Brisbane.