Origins of Snooker
The Origins of Snooker
Compiled for the
Heritage Collection by Peter Clare, with especial thanks to Peter
Ainsworth for his detailed article.
The famous Ooty
Club where it is said that the rules of Snooker were drawn up in
1882
An interesting number of stories concerning the
'invention' of the game of snooker have been examined by Peter
Ainsworth. His very informative article is printed here with his
kind permission. Some of the articles he refers to from the
Billiard magazine of the day can be seen. Also from the Norman
Clare collection we have copies of two early rule books the one
from 1889 has no mention of Snooker the other
dated 1909 does mention Snooker's Pool.
1898 Rule Book of
the Billiard Association showing front cover and the title
pages
1908 Rule Book of the Billiard
Association showing front cover and the title pages
Life Pool Marking Boards of the period
shows that the colours for Snooker other than the Black were in
regular use. In fact it is correct to say if you see a Life Pool
Board with a Black Ball marked up it is a board that has been
renovated by someone who was not aware of the introduction of the
black ball.
Thurston Life Pool Combination
Marking Board complete with ball storage cabinet
Norman used to mention the origins of
Snooker during his lectures, however some in depth research by
Peter Ainsworth sheds more light on the possible truth of where and
when and so with Peter Ainsworth's permission his 'paper' on the
subject has been incoporated into this article.
The Origin of
Snooker : The Neville Chamberlain Story
by Peter
Ainsworth
The game of snooker was
invented by Neville Chamberlain in 1875. Everyone knows that. Or to
be more precise, this is today's commonly accepted theory. But
prior to 1938 there was an equally accepted theory that the game
been introduced by a "Colonel Snooker" of the Royal Artillery. Then
came the momentous day when Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald
Chamberlain at last responded to the umpteenth letter speculating
on the game's origins and staked his own claim, which was published
in The Field on 19th March 1938.(copy of this piece is shown at
the end of this article) This was apparently provoked by
another claim in the same magazine, that the game had been invented
at "The Shop", a term used to describe the Royal Military Academy
at Woolwich. Neville Chamberlain waited for an amazingly long time
before revealing himself as the Father of the game. Despite
unremitting speculation on the subject since the game became
popular in England in the late 1880's, Chamberlain waited until he
was in his 83rd year to reveal that he created the game of snooker
in 1875, some 63 years previously! However, there are some serious
inconsistencies in the account provided by Chamberlain which could
benefit from closer examination.
The Earliest
References
The earliest
contemporary reference which can be accurately dated and gives a
detailed account of the game of "Snookers" appears in a letter
written on 2nd February 1886 by Captain Sheldrick from Calcutta.
This ancient mariner describes a game already popular at his club
in Rangoon (Burma), which was directly under the control of the
British Army in India at that time. He describes the game as
follows: "At our club in Rangoon we play a game called Snookers a
first rate game, any amount of fun in it, especially if one of you
get snookered <sic>. The way it is played is the same as
Shell-out but you put in the Yellow, Brown, Green & Black
balls, if you take the Yellow it is double the ordinary life, if
the Brown treble, if the Green four times, & if the Black 5
times as much as the ordinary life, of course you must pot a red
ball in before you can play on one of the other beggars but some
times you run in off <sic> one of them and got to pay up the
price of the ball it is 2, 3, 4th or 5th ball. You ought to start
that game old man it will take first rate I should think with lots
of young Neville Chamberlain in 1883 fellows, it is just the same
as shell-out only these other balls are put on the spots up the
centre of the table." The gambling element involved in Sheldrick's
game gives a clue to the reason for its rapid rise in popularity.
Imagine playing a game of four-handed snooker where for every point
you scored, you were paid £1 by each of the other players! The
variation in the value of the balls appealed to both the skilful
and the lucky in a way which could not be matched by any other Pool
game being played on a billiard table at that time. Even this
strange version has characteristics which clearly link it to the
modern game having a pyramid of reds to which was added Yellow,
Brown, Green & Black balls which were "put on the spots up the
centre of the table".
There are additional
references which appear to take Captain Sheldrick's game back to
1884 when it was being played elsewhere amongst the British Army in
India.
