Frederick William
Oliver
Male
England
1836-01-04
Mayfair, London, England
1899-07-07
Earl's Court, Kensington, London, England
Frederick William Oliver was born on 4 January 1836 in Hanover Sqaure, London. He was the eldest of the six children – four sons and two daughters – of William Elliott Oliver (1795-1877), a solicitor and native of Bath in Gloucestershire, and Elizabeth Oliver (née Cadell; 1805-99), who was from London. They married on 28 October 1826 in Old Church, Saint Pancras in London.
In the years 1848-52, Frederick W. Oliver was a pupil at Saint Peter’s College in Westminster School, a public school located beside Westminster Abbey in the centre of London. In 1849, he became a Queen’s Scholar after successfully competing for one of the eight scholarships on offer annually for pupils in each of the school’s forms. An excellent sportsman, he was also part of the school’s cricket eleven during his time there.
Before leaving Westminster School, Oliver, as one of the best scholars, was elected to a closed scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford University. He matriculated there on 18 May 1853. While at Oxford, he studied Classics (B.A. 1857; M.A. 1860). During his time at Oxford, Oliver also continued to play cricket and represented the Marylebone Cricket Club (aka Lord’s), Surrey county and the university itself, an indication of his prowess at the sport.
A batsman and round-arm fast-bowler, Oliver was also an early member of the Wimbledon Cricket Club, founded in 1854. (The Oliver family, including Frederick, lived in a house on Wimbledon Common for several decades.) The Wimbledon Cricket Club’s earliest matches were played on Wimbledon Common itself, and Frederick Oliver was its key player until the end of the 1870s. He was the club’s first captain, occupying that role from 1854-74, and scored a total of 7,281 runs during his time there. He also took over 100 wickets in one season nine times, and captured a total of 1,774 wickets.
In his book The History of the Wimbledon Cricket Club, first published in 1954, Bertram J. Wakley noted the following about Frederick W. Oliver: “The first captain of the club was Frederick W. Oliver, and to him the club owes an immeasurable debt. Indeed, the story of the club’s first twenty years is largely the story of Frederick W. Oliver, for he was not only much the best and most reliable batsman, but also far and away the steadiest and most dangerous bowler. […] Captain without a break until 1874, he was also honorary secretary from 1862 to 1875, and honorary treasurer from 1865 to 1875. […] In 1876 he became president, holding that office until his death in 1899.”
On 16 April 1861, Frederick W. Oliver married Harriet Elizabeth Ashby (1838-67) in Saint Mary’s Church at the top of Church Road, the location of the present-day All England Lawn Tennis Club. A native of Wimbledon, Harriet was the daughter of Harry Pollard Ashby, a landowner from Highgate in London, and another Harriet Ashby (née Gibson). Frederick and Harriet Oliver had two daughters together: Edith Margaret (1864-1936) and Lilian Harriet (1866-1933). However, Harriet died on 3 January 1867, soon after the birth of Lilian, at the family home, 6 Grosvenor Hill, Wimbledon. She was only 28 at the time of her death.
On 28 December 1869, in Chapel-en-le-Frith in the borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, Frederick W. Oliver married again. His second wife was Maude Gronow (1842-90), a native of Chelsea in London. She was the daughter of Thomas Gronow, a clerk in holy orders originally from North Glamorgan in Wales, and his first wife Elizabeth Ann Gronow (née Grimsdale), who was from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.
Frederick and Maude Oliver had eight children together – four sons and four daughters: William Henry Eliot and Frederick Gronow (twins, b. 1871), Montague Robert (b. 1872), Maude (b. 1873), Morgan Carter (b. 1878), Ethel (b. 1879), Violet (b. 1892) and Evelyn (b. 1894).
Like his father before him, Frederick Oliver qualified as a solicitor. The family firm, Oliver & Sons, Solicitors, had offices in Carey Street, off Chancery Lane in the legal heart of London. At least two of Frederick Oliver’s sons, (William) Henry and Frederick, junior, would in turn also join the family’s legal practice.
In July of 1877, Frederick W. Oliver was one of the 22 men who took part in the first Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships tournament, which was held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club on Worple Road, Wimbledon. The inaugural tournament consisted of only one event, a men’s singles. He won his first-round match against Montague McPherson Battye easily in three sets before being beaten by Julian Marshall in the second round in a close five-set match.
