The Ladies
From the founding of The Royal Norwich Golf Club in 1893, ladies have been welcomed as members and their presence has contributed greatly to the success of the Club.
At the inaugural meeting of the Club in November 1893, the first captain, Col. A.C. Dawson, reported that ‘some arrangement would be made for establishing a ladies course’. Initially the ladies played either the ‘Full’ 18-hole course or the ‘Long’ course of a selected 9 holes, which measured 2425 yards.
However, the Committee very soon laid out a special 9-hole course at about half a mile in length, ‘as the main links are too arduous for the gentler sex’ (the Committee’s Report to the ‘Easter Meeting’ of members held on 19th March 1894, as quoted in the Eastern Daily Press the next day).
The shorter course was opened on 24th March 1894 by Mrs A.C. Dawson who struck the first ball, playing a match with Miss C.R. Deuchar.
By the beginning of April 1894 the ladies were reported to be rebellious! They were thereupon invited to form a Ladies’ Committee to arrange their own regulations and future competitions ‘but not to have the burden of administration imposed on them’ (in the words of the Club Committee!).
On 3rd September 1894, in addition to the Monthly Medal competition held on the Ladies course in the morning, there was a first mixed foursomes match in the afternoon, followed by a large reception given by the Club Captain and Committee with a number of Norwich families attending. On the next day the ladies competed for a Challenge Cup presented by the President, Mr J.J. Colman, over the ‘Long’ course.
Matches against other local Clubs were played from 1895, the first being against Bungay and the next Great Yarmouth.
The first Open Spring Meeting was held on 13th May 1898. There were 53 entries with some of the best lady golfers in the UK competing. the winner was Miss Isette Pearson of Royal Wimbledon, with Royal Norwich’s Lady Captain, Miss F.E. Reeve, coming a creditable fourth.
In April 1893, Miss Pearson had been instrumental in calling a meeting in London which may be regarded as the beginning of the Ladies Golf Union. Hers is a name which is legendary in women’s golf, as player and an administrator. It is not surprising that, after her victory at The Royal Norwich in 1898, the Ladies section soon became affiliated to the LGU, in 1899.
In 1911, Miss ‘Cecil’ (Cecilia) Leitch visited the Club, to play a leading lady member, Mrs Sumpter. Miss Leitch at the age of 17 in 1908 had ‘like a meteor, swept across the sky at St. Andrews’ (golf writer Enid Wilson) to reach the semi-final of the British Ladies Championship, striking the ball with a crispness and ferocity not previously seen from a woman; it was not until 1914, however, that she won the first of her four British Championships. On her visit to The Royal Norwich, Miss Leitch overcame Mrs Sumpter in a morning singles match on a day of severe weather. In the afternoon the two ladies lost to two gentlemen members in a contest quaintly described by ‘Sport and General’ as an ‘Inter-Sex Match’.
Miss Gertrude Pratt, the first Ladies section Hon. Secretary, was succeeded in that office by Miss Amy Barwell, the latter becoming Captain in 1902. Her place as Hon. Secretary was taken by Miss Mary Cozens-Hardy.
Miss Cozens-Hardy was a member of a distinguished Norfolk family. A County and District Councillor, a magistrate and prison visitor, Mary was at the same time a keen sportswoman, being also a member of Norfolk County Cricket Club. She had a golf handicap of 4 at its lowest, and played for Norfolk; as one of the founders of the Norfolk Ladies Golf Association she was its Hon. Secretary from its formation in 1912 until 1947. In recognition of her immense service to the Ladies section of the Club, Mary Cozens-Hardy was appointed first Lady President in 1929, a position she held until 1946 when she was succeeded by Mrs Ted (Eleanor) Bullard.
In 1928 Miss Helen Burton was appointed Hon. Secretary. She held the position until 1946, subsequently becoming Lady President from 1958 to 1966. Her great service to the Ladies was duly recognised by her election to Honorary Life Membership of the Club, the first lady to be so honoured.
May 1938 saw the first victory of Mr and Mrs Ted Bullard’s daughter, Peggy, at the age of 20, in the Ladies County Championship, played at the Club. She had been runner-up in 1936 and 1937 and was to go on to win a further ten times between 1939 and 1977, playing as a member of The Royal Norwich up to and including 1965, as Mrs B.T.F. Carrick. Selected for England in 1939, she had to wait until 1947 to represent her country, the outbreak of war in 1939 causing the internationals to be cancelled for the war’s duration. Peggy and her daughter, Mrs Angela Uzielli, have a remarkable record in the national Mothers and Daughters competition, which in 1992 they won for the 19th time. Though Peggy Carrick has played her golf at Hunstanton G. C. since 1965, her notable golfing career was marked in 1992 by her election to Honorary Life Membership of The Royal Norwich, recognising her golfing origins and family association with the Club.
The Club has hosted the Norfolk Ladies County Championship many times, producing its share of County Champions and Captains. Since World War II, Royal Norwich ladies have represented in the County team each year and have won the County Championship some fifteen times:-
Mrs P. Carrick 1947, 1949, 1952,1954, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1965
Mrs G. Richardson 1948
Miss V.E. Cooper 1971, 1980, 1982
Mrs E.M. Sutton 1979
Mrs N.J. Clarke 1986
Mrs L. Elliott 1988
Of the County inter-club competitions, The Royal Norwich has won the Gillieson Cup foursomes 7 times since inception in 1956 and the NLCGA League Shield 6 times since the League’s launch in 1961. The Carrick Cup scratch foursomes were won in their first year, 1979, and in 1982, 1983, 1985 and 2000.