The first reliable
reference to the game of snooker being played in England comes in
the columns of the Sporting Life in 1887 and further details appear
two years later in a book by Maj-Gen A. W. Drayson who, in addition
to instruction on the game of billiards, describes a variation of
the game of "Snooker's Pool", which is easily recognisable as the
modern game. Drayson says "This game, which is not as yet generally
known, or much played, is an amusing extension of the game of
pyramids." He mentions in his book that the copyright to the rules
of the game belonged to the billiard table manufacturer, Burroughes
& Watts. From other sources, there is also a reference to a set
of rules being developed by John Dowland, a minor professional in
the mid-1880s. He was also credited by some early writers with the
game's invention, but hard facts regarding this claim are difficult
to discover, and even though Dowland was known to be connected with
the firm of Burroughes & Watts prior to his death in 1901, no
evidence exists of his involvement with snooker which pre-dates
that of Neville Chamberlain.
Chamberlain's
Game
The similarity of the
above games to the version played today is important, because the
game described in Chamberlain's letter to The Field is not even
remotely similar to modern snooker. Describing events in the
Officers' Mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment, at Jubbulpore in
1875, he says: "One day it occurred to me that the game of black
pool, which we usually played, would be improved if we put down
another coloured ball in addition to the black one. This proved a
success, and, by degrees, the other coloured balls of higher value
followed suit." There is a fundamental problem here which requires
an understanding of the types of game played on a billiard table at
that time. Next to billiards, the most popular game on a billiard
table would have been "Pool". This game actually derives from the
earliest form of billiards which had only two balls (no red) and
the players would each take a ball and try to pot each other. Pool
was (in 1875) a game which would regularly involve up to a dozen
players, each having their own cue-ball and taking turns to try and
pot each other in a fixed rotation. Those potted would lose a
"life" and pay a monetary forfeit. After losing a number of "lives"
a player was eliminated from the game. To differentiate between
each player's ball, they were first numbered (in pencil) then
coloured by staining with a dye. The range of coloured balls, and
the sequence they were played, were initially: White, Red, Yellow,
Green, and Brown. The Blue, Pink and Black balls were subsequently
added to this series, and would have been available around this
time. Additional players could be added to the game by starting
this colour rotation again with balls marked by a "cross" or
"spot". A number of variations of essentially this same game were
played. Amongst these was the "Black Pool" mentioned by
Chamberlain. This varied from the basic game only in that the black
ball was neutral. It was placed on the centre spot and a player
would be entitled to shoot at it only after he had potted his
allocated ball.
It becomes apparent
from this, that there are two major problems with Chamberlain's
description of the birth and development of the game of "Snooker".
Firstly, there is no single cue-ball used, with each player using
one of the balls on the table as his own, and secondly there is no
reference to a pack of red balls. It may be assumed that the reds
were added later had not Chamberlain said that the balls added were
of a "higher value" and significantly, the red ball was already
established in the sequence of the Pool, being the very first
colour to be used in the standard sequence.
The Pyramids
Variation
There were many other
variations of Pool games being played in 1875, which were
distinguished by the basic principle of each player using his own
cue-ball. However, there was also a completely different game
called "Pyramids". This involved 15 red balls being placed in a
pyramid formation in the same position as modern snooker, and the
players shared a single cue ball in trying to pot the reds. The
same game was sometimes called "Shell-out" when more than two
players were involved and it is this game which Captain Sheldrick
mentions in his letter. Pyramids, or shell-out, has the two basic
features missing from Chamberlain's game-the single cue ball and
the pack of reds. There can really be no doubt that the game
evolved from this source and not Black Pool.
The Compton
Mackenzie Connection
So why was
Chamberlain's claim not questioned more closely at the time it was
first published? The answer is that it received some very
influential support from the famous author and playwright, Compton
Mackenzie. Shortly after Chamberlain's letter appeared in The
Field Mackenzie wrote to The Billiard Player
reproducing the claim and leaving it in no doubt that it carried
his full support, describing it as "incontrovertible
evidence"(copy of this piece from the magazine is to be seen at
the end of this article). The letter which appeared in the
April 1939 issue of the magazine, received a similar endorsement by
the Editor, Harold Lewis, so effectively closing the discussion. It
will be noticed that Mackenzie had seen it prudent to change the
words in Chamberlain's original letter to The Field so that instead
of Chamberlain adding "other coloured balls of higher
value" we are now given to understand that "others of
different values were gradually added". It is not
inconceivable that Mackenzie knew exactly what he was doing in
making the change, the only passage in Chamberlain's original
account which was altered.
