English billiards

History

English billiards originated in England, and was originally called the winning and losing carambole game, folding in the names of three predecessor games, the winning game, the losing game, and an early form of carom billiards that combined to form it.

The winning game was played with two white balls, and was a 12-point contest. To start, the player who could strike a ball at one end of the table and get the ball to come to rest nearest the opposite cushion without lying against it earned the right to shoot for points first. This is the origin of the modern custom of "stringing" (or "lagging").

A player who pocketed the opponent's ball scored two points, as is still the case in modern billiards. A player missing the opponent's ball, considered a foul, added one point to the opponent's total; the shooter conceded two points if their own ball went into a pocket after striking the opponent's ball; and the player conceded three points if the cue ball was pocketed without even hitting the opponent's ball. These rules continued to exist in English billiards until 1983, when a standard of two points for all fouls was introduced.

By contrast, in the losing game a player could only score two points by pocketing the cue ball through a carom off the opponent's ball. "Winning hazard" and "losing hazard" are terms still mentioned in the official rules for these two fundamental shot types, although "pot" and "in-off" have become the usual terms for them in British English.

The final element was the cannon (or carom) shot, which came from carom billiards, a game popular in various countries of western Continental Europe, especially France, and in many parts of Asia and South America. In the 1700s, the carom game added a red object ball to the two white cue balls, and dispensed with the pockets. This ball was adopted into the English game, which retained the pockets, and the goal was to cannon off both the red and the opponent's ball on a single shot, earning 2 points. This influence on the English game appears to have come about through the popularity of French tables in English coffee houses; London alone had over two thousand such establishments in the early 18th century. One period advertisement read: "A very good French Billiard Table, little the worse for wearing, full size, with all the materials fit for French or English play".

The three ancestral games had their British heyday in the 1770s, but had combined into English billiards, with a 16-point score total, by approximately 1800. The skill required in playing these games helped retire the billiard mace in favour of the cue stick.

Notably, there are a number of pocket billiard games directly descended from English billiards, including bull dog, scratch pool, thirty-one pool, and thirty-eight (the latter of which influenced cowboy pool). English Billiards was virtually unknown in the United States until 1913, when Melbourn Inman visited the US and played the game against Willie Hoppe. By 1915 the game had become rather popular, prompting American billiard hall proprietors of the period to increase the number of English-style tables in their establishments. It also became favoured in British colonies; the game's longest-running champion was an Australian, Walter Lindrum, who held the World Professional Billiards Championship from 1933 until his retirement in 1950. The game remains popular in the UK, although it has been eclipsed by snooker.

As a sport

The first governing body of the game, the Billiards Association, was formed in the UK in 1885, a period that saw a number of sporting bodies founded across the British sporting world. By the mid-20th century, the principal sanctioning body was the Billiards Association and Control Council (later the Billiards and Snooker Control Council), formed in 1919 by an amalgamation of the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Club (founded in 1908).

In the 19th century and up through the mid-1950s, a common way for championship titles to change hands was by a challenge match. A challenge was issued to a championship title holder accompanied by stake money held by a third party. Up until the first organised professional tournament in 1870, all English billiards champions were decided by challenge.

The first champion was Jonathan Kentfield, who held the title from 1820 to 1849, losing it to John Roberts Sr. after Kentfield refused his challenge. Roberts's 21-year reign lasted until he lost to William Cook in 1870. That year was also the first in which an English billiards challenge match was held in the United States.

From 1870 to 1983 the champions were: William Cook, (1870, 1871–74); John Roberts Jr., (1870, 1871, 1875–77, 1885); Joseph Bennett, (1870, 1880–81); Charles Dawson, (1899–1900, 1901, 1903); H. W. Stevenson, (1901, 1909–11); Melbourne Inman, (1908–09, 1912–19); Willie Smith, (1920, 1923); Tom Newman, (1921–22, 1924–27); Joe Davis, (1928–32); Walter Lindrum, (1933–50); Clark McConachy, (1951–68); Rex Williams, (1968–76, 1982–83); and Fred Davis, (1980).

A "Women's Billiard Association" was formed in Britain in 1931. One of the founders was Teresa Billington-Greig who had been a leading suffragette and was then married to a billiard ball manufacturer.

Over the course of the 20th century, English billiards was largely superseded as the favoured cue sport in the United Kingdom by snooker and the rise of English-style eight-ball pool. The game does retain some popularity amongst snooker players, who can use the same equipment for both games and play the game to practise ball control.