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Henry Joseph Craven was a business man, racket
designer and maker and a keen tennis player. He was born on 16th April 1854
in Wrexham, Denbighshire Wales, the son of Henry and Sarah Craven. After his
family moved to Lancashire, he served
his apprenticeship at the age of 15 as an iron moulder with his friend
Joseph Ward. During his apprenticeship, he learnt how to shape Ash to form
racket heads and he experimented with different racket designs. One of his
rackets designs was called the "Adjustable", which enabled the player to
tighten the strings with a screw at the butt of the racket. In 1872, at the
age of 18, Henry opened his first hardware shop, which also sold sports goods,
tennis rackets and provided a racket stringing service.
During a trip to London to buy natural gut
tennis string in 1874, a business opportunity presented itself for him to
take over Surrey Tennis, a tennis racket and stringing business on the
Reigate Road, (now the Brighton Road) at Burgh Heath, Surrey.
SURREY TENNIS
Surrey Tennis was founded in 1868 and from 1874 it has been in the Craven
family for four generations, and is now one of the oldest family tennis businesses in Europe.
The
stringing room and workshop was managed by Henry's assistant, Joseph Ward.
During Summer a regular
mobile stringing service (by bicycle) was provided at the croquet lawns of Woodcote, Epsom, Reigate Priory, Redhill, the Nork Park Estate,
Leatherhead and Dorking. The stringing service included badminton (battledore),
garden (lawn) and court (real) tennis rackets. In the Winter months, the
business concentrated on making hand made rackets in small quantities for
local customers, sports shops and several department stores.
NATURAL GUT STRINGS
In 1876 the business started producing natural gut strings from goats and
sheep. In the stringing room, string
was always called "goaty" even when it was made from other animals.
Goat and sheep gut although more elastic became more expensive than cattle
gut and it was found by making cattle gut slightly thinner, it produced the
same performance for playing garden tennis. The 15 gauge string was also
used for trebling until the thinner strings became popular. The brownish
string (Surrey Tennis Original) which we produce today remains almost
unchanged.
EARLY RACKET STRINGING
Whilst many players are enthusiastic about rackets, the type of string used
and when it should be replaced is often forgotten. The natural gut string
has been used in rackets for hundred years and is still used by many
professionals keeping it’s elasticity better than any synthetic string made
today. In the early days of garden tennis and badminton (battledore)
there were no established methods of stringing and it was often left to the
individual stringers on how they would restring a racket. The racket to be
strung was secured in a vice or clamp. Henry Craven would use a Roll which
resembled a wooden hammer wrapped in leather to tighten strings. Once the
string was at the correct tension which was confirmed by the sound when
plucking the string, a wood pin or an awl was inserted into the hole to hold
the tension. In the early days of racket stringing it was normal to replace
just the broken or damaged strings in a racket. Strings were joined and
secured using invisible knot methods.
1872 SURREY
TENNIS 3 to 9-11 STRINGING PATTERN
One stringing pattern that was passed through the Craven family and still used at Surrey
Tennis to this day is the "3 to 9-11. This pattern used on wood rackets
tensioned in the traditional way, using a roll and awl to hold the tensioned
strings in place. The
first 6 centre strings are strung first. Both the 3 mains after tensioned
are then run up the outside of the racket to the last mains holes 9, 10 or
11 depending on the number of mains and then
strung and tensioned back to 4. There is no loss
of tension using this method and the loops on some other stringing methods
are not required. The 4th main strings are tied off or
secured before starting on the crosses so that an awl is not knocked by
mistake losing tension on the main strings.
RACKET MAKING
Henry Craven was a business man and his enthusiasm came from playing tennis
and hand making and designing rackets which he made in small quantities. He
experimented with different designs giving many rackets to friends and
family abroad. He also tried producing a few metal rackets, but the weight
of them prevented them from being an alternative to wood. Henry and Joseph personally hand crafted many rackets from 1874 to 1910 for other
sports shops and London department stores including the
Army and Navy Stores, Browne and Heppell Sports and later for A. W. Gamage
and partners. Each shop was either branded with a different racket
name or delivered to shops unbranded. Henry's first production racket was
called the "Surrey" (from 1874-1910) and the "Surrey Club" (from 1879-1910).
