1879 women's lawn tennis season

The women's amateur tennis seasons covers a period of thirty five years from 1876 to 1912. During this period there was no single international organization responsible for overseeing tennis. At the very start in tennis history lawn tennis clubs themselves organized events and some like the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in England (f.1877) and the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Ireland (f.1879) generally oversaw tennis in their respective countries.

This would later change when tennis players started (those that could) traveled the world to compete in events organized by individual national lawn tennis associations (NLTA)'s the oldest of which then was the United States Lawn Tennis Association (f. 1881). In certain countries that did not establish a national association until later, had provincial, regional or state lawn tennis associations overseeing tournaments in a province, region or state within a country, such as the Northern Lawn Tennis Association in Manchester, England (f.1880),[2] had responsibility for coordinating tournaments staged by clubs in the North of England region. In Australia the Victorian Lawn Tennis Association (f.1904) organised tournaments in the state of Victoria, Australia.

In 1879 seven tournaments for women were staged five of them in Ireland. In the spring the Earlsfort Terrace Tournament held in Dublin, Ireland is played on asphalt courts featuring a ladies singles and doubles event. Between April and May the newly established Oxford University Tennis Championship was held in Oxford, England that included a women's event.[3] In June the Irish Championships are established,[4] this was the first major national championships in the world to feature not only a women's singles event won by a May Langrishe, but also a mixed doubles event.[5] In August the Armagh Tennis Tournament is staged at the Archery Lawn Tennis Club, Armagh that features a mixed doubles event.

In September 1879 the fourth edition of South of Ireland Championships in Limerick the singles event was won by Annie Rice.[6] The same month the first North of Ireland Championships are staged in Belfast the women's singles was won by Miss C. Ritchie. In October 1879 in England the inaugural East Gloucestershire Championships are held at the Imperial Winter Gardens in Cheltenham,[7] this is first significant tournament in England to feature a women's singles event, that is won by Florence Mardall and, also women's doubles event. In Bermuda the Bermuda Open Tennis Championships are held for the first time,[8] at this time 'open' tournaments usually meant men's and women's players can compete.

At the 1879 Wimbledon Championships the world's first major tennis tournament, it still remained an all men's event, no women's events were staged.

In 1913 the International Lawn Tennis Federation was created, that consisted of national member associations. The ILTF through its associated members then became responsible for supervising women's tour events.

Notes 1: Challenge Round: the final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of tennis (from 1877 through 1921),[9] in some tournaments not all.

Notes 2:Tournaments in italics were events that were staged only once that season

Key

April to May

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semi Finalist	Quarter Finalist
April - May.	Oxford University Tennis Championship[13] Oxford University LTC Oxford, Oxfordshire, England Outdoor Grass Singles
April 28 - May 2.	Earlsfort Terrace Tournament Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland Outdoor Asphalt Singles	Miss Perry def	Miss Costello	May Langrishe Miss Shaw	Miss Casey Miss Lane Miss Scovell

June

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semi Finalist	Quarter Finalist
4 - 10 June.	Irish Championships Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland Outdoor Grass Singles	May Langrishe[14] 6-2, 0–6, 8-6	D. Meldon	Miss Casey	Connie Butler Adela Langrishe
		Miss Costello ** E Elliott 6-4, 6-4	Adela Langrishe Charles D Barry

August

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semifinalist	Quarter finalist
12 - 13 August.	Armagh ALTC Tournament Archery Lawn Tennis Club Armagh, Ireland Grass Singles - Doubles	Miss Cope ** A. J. Wilson ** def	Miss Bayly Robert Shaw Templer

September

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semi Finalist	Quarter Finalist
20 - 26 September.	South of Ireland Championships Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland Outdoor Grass Singles	Annie Rice 6–3, 6-4	T. Rice	Miss Grubbe Miss Smith
		Mrs Armstrong ** Henry E. Tombe 7-5, 6-2	Annie Rice Mr Baker
23 - 30 September.	North of Ireland Championships Ormeau Cricket Ground Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland Outdoor Grass Singles	Miss A. Ritchie 6–3, 6-4	Miss C. Ritchie

October

Date	Tournament	Winner	Finalist	Semi Finalist	Quarter Finalist
11 October	East Gloucestershire Championships Imperial Winter Gardens Cheltenham, England Outdoor Grass Singles	Florence Mardall 6-5, 6–4, 3–6, 3–6, 6-3	Marian Bradley	Mary Abercrombie Ellen Maltby	Clara Hill Ellen Ramsay Miss Shand Miss Willoughby
		Mary Abercrombie * Marian Bradley 6-2, 6–3, 6-2	Clara Hill Florence Mardall

Singles and Mixed Doubles event winners below.

1. Armagh ALTC Tournament
2. Earlsfort Terrace Tournament
3. Irish Championships
4. North of Ireland Championships
5. Oxford University Tennis Championship
6. South of Ireland Championships
7. East Gloucestershire Championships