Mackenzie had a good
knowledge of pool games, having his own table at his home on the
Isle of Barra in the Hebrides, where he regularly entertained
friends with a game of "Indian Pool" more commonly known as
"Slosh". He must surely have researched the story and been
satisfied with its authenticity? Well, perhaps, but if so, he
certainly didn't devote much time to the exercise. His
autobiography tell us that Mackenzie only learned of the claim in
the early part of 1939 when details were given to him by Mr John
Bisset, the Chairman of the Billiards Association & Control
Council. Chamberlain had apparently written to the BA&CC to
register his claim and the papers had lain on Bisset's desk for
some time while he was wondering what to do with them. In January
1939, Bisset invited Compton Mackenzie to present the trophy to the
winner of the World Professional Snooker Championship at Thurston's
Hall on 4th March 1939 and shortly afterwards passed on
Chamberlain's letter which he felt would provide Mackenzie with
some interest for his speech. There is a suggestion that Mackenzie
may at least have spoken with Chamberlain. He says in his
autobiography, "I was able to promise the old veteran that I would
give the true facts". However, this momentous meeting with one of
the most famous people in England has not passed into the family
history. Enquiries with modern-day descendents of the Chamberlain
line revealed that although they are aware of his claim to have
invented Snooker, the story of a meeting with Compton Mackenzie, if
it took place at all, has now been lost. This apparent lack of
investigation into the claim does not totally discredit the
Mackenzie account, but it certainly raises some questions as to
just how "incontrovertible" his evidence can be considered.
Chamberlain's
New Game
Part of Mackenzie's
evidence, presumably amongst the documents passed to him from John
Bisset, were a number of letters supporting Chamberlain's claim
from military personnel, obviously with similarly long memories.
The strange thing about these letters, which refer to the period
between 1884-86, is that they state that Chamberlain was promoting
a game of Snooker which appears to be essentially the same as the
one described by Captain Sheldrick during his visit to Rangoon in
1886. Here is a transformation from the "Black Pool" variation to
the "Pyramids" based game, and Chamberlain is connected with both!
It is crucial to accept at this stage that the original game could
not have evolved into the new one, and the more one studies the
differences in these games, and the associated billiard table games
at that time, the greater will be the conviction that this
statement must be true. There is also supporting evidence for this
from the references supplied by Chamberlain himself. In 1873, he
had joined the 11th Devonshire (Foot) Regiment, which was based at
Simla, and was under the command of his uncle. Two years later the
regiment was moved to Jubbulpore, and it was coincidental with this
move that Chamberlain, still just 19 years-old, first christened
his game. Within months of this momentous event, in 1876, he had
moved to the 1st Central India Horse and stayed with this regiment
until the outbreak of the Afghan War in 1878. If we are to believe
Chamberlain's account, his variation of Black Pool became
immediately popular. He wrote "Officers in other regiments at
Jubbulpore followed suit with the game in their messes". Surely
this is where the changes to the game took place? Apparently not.
One of the references produced by Chamberlain in 1938 came from
Major General W. A. Watson, Colonel of the Central India Horse, who
says, "I have a clear recollection of you rejoining the Regiment in
1884. You brought with you a brand new game, which you
called Snooker or Snookers." Not, you will notice, "when you first
joined the regiment in 1876". The game of "Snooker", despite
Chamberlain's claim to have invented it in 1875-and for it to have
been readily adopted throughout the region-was apparently unknown
to his old regiment before 1884! It is clear that at some point
Chamberlain discarded his Black Pool game, which appears to have
been so unsuccessful that it was quickly eradicated from the memory
of the Central India Horse, and embraced another, giving it the
same name. The question now becomes, did he invent this game as
well, or did he adopt and rename a game which already existed?
Chamberlain in
India
We can make a
reasonable guess at when this change is most likely to have
happened by looking at Chamberlain's military career in India.
Chamberlain was certainly well connected in military circles
following an established family tradition in his choice of career.
Although billiard tables were quite common in India, most regiments
having one in their officers' mess, they were not supplied by the
British Army. Rather, it was left to the officers of a regiment to
obtain and pay for such items themselves. Something that most were
prepared to do in order to alleviate the boredom of their
assignments. However, this did not extend to taking them along on
military campaigns, and the first of these presented itself to
Chamberlain in 1878 when he was involved with the outbreak of
hostilities in Afghanistan, which bordered India to the North. In
this year Chamberlain was assigned to the personal staff of Field
Marshal Sir Frederick Roberts, who was Commander-in-Chief of the
combined British forces in Afghanistan. Chamberlain's position on
the staff was as an Orderly Officer who came under the aide-decamp
Captain Pretyman of the Royal Artillery. This is an important
connection to which we shall refer later. We can say with some
certainty that during the 2½ years of this campaign Chamberlain
would not have seen a billiard table, much less played upon one.
The entire Army, including the commanding officers, lived in tents
during this period and would not have transported such items with
them even if it was feasible to do so. Additionally, the Afghan
Nation was of the Muslim religion and as Field Marshal Roberts
tells us "possessed of a fanatical hatred of all things European".
