Evelyn Lucy COLYER

Evelyn Colyer was the oldest daughter of Sir Frank Colyer, an eminent dental surgeon. She first attracted attention with partner Joan Austin when they reached the Wimbledon doubles final in 1923. Dubbed “The Babes” by the media, because their combined age was just over 41 years, they were no match for the powerful pair of Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills in the final as the French/American duo won 6-3, 6-1. Colyer travelled to Paris for the 1924 Olympics where she won the bronze medal in the doubles with Dorothy Shepherd-Barron. She also made her Wightman Cup début in the first winning Great Britain team in 1924. She was also on the winning team the following year but in 1926 Colyer and Kitty McKane lost the deciding doubles, after winning the first set, to hand the Americans a 4-3 victory. With McKane she was runner-up in the French championship in 1925 and a year later was the beaten finalist at both the French and Wimbledon championships. She enjoyed a rare moment of singles success in 1926 when she won the Queen’s Club covered court title.

Evelyn Colyer met Indian tea planter Hamish Munro on a skiing trip in Switzerland and five weeks later, in February 1930, they married and moved to India. On 27 October 1930 she gave birth to twins, a boy and girl, but a week later Evelyn sadly died, as did the twins. She had retired from tennis after her marriage and had previously turned down offers to turn professional and also declined the offer of a stage career.