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1929 World Snooker Championship
The 1929 World Snooker Championship, known at the time as the Professional Championship of Snooker, was a snooker tournament held between 17 December 1928 and 7 March 1929 at various venues in England, with the final taking place from 4 to 7 March 1929 at the Lounge Hall, Nottingham. Defending champion Joe Davis won the title for the third time by defeating Tom Dennis by 19 frames to 14 in the final, after securing a winning margin at 17–12.
It was the third edition of the World Snooker Championship. The first round match was held at Loughborough Town Hall, and the venue for the semi-finals was Camkin's Hall, Birmingham. The highest break of the tournament was 61, a new championship record, compiled by Davis in the 23rd frame of the final.
Professional English billiards player and billiard hall manager Joe Davis had noticed the increasing popularity of snooker compared to billiards in the 1920s, and with Birmingham-based billiard hall manager Bill Camkin, who had also seen snooker's increasing appeal, persuaded the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC) to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season. The inaugural event was won by Davis, who defeated Tom Dennis 20–11 in the final. Originally called the Professional Championship of Snooker, the annual competition was not titled the World Championship until 1935, but the 1927 tournament is now referred to as the first World Snooker Championship.
For the 1928 championship, a qualifying competition had been held to produce a challenger to Davis, the defending champion. In July 1928 the BACC decided to abandon the challenge system that had been employed for both the Billiards Championship and the Professional Snooker Championship. This meant that Davis, the champion, had to play through the 1929 tournament, which was the third staging of the championship.
The closing date for entries for the snooker championship was 15 October 1928. The entry fee was set at five guineas per player (equivalent to £288 in 2025), with a five-guineas sidestake required for each match. Preliminary heats and the semi-finals were to be best of 25 frames, played over three days, with the final contested over 33 frames across four days. When the conditions for the championship were published, Camkin's Hall in Birmingham was named as the venue for the final. For pre-final matches, the players concerned were to arrange the dates and venues.
Five players entered the Championship: Joe Davis (Chesterfield), Tom Dennis (Nottingham), Fred Lawrence (Birmingham), Alec Mann (Birmingham) and Kelsall Prince (Loughborough). Lawrence and Mann had to play a first round match, with the winner to meet Davis. Dennis and Prince faced each other in the other semi-final.
The first match played was the semi-final between Dennis and Prince. This was scheduled from 17 to 22 December 1928 at Town Hall, Loughborough, over six evening session rather than across the three sets of afternoon and evening sessions envisaged when the tournament's conditions were announced. There was just one of four frames each evening, with five planned for the final day. The match was close until halfway through the fourth session with Dennis then leading 8–6. However, Dennis then took the next five frames to win the match 13–6. He added the final frame of the evening to leave the score at 14–6 after five sessions. The match did not continue to the planned sixth session and so finished on 21 December.
The first round match and the other semi-final were arranged for the week of 21 to 26 January 1929 at Camkin's Hall, Birmingham. The first round match was on the first three days; the winner to play Davis on the last three days. Both matches were over 25 frames with two sessions of four frames each day. After 13 frames of their match, Lawrence led Mann 10–3 but Mann won the last three frames of the day to close the gap to 10–6. On the final day, Mann continued his run of frames, winning 9 out of 10, to take a 12–11 lead. However, Lawrence won the last two frames to take the match 13–12. A columnist in the March 1929 edition of The Billiard Player magazine praised Mann's potting and Lawrence's safety play generally, but commented that "almost atrociously bad technique" by Mann when attempting to pot the yellow instead of playing for a snooker in the deciding frame lost him the match. The same writer also added that "the scarcity of the London Press reports in connexion with the Professional Snooker Games ... was freely commented upon in Birmingham."
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1929 World Snooker Championship
The 1929 World Snooker Championship, known at the time as the Professional Championship of Snooker, was a snooker tournament held between 17 December 1928 and 7 March 1929 at various venues in England, with the final taking place from 4 to 7 March 1929 at the Lounge Hall, Nottingham. Defending champion Joe Davis won the title for the third time by defeating Tom Dennis by 19 frames to 14 in the final, after securing a winning margin at 17–12.
It was the third edition of the World Snooker Championship. The first round match was held at Loughborough Town Hall, and the venue for the semi-finals was Camkin's Hall, Birmingham. The highest break of the tournament was 61, a new championship record, compiled by Davis in the 23rd frame of the final.
Professional English billiards player and billiard hall manager Joe Davis had noticed the increasing popularity of snooker compared to billiards in the 1920s, and with Birmingham-based billiard hall manager Bill Camkin, who had also seen snooker's increasing appeal, persuaded the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC) to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season. The inaugural event was won by Davis, who defeated Tom Dennis 20–11 in the final. Originally called the Professional Championship of Snooker, the annual competition was not titled the World Championship until 1935, but the 1927 tournament is now referred to as the first World Snooker Championship.
For the 1928 championship, a qualifying competition had been held to produce a challenger to Davis, the defending champion. In July 1928 the BACC decided to abandon the challenge system that had been employed for both the Billiards Championship and the Professional Snooker Championship. This meant that Davis, the champion, had to play through the 1929 tournament, which was the third staging of the championship.
The closing date for entries for the snooker championship was 15 October 1928. The entry fee was set at five guineas per player (equivalent to £288 in 2025), with a five-guineas sidestake required for each match. Preliminary heats and the semi-finals were to be best of 25 frames, played over three days, with the final contested over 33 frames across four days. When the conditions for the championship were published, Camkin's Hall in Birmingham was named as the venue for the final. For pre-final matches, the players concerned were to arrange the dates and venues.
Five players entered the Championship: Joe Davis (Chesterfield), Tom Dennis (Nottingham), Fred Lawrence (Birmingham), Alec Mann (Birmingham) and Kelsall Prince (Loughborough). Lawrence and Mann had to play a first round match, with the winner to meet Davis. Dennis and Prince faced each other in the other semi-final.
The first match played was the semi-final between Dennis and Prince. This was scheduled from 17 to 22 December 1928 at Town Hall, Loughborough, over six evening session rather than across the three sets of afternoon and evening sessions envisaged when the tournament's conditions were announced. There was just one of four frames each evening, with five planned for the final day. The match was close until halfway through the fourth session with Dennis then leading 8–6. However, Dennis then took the next five frames to win the match 13–6. He added the final frame of the evening to leave the score at 14–6 after five sessions. The match did not continue to the planned sixth session and so finished on 21 December.
The first round match and the other semi-final were arranged for the week of 21 to 26 January 1929 at Camkin's Hall, Birmingham. The first round match was on the first three days; the winner to play Davis on the last three days. Both matches were over 25 frames with two sessions of four frames each day. After 13 frames of their match, Lawrence led Mann 10–3 but Mann won the last three frames of the day to close the gap to 10–6. On the final day, Mann continued his run of frames, winning 9 out of 10, to take a 12–11 lead. However, Lawrence won the last two frames to take the match 13–12. A columnist in the March 1929 edition of The Billiard Player magazine praised Mann's potting and Lawrence's safety play generally, but commented that "almost atrociously bad technique" by Mann when attempting to pot the yellow instead of playing for a snooker in the deciding frame lost him the match. The same writer also added that "the scarcity of the London Press reports in connexion with the Professional Snooker Games ... was freely commented upon in Birmingham."