So even when the Army captured and based themselves in the Afghan
capital, Kabul, they would have been unlikely to discover any
billiard tables waiting to provide them with entertainment.
Chamberlain received a "slight wound" on 1st September 1880 at the
decisive battle of Kandahar which concluded the Afghan campaign.
The forces under Roberts disbanded almost immediately after this
and returned to their regiments. Chamberlain should have returned
to the Central India Horse, but it is known A typical military mess
in the 1870's that he did not in fact rejoin this regiment until
1884. The only alternative was for him to have been in hospital
with his "slight wound" and/or have taken some extended leave back
in England. The probability for the latter being the case is
increased because we know that his Commander-in-Chief, Field
Marshal Roberts, and another member of his staff, George Pretyman,
did exactly this. We next find a reference to Chamberlain in 1881
when he resumes his duties on the personal staff of Roberts who by
this time had been promoted to Commander-in- Chief of the Madras
Army. Roberts' staff also included Lieutenant-Colonel George Tindal
Pretyman, R.A., (Assistant Military Secretary), and Captain Ian
Hamilton, the Gordon Highlanders, (Aide-de-camp). Roberts and
Pretyman arrived back in India on 27th and 28th November 1881
respectively, and made their way to the new headquarters in the
hill station of Ootacamund (generally abbreviated to "Ooty").
During the next three and a half years Roberts and his personal
staff used this location as the base for extended tours of
inspection, which as Roberts says were to "acquaint myself with the
needs and capabilities of the men of the Madras Army". This
included all the regiments under his command throughout Southern
India, which at that time also included Burma, which adjoins India
to the East. Chamberlain would have arrived at Ooty at the same
time, finding the hill station specifically equipped for
recreation. The climate at Ooty had already established it as a
great attraction for both the British Army personnel and civilians,
being almost identical to that found in England. Lavish parties and
a high status social life were the order of the day, and with the
Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army now based there, it saw many
visitors during the pleasant summer months. Ian Hamilton did not
join Roberts' staff at the same time as the others, his ship
arrived at Bombay in June 1882 and he travelled to the hill station
shortly afterwards. Significantly, Chamberlain, with whom Hamilton
became "bosom friends" as he describes it, seems to be of the
opinion that the game was already established when he arrived. A
letter he wrote to the Field in 1938 contained the following
passage: "I have never doubted that my old friend, Sir Neville
Chamberlain, invented the game of snooker. I was at Ootacamund in
1882-84, and there must still be some of that very crowd left who
can testify to the belief then current, that snooker owed its birth
to Neville Chamberlain's fertile brain." This letter was in
response to a suggestion that the rules were drafted by Lord
Kitchener, however, his support of Chamberlain's claim does not
read as though it was based on any first hand knowledge. From this,
we can not only confirm that the birth of the game was some time
before his arrival, but also, and importantly, discount any
involvement by Hamilton in this process. Could the game have
existed at Ooty even before Chamberlain's arrival, just waiting for
him to discover it and give it a new name? This is certainly a
possibility. Chamberlain acknowledges that a game based on
"Pyramids" was formalised there, writing about his later travels in
India he says: "We were constantly asked on our travels to show how
the game was played. It took but little time to demonstrate this,
for everywhere they knew how to play Pyramids, so we showed them
how to add the other coloured balls, and told them the simple rules
for the game, which had been prepared by our committee at
Ootacamund, in 1882."
The Burma
connection
Along the same line of
thought, another possible source of the game's origin suggests
itself. We know from Captain Sheldrick that snooker was being
played in Rangoon in February 1886 - could it have originated here
and been discovered by Chamberlain, who subsequently renamed it and
took it back to Ooty? Rangoon, although not exactly isolated, could
certainly have harboured the game without discovery for a longer
period than the popular hill station of Ooty. It was one of the
furthest outposts of the British in India and the garrison
stationed there would not have had a great number of visiting
officers from other regiments. Typically, the trip from Ooty to
Rangoon would have taken at least 10 days (seven days and nights by
train and three days by ship from Madras) Ian Hamilton suggests
that snooker was being played at Ooty in June 1882. Significantly,
Chamberlain would have had time to have brought the game back from
Rangoon during his first visit to Burma in February 1882, and to
have firmly established it at Ooty before Hamilton's arrival. The
problem with this theory is that the game being played in Rangoon
in 1886 was clearly being called "Snookers" and if it had existed
there under a different name, then they would surely still have
been playing it under that name. Incidentally, there is a
fascinating possibility related to the game described by Captain
Sheldrick in his letter of 2nd February 1886 in which he states: "I
played Lord Roberts & Staff at Ooty in 1883: L-R (Standing)
Col. Stewart; Maj-Gen Godfrey Clerk Adjutant-General; Lt. Neville
Chamberlain ADC; Cat. Ian Hamilton ADC; Col. du Caine RA. (Seated)
Sir Fred Roberts; Lt.-Col. George Pretyman, Millitary Secretary.
