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General First namePeter
LastnameAungier
GenderMale
CountryIreland
Date of birth1855-00-00
Place of birthLiverpool, England
Date of death1914-05-11
Place of deathFarnham, Surrey, England


About

The person most likely to have been the early Irish lawn tennis player Peter Aungier was born during the first quarter of 1855 in the English port city of Liverpool. He was the ninth of the ten children of Mark Aungier (1806-70) and Margaret Aungier (née Curtis; 1831-71). Although Peter Aungier’s parents lived in Liverpool for several decades, both Mark and Margaret Aungier had been born in Ireland. Their first child, a girl named Catherine, was born in Liverpool on 1 September 1840, while their last child, also a girl, named Alice Annie, was born in the same city on 22 August 1860. In the interim, in addition to Peter, Mark and Margaret Aungier had had five girls and two boys.

Mark Aungier was a landowner and, according to his Will, a cattle dealer/cattle salesman. He died on 24 April 1870 in Liverpool, but was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery on the north side of Dublin. Mark Aungier left effects valued at less than £20,000, but possibly more than £10,000, a considerable sum in those days. Margaret Aungier died eighteen died months after her husband, on 12 October 1871, also in Liverpool. She left effects to the value of less than £1,000 in her Will, with her son, Mark, junior (1851-1904), being a prime beneficiary.

When the Census of England was taken on 2 April 1871, 16-year-old Peter Aungier was a pupil at Ushaw College, a Catholic establishment located on Ushaw Moor in the English county of Durham. On 11 January 1881, Peter Aungier married Julia Wilhelmina Mary Scully (1853-1947) at her family’s home in the town of Naas in County Kildare. Three children, two girls, named Gertrude Mary and Julia Mary, and one boy, named James, would be born of this marriage. The first-born child, Gertrude, would die on 16 September 1893, three days before what would have been her first birthday.

At the time of Gertrude Aungier’s birth on 19 September 1883, Peter and Julia Aungier were living in the south Dublin suburb of Ranelagh, not far from the city centre and within walking distance of Fitzwilliam Square, the venue for the early Irish Lawn Tennis Championships tournament, which was first held in the summer of 1879, and in the years 1880-1902 was one of the most prestigious lawn tennis tournaments in the world.

Peter Aungier had taken part in the inaugural edition of this tournament, as had a Miss Aungier, who was more than likely Mary Aungier (her first name is provided in some early sources). Mary Aungier (1845-1917) was the fourth of the ten children of Mark and Margaret Aungier, and thus one of Peter Aungier’s younger sisters. Peter and Mary Aungier sometimes took part in the mixed doubles event at lawn tennis tournaments together. In this respect, they reached the semi-finals of the mixed doubles event at the Irish Championships in both 1880 and 1882.

Peter Aungier appears to have taken part in lawn tennis tournaments over a six-year period extending from 1879 to 1884 (inclusive). His most notable achievements came in the men’s doubles event at the Irish Championships in Dublin where he, always with an Irish partner, was runner-up in 1879 (w. Charles Barry), 1880 (w. John Cairnes) and 1883 (w. Ernest Browne). In 1882, Peter Aungier and Ernest Browne had won the men’s doubles title at the Irish Championships, defeating in the final match the legendary English twins William and Ernest Renshaw, 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.

In singles, Peter Aungier notably reached the semi-finals of the Irish Championships in 1882, when Ernest Renshaw beat him 6-1, 6-3, 8-6. Later the same year Peter Aungier reached the final of the tournament held at the prestigious Prince’s Club in London, where Ernest Renshaw again beat him, 6-2, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

In his whole lawn tennis career, which was comparatively brief, Peter Aungier took part in not much more than twelve lawn tennis tournaments. He never entered the Wimbledon tournament, but notably won the men’s singles event at the tournament held in Naas, County Kildare, four times in a row, from 1881 to 1884. Although this tournament was essentially local in nature, it did attract some reasonable draws during its early years in particular. The Naas tournament of 1884 represents Peter Aungier’s last-known participation in a lawn tennis tournament.

The fact that Peter Aungier took part in this tournament for four years in a row, and the fact that it tended to bring out his best lawn tennis, indicate a link between him and Naas or County Kildare as a whole. It is possible that some members of the Aungier family, including Peter Aungier’s father, had owned land there.

By March of 1901, Peter Aungier, his wife Julia and their 16-year-old daughter, also called Julia, were living in Foxrock, a suburb located in south county Dublin. On 31 March 1901, Peter Aungier completed the census return of that year, noting that he was a landed proprietor, and that he, his wife, their daughter Julia and two servants were all Roman Catholics.

Peter Aungier died in the market town of Farnham in Surrey, south-east England, on 11 May 1914 at the age of 59.

Media


Archive statistics Career1879 - 1884
Tournament wins4
Matches35
Match wins26


Tournament wins 1884 - County Kildare Tournament (Amateur)
1883 - County Kildare Tournament (Amateur)
1882 - County Kildare Tournament (Amateur)
1881 - County Kildare Closed Tournament (Amateur)


Tournaments County Kildare Tournament - 1884 Irish Championships - 1883 Northern Lawn Tennis Association Tournament - 1883 County Kildare Tournament - 1883 Irish Championships - 1882 Prince's Club Tournament - 1882 Northern Lawn Tennis Association Tournament - 1882 Agricultural Hall Tournament - 1882 County Kildare Tournament - 1882 Irish Championships - 1881 County Kildare Closed Tournament - 1881 Irish Championships - 1880 Irish Championships - 1879