The latter was a fan-tail racket and was sometimes stamped "The Club". The
early rackets were transitional flat-tops, and the racket strings were also
used for trebling until the 1880s when a thinner string was used. By 1890
his rackets were produced with an oval-shaped head.
(Above) THE SURREY CLUB 1880s fantail,
transitional flat-top with the Surrey Tennis logo on the wedge
THE WINDERMERE
The Windermere Racket was a Fish Tailed Racket. ( It has no connection with
the Spalding racket with the same name) The wood handle was engraved with
fish scales giving a good grip. The workshop log book indicated that 14 of
these rackets were made. One was sent to the Craven family in Australia
around 1905 and others sold. The racket was marked on the neck with
Windermere on one side and an image of a fish on the other. In 1989, one of
these rackets was sold for £1250 to a private collector.
THE END OF HAND MADE RACKET MAKING
By 1910 the days of the small racket maker had come to an end and Henry's
racket making workshop closed down. Rackets had become to be manufactured by
large companies at competitive prices and these were sold in his shops
together with other sports goods including bowls. In 1910 his stringing
workshop moved to The Green at Burgh Heath close to the pond and Corn
Stores. Henry retired in 1918 at the
age of 64 leaving the shares in his many businesses to his 10 children and
he continued playing garden tennis, (later known as Lawn tennis), into his 80s.
NATURAL GUT TENNIS STRINGS
In 1876 the cost of imported tennis string was becoming expensive and Henry Craven started producing his own string.
This string is still produced today in small quantities
for the restoration of wood tennis rackets.
1. "THE SURREY TENNIS ORIGINAL" (Heymans Brown) was the original string
produced in 15 gauge. It was a popular string throughout the 19th century.
2. "CRAVEN GOLD" This string was first produced in the 1880s to match the
colouring of the varnished wood frames, 15 gauge. It has a golden
appearance and is finely polished giving a smoother appearance and used to
restring 19th and 20th century wood rackets.
3. "THE RASPBERRY" This is similar to the Craven Gold with the
addition of the burgundy colouring added. Popular in rackets from 1890 to
1950.
4. BLACK & RASPBERRY TREBLING This was a thin natural gut string produced in
either black or raspberry colour. It is about the same thickness as a modern
badminton string. Very popular from 1890 to 1960. Around 1960 trebling
started to be made using synthetic strings.
 
STRINGING ROOMS
The
stringing room remained on The Green until 1958 when Henry's grandson John moved
it to Colcokes Road, Banstead. John, a medical practitioner,
became the tennis player of the family taking part in many tournaments from
the 1930s to 50s. Henry's great grandson, Philip, learnt how to restring
rackets at the age of 9 years and later became a tennis professional in
1968. In 1974, a purpose-built workshop was built at Nork,
near Epsom Downs and provided a stringing service for Banstead Sports and
Seymour sports shops in Epsom and Dorking. The racket stringing workshop
moved to Leatherhead in 2021. Two businesses supported the stringing rooms
for many years. In the 19th century, Heymans at Finsbury Square, London with
stringing equipment, string and materials and in the 20th century, Watkins
and Doncaster at Hawkhurst, Kent, supplied equipment and synthetic strings.
SURREY TENNIS TODAY
The business continues providing a fast local stringing service, tournament
stringing and specialises in the purchase, sale and restoration of wood rackets
for collectors, museums
and film companies. Natural gut tennis strings are still produced and
in small quantities for antique rackets. During recent years there have been
considerable advances in stringing technology. Stringing equipment is now
accurate to a 1/10 lb. After we string a racket the string bed is tested and
afterwards a computer reading is made for the Dynamic Tension, enabling the
player to know when the racket needs restringing. A 2 hour stringing service
is provided at Leatherhead. |