[snooker] the other night and very soon tumbled into it they
thought they had a mug. I think that before we finished playing I
had "snookgered" them for 14 rupees, almost 25 bob. They didn't ask
me to play snookers again that evening." Now, it is known that
Field Marshall Roberts, to whom Chamberlain was attached, arrived
in Rangoon on 5th February 1886 for his second visit to the
country, so it can safely be assumed that Chamberlain was in the
area at that time. If he had been sent in advance to make
preparation for the arrival of his commander, it would be entirely
possible that Chamberlain was actually one of those players who had
taken Sheldrick for a mug! However, to return to the story, it is
known that Chamberlain could not have started to promote the
Pyramid version of the game before the end of his involvement in
the Afghan War, around November 1880, and he next appeared at Ooty
at the end of 1881 where the rules for this version of the game
were drawn up shortly afterwards. This gives us a period of
approximately one year-most of this time we can assume with some
confidence, he spent in England. Could Chamberlain have invented,
or seen the new version of his game while in England?
England: the
birthplace of Snooker?
Prior to
Chamberlain staking his claim in 1938, there had been plenty of
speculation in the English press on the subject of Snooker's
origins, most of them pointing to the inventor being a "Colonel
Snooker" of the Royal Artillery-although the rank of this officer
is also sometimes described as "Captain" or even "Major"-and the
birthplace was commonly referenced as being the Royal Military
Academy in Woolwich. If these reports are to be believed, the game
was being played in London well before Chamberlain's return in
1881, in fact at least one claim says it must have existed there as
early as 1865. However, in his book 'The Shop'. The Story of The
Royal Military Academy, Capt. F. G. Guggisberg recalls that the
first billiard table was installed there in 1868. Although this
still gives plenty of time for the game to have been established,
the book, published in 1900, does not mention Snooker being amongst
the games played. It does however confirm that this was the name
given to the first term cadet by the older cadets "who were apt to
despise them." Based on the popular growth of the game after it's
first definite reference in The Sporting Life in
1887, it seems highly unlikely that the game could have remained
hidden in the heart of London for any length of time, and certainly
not long enough to have predated the claim of Chamberlain. It is
possible that Chamberlain developed the game at some serviceman's
club whilst in England in 1881. In later life he was known to have
been a member of "Naval and Military Clubs" and this would be just
the type of establishment which is likely to have seen the first
game of "Snookers" in London. But the odds are against Chamberlain
having been the person to introduce it during a period of leave
after the Afghan War. In Chamberlain's letter to The Field he
mentions that "In the eighties rumours of the new game had reached
England". A strange statement if he had personally introduced it to
his London club in 1881.
In fact we know from
the letter of Captain Sheldrick that the game was still not
well-known in England in 1886, while it had become well established
in India. This seems to confirm that the game did not start in
England.
What is a
snooker?
It is generally
accepted that the term "Snooker" as applied to the game, came from
a name given to a first-year cadet at the Royal Academy at
Woolwich. This would appear to have been in use in the early 1870s,
Chamberlain having first been made aware of it in 1875. But where
did this term actually originate? Dictionaries tell us that the use
of the phrase "Cock a Snook" first appeared in print as early as
1791 and it has been suggested that the novice recruits earned
their name by their habit of cheekily "cocking a snook" at their
non-commissioned officers. This "carry-on" image of the army at
this time hardy bears scrutiny. Another offering was made by
Lt.-Col. G. L. H. Howell, late R.A. who stated in a letter to the
"Billiard Player" published in 1939 that the term was: "time's
corruption of the original word for a newly-joined cadet, which was
'Neux'." A rational deduction perhaps, but there is also an
intriguing, and certainly more colourful alternative. In the 1850s
there was a comedy duo called "Hooker and Snooker" who were
performing in the London theatres during the earliest days of the
Music Hall variety acts. Could it be that Mr. Snooker's character
was sufficiently inept that his persona was sarcastically applied
by one of the older cadets to a hapless junior at Woolwich, and the
name stuck? Unfortunately, this can be little more than guesswork,
as extensive enquiries reveal nothing more about Messrs. Hooker and
Snooker other than a few newspaper reviews. Still, there remains
the faintest chance that this now unknown thespian gave the world a
legacy which far transcends the fame he achieved "The Shop" - The
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in his own lifetime.