Oliver returned to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club one year later, in July 1878, to take part in the second edition of the Wimbledon tournament, which still consisted of just a men’s singles event. (The women’s singles event and the men’s doubles event were added to the programme in 1884.) In 1878, Oliver was beaten in straight sets in the first round by the eventual champion, Frank Hadow. Oliver appears to have entered virtually no open lawn tennis tournaments subsequently.
When the Census of England and Wales was taken in April 1891, Frederick W. Oliver was at home in Grosvenor Hill, Wimbledon, with four of his children and five servants including a cook, a housemaid and a governess for the younger members of the Oliver family. (His youngest child, Evelyn, was six years old when the census return was completed.)
This was the last time that Frederick W. Oliver would feature on the decennial census form. In subsequent years his physical health began to deteriorate and he suffered from asthma as well as heart and kidney problems. These physical ailments had an effect on his mental health and he suffered so badly from depression that he eventually decided to end his life. In early July 1899, he shot himself in the house in which he was staying in Cromwell Road, Kensington. He was 63. The following report on the inquest into his suicide was published in The Morning Post newspaper on 10 February 1899:
“Suicide of an invalid
“Mr Drew held an inquest on Saturday at Kensington on Mr Frederick William Oliver, 63, solicitor, Cromwell Road, South Kensington. Mr Frederick Gronow Oliver, a solicitor, identified the body of his father, who had, he said, for years suffered from asthma, lung trouble and his heart, so much so that he could not walk upstairs and had to ride when going on business. This at times caused him great depression.
“His business was flourishing and he had no trouble. His illness, however, was such that he could not lie down, and he had a special bed, in which he could sit upright. He, however, could not sleep, and he always stayed in the smoking room until three of four in the morning with the window open. On Friday morning he was found dead, with a bullet wound through the heart. It was not known that he possessed any weapon.
“Evidence having been given of the purchase by Mr Frederick W. Oliver of a saloon pistol and cartridges on 24 June, Dr Sidney Beauchamp said he had attended him for four years for heart disease, kidney disease, dropsy and asthma. Witness was called on Friday. He found the body of Mr Frederick W. Oliver partly undressed, on the bed. There was a wound in the left breast, and death was due to a bullet wound through the heart.
“There was no doubt that it was Mr Frederick W. Oliver’s own act, and his disease would make his mind deranged. The jury returned a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane.”
Frederick W. Oliver was a widower by the time of his death, his second wife, Maude, having died on Christmas Eve in 1890, in Wimbledon, at the age of 48. The family’s legal practice was continued after Frederick W. Oliver’s death. The following notice appeared in the London Gazette on 3 November 1899:
“PURSUANT to an Order of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice made in the matter of the estate of Frederick William Oliver deceased and in an action Holmes against Oliver 1899 0. 1172 the creditors of Frederick William Oliver, late of 110 Cromwell Road London and of 61 Carey Street, Lincoln’s Inn, London Solicitor who died in or about the month of July 1899, are on or before the 5th day of December 1899 to send by post, prepaid to Edward Francis Fisher of 24 Essex Street, Strand, London a member of the firm, of Fishers of the same place the Solicitors of the defendant Frederick Gronow Oliver the executor of the will of the said Frederick William Oliver deceased their Christian and surnames, addresses and descriptions, the full particulars of their claims, a statement of their accounts and the nature of the securities (if any) held by them, or in default thereof they will be peremptorily excluded from the benefit of the said Order.
“Every creditor holding any security is to produce the same before Mr Justice North at his chambers, the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, on the 12th day of December, 1899, at 12.30 o’clock in the afternoon, being the time appointed for adjudication on the claims.—Dated this 1st day of November, 1899.
“BELL BRODRICK and GRAY, Ormond House, Great Trinity Lane, London, E.C., Solicitors for the Plaintiff.”
1877 - 1879
0
4
1
Round 3
Herbert Fortescue Lawford 1 *
Frederick William Oliver
1-0
ret.
Round 1
Patrick Francis (Frank) Hadow 1 *
Frederick William Oliver
6-2
6-1
6-3
Round 1
Frederick William Oliver 1 *
Lt-Col Montague McPherson Battye
6-1
6-1
6-1
Round 2
Julian Marshall 1 *
Frederick William Oliver
4-6
6-5
6-1
4-6
6-3