India's Claim
to Fame
As the alternatives are
eliminated, we are left with the Hill Station of Ooty as the most
credible birthplace for the game of "Snookers". From the other
evidence available to us, we can also date this event almost
precisely as being in the last month of 1881, while Chamberlain and
his fellow officers enjoyed Christmas before starting their first
tour of inspection with Roberts in January 1882. For the same
reasons as we eliminated the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich as
secretly harbouring the game, so we must dismiss the thought that
the game was already established at Ooty when Chamberlain arrived.
This was not a hidden outpost, but a facility which was regularly
visited during the summer months by officers of the Madras Army. If
Snooker had existed for any length of time before Chamberlain's
arrival, it would certainly have already spread from this source,
under whatever name it may have been called.
This is what
Chamberlain had to say of this period: "Each summer that delightful
hill station had many visitors, either to hunt with the 'Ooty' pack
of hounds or for a change of climate. Among them were officers from
such big garrisons as Bangalore, or Secunderabad, as well as cheery
planters of Mysore or Coorg, who rode up for a few days of gallops
over 'The Koondas,' or a time of good cheer. Snooker soon became a
speciality at the club, and, in due course, the news of it was
carried far afield, and to billiard players throughout India."
Significantly, Chamberlain also clearly states that the game was
introduced at the time of his arrival, and not by him alone, but
with the assistance of others. He writes, "I had the great
privilege of being on his [Roberts] personal staff, and, with other
members of it, we soon introduced the game at the club at Ooty."
The "other members" who are credited by Chamberlain as being
involved with this introduction were, as previously stated,
Lieutenant-Colonel George Tindal Pretyman, R.A., and Captain Ian
Hamilton. Ian Hamilton discounts himself from any involvement by
his own writings, so from Chamberlain's statement it would seem
that the "introduction" of snooker at Ooty was by himself and
George Pretyman. It will be remembered that Chamberlain and
Pretyman had become acquainted during the Afghan War when both were
members of Roberts' staff. If the game of "Snookers" had existed at
Woolwich, albeit with a different name, then Pretyman would
presumably have known of it. Could Chamberlain have married the
name of Snooker to a game known to Pretyman? The main problem with
this theory is that Pretyman graduated from the Academy back in
1865, three years before the first billiard table was installed!
Similarly, if the pair had discussed and agreed the format of the
new game during the Afghan War, then surely Chamberlain would have
taken the opportunity to try it at the London clubs while back in
England. With the duo setting off for a tour of Burma with Roberts
in mid-January 1882, the most likely scenario is that Chamberlain
and/or Pretyman, developed the game during their first month at
Ooty. Which one of them actually first thought of adding pool balls
to the pyramid set we will probably never know, but we can be
certain that Chamberlain was involved to some extent, if only to
give it the name he had first coined in 1875.
The Reluctant
Hero
Why did Chamberlain
wait so long to announce his claim? Many would say that this
suggests that he had a limited involvement in actually inventing
the modern version of the game. By all accounts he was certainly an
enthusiastic advocate for the game between 1882 and 1886. We know
from the references produced by Compton Mackenzie that he was
credited with personally introducing the game to at least four
different regiments in the Madras Army, between these dates. In
1885 he was happy to claim to be the inventor of Snooker, having
been introduced in that capacity to an English professional player
who happened to be visiting Calcutta in that year. This makes his
later reluctance to reveal his involvement all the more mysterious.
After leaving the personal staff of Roberts in 1884, Chamberlain's
military career really took off. He became a Lieutenant-Colonel in
1889 and the following year was appointed Military Secretary to the
Kashmir Government, responsible for reorganising the Kashmir Army.
In 1899 he left India and followed Field-Marshal Lord Roberts to
South Africa where he was again part of his personal staff. The
following year Chamberlain left the Army and moved a little closer
to home when he was appointed Inspector General to the Royal Irish
Constabulary, a position he retained until his retirement in 1916.
During this time he maintained a residence in Ireland at
Castleknock, Co. Dublin. It could be that during this period he
hardly noticed or cared about the growth in snooker and the
questions being asked about its origins, but after retirement he
The clubhouse at Ootacamund moved to Ascot in Berkshire where he
remained until his death on 28th May 1944. Here he must surely have
been aware of the game's growth. Even as a member of "Naval and
Military" clubs which he admitted to frequenting, he must have seen
the game being played with increasing frequency. However, it should
be remembered that the other likely candidate, George Pretyman,
also remained silent on the subject. Pretyman left India and
returned to England in November 1894 where he remained for five
years on the "unemployed list", then at the outbreak of hostilities
in South Africa he again took up an appointment under Lord Roberts.
He retired from active service in 1907, and died ten years later at
the age of 72. This gave him plenty of opportunity to join the
debate had he wished to do so.
The Australian
Connection
Almost as an aside to
this story comes a tantalising prospect that we may have uncovered
from Chamberlain's account, the source of the game's introduction
to Australia. In his letter to The Field he references a meeting
one evening "I think it was in 1885" with an English professional
to whom he explained the rules of the game, saying "I regret I do
not remember his name; he was probably a contemporary of John
Roberts and W. Cook." Shortly afterwards Mr. F. H. Cumberlege also
wrote to The Field to say that "the professional must have been
John Roberts himself who came out to Calcutta in 1885." Although
Chamberlain seems unsure of the exact date, it would seem to be a
reasonably accurate guess as he was unlikely to have been in
Calcutta after 1886 at which time he joined the Burma campaign, and
thereafter he was based in Kashmir. The idea that the person to
meet Chamberlain was the Champion himself seems to have been
readily accepted, but unfortunately Mr. Cumberlege's memory seems
to be faulty. There is no record of John Roberts being in India in
1885, or the years either side of this date. Nor would Chamberlain
be likely to forget being introduced to a player who was not only
famous, even in India, but also bore the same name as his
commander-in-chief. Additionally, anyone who has studied the career
of John Roberts would know that having obtained such a marketable
commodity he would have promoted it with vigour. Yet Roberts never
even mentions the game of Snooker, and there is certainly no record
of him playing it until many years after it had become established
in England. In fact the earliest connection between John Roberts
and snooker comes from his son, John W. Roberts, who wrote to the
Billiard Player in 1938 saying that his father had been introduced
to the game whilst touring America towards the end of 1893. He says
of the American game "the balls were of the usual American size,
round about 2½ ins. or 2 5/8 ins., the six coloured balls (ivory)
were numbered on both sides of the white portion, the middle of the
balls having deep coloured bands' yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue
5, pink 6 and black 7. The usual 15 red and the player's ball
included the set." He continues, "My father was so taken up with
this game that he not only brought over a set of these balls to
England, but he also brought over three American players, Slossen
being one of them; I think Ives was another. The first game of
snooker which I witnessed by these American players caused some
little sensation at the time, but what delighted the audience most
were Slossen's trick shots." This surely removes any thoughts that
John Roberts had discovered the game in India eight years
previously, although where the curious American snooker game
originated and what happened to it, is yet another mystery.
However, we know that by November 1893, when Roberts returned from
America, the English version of snooker was already established in
London. So who was it that Chamberlain met in India in 1885? The
only leading professional who could have been in India anywhere
near the time in question was Fred Shorter who left England in May
1885 bound forAustralia. He was suffering from tuberculosis and had
been advised to take a long sea voyage, ironically it appears, by
John Roberts himself. Shorter had toured India before (1880), and
would probably have stopped there briefly during the voyage. He may
therefore have had the opportunity to make this contact with
Chamberlain. It is known that he arrived in Melbourne, Australia,
around June 1885 where, despite his illness, he was sufficiently
well to play a number of public matches promoted by Henry Upton
Alcock the famous billiard table manufacturer. Did Shorter carry a
copy of the rules of Snooker with him and give these to Alcock? or
possibly to Frank Smith, who was at that time the leading billiards
player of that country and under contract to Alcock? Indeed, Smith
was known to have claimed that he and Henry Alcock had invented
snooker "at the request of members of the Indian army" who visited
the Victoria Club in Melbourne in "about 1887". Frederick James
Shorter did not last long after his arrival in Australia,
eventually succumbing to his illness on Saturday 22nd August 1885
at Deniliquin, New South Wales, where he seems to have spent his
last days with relatives, but the links are temptingly close to
credit him with the introduction of the Chamberlain's game to
Australia. Did John Roberts (left) meet with Chamberlain in 1885,
or was it perhaps Fred Shorter (right)
Conclusions
The good news for those
supporting the claim of Neville Chamberlain as the inventor of the
game of snooker, is that despite some extensive research on the
subject, I have yet to find any credible evidence which supports
the existence of the game before the timescales offered by
Chamberlain, or being played in any other part of the world other
than India until well after these dates. The main problem however
is that there appears to have been two completely separate versions
of game. The idea that one evolved naturally from the other is too
much to accept as a credible concept and it is my firm opinion that
they must have been devised independently. Of course, Sir Neville
Chamberlain may have been the sole author of both, and he certainly
seems to have been involved with promoting first one, then the
other version. The evidence, as supplied by Chamberlain himself,
appears to be quite strong that he invented a "Black Pool" version
in 1875, but is much more tenuous when it comes to the Pyramids
version (the modern game) which we can trace back with reliable
evidence only as far as 1882. The weight of probability suggests
that the metamorphosis between the two versions-at least as far as
Chamberlain was concerned-actually took place towards the end of
1881 at the Indian Hill Station of Ootacamund. It was almost
certainly complete by January 1882. Chamberlain himself does not
claim that he was solely responsible for introducing the game to
"Ooty" also crediting by implication, Lieutenant- Colonel George
Tindal Pretyman, R.A. It is tempting to link George Tindal Pretyman
to the early stories which attribute the game to a "Captain" or
"Colonel Snooker" of the Royal Artillery although not all of the
pieces fit comfortably in this theory. Pretyman certainly meets the
key link with the Artillery, George Pretyman:
"Colonel Snooker?"
having been a graduate of the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich.
He was a Colonel at the time we think the game first appeared,
although neither he nor Chamberlain would fit the rank of "Captain
Snooker" within the three years that either of them were at Ooty.
He would have been travelling with Chamberlain and Hamilton as
their senior officer, visiting the same regiments, until 1884 when
he left Field Marshal Roberts' staff and thereafter could have
promoted the game independently. But even if George Pretyman turned
out to be the fabled "Colonel Snooker" this would just establish a
connection with the game of which we are already aware, and not
give us any new evidence that he was the inventor. Was Chamberlain
telling the whole truth about the extent of his involvement with
the game? We must assume so. He was 82 years-old at the time he
eventually wrote his letter to The Field and it is difficult to
think that he had any incentive other than to relate all the facts
as he knew them. All the available evidence points to it being
either Neville Chamberlain or George Tindal Pretyman who took the
game of pyramids and suggested adding pool balls with different
values. Which one, we will probably never know. We can however be
reasonably confident that the name of "Snooker" was adopted from a
suggestion by Chamberlain. So perhaps Colonel Sir Neville Francis
Fitzgerald Chamberlain deserves a place in history as the inventor
of the modern game of Snooker, but there are still some unanswered
questions in this story.
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to
Stephen J. Cox who has provided invaluable research information
from Australia, also to Roger Lee and Jack Ben-Nathan for access to
material in their personal collections.
The above article is the copyright of Peter
Ainsworth who kindly gave his permission for us to include it in
our articles.
Copies of two of the
pieces mentioned by Peter Ainsworth are to be seen at the end of
this article namely Neville Chamberlian's letter that appeared in
'The Field' magazine in March 1938 and Compton MacKenzies' article
in 'The Billiard Player' in April that year.
Some other points that
may be of interest - my father (Norman) told me that when we had
the Billiard (note the word) Hall in Merseyside that before the 2nd
World War the clubs had Billiard Balls for all the tables and
perhaps just one or two Snooker Ball sets. However at the end of
the war it was the reverse and the tables were used for Snooker
with only a couple of Billiard Ball sets being held at each
Hall.
I was led to believe
that some of this growth in the playing of Snooker was in no small
way down to the fund raising that Joe Davis did during the war. He
would have a special Billiard Table installed in the theater he was
doing his demonstration. This table had a huge mirror suspended at
an angle over the table so that the audience could see what was
happening on the table.
Joe Davis on
stage - the table top can clearly be seen in the angled mirror
which is above and behind the table
The demonstration he
gave used Snooker Balls - I presume for similar reasons that BBC2
on its launch broadcasted the now famous Pot Black series of
snooker - the Pyramid of Reds along with the colours allowing for a
more exciting display.
Pot Black circa
1970 played on a Clare-Padmore-Thurston Jubilee Table. Ted
Lowe the famous Snooker commentator is standing to the left of
Eddie Charlton who seems to be telling John Pulman how to play the
shot!
A box set of Pyramid, Billiard
and Life Pool Balls
Copy from The Field March 1938
refered to in Peter Ainsworth's article and followed by Compton
Mackenzie's article in the April issue of 'The Billiard
Player'
Compiled for the
Norman Clare Heritage Collection by Peter Clare, with especial
thanks to Peter Ainsworth for his detailed article.
********************************
© Norman Clare 1990. © E.A.
Clare & Son Ltd. 2018.
Reproduction of this article allowed only with the permission from
E.A. Clare & Son Ltd.
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