11/08/2026
Story for our centenary….
The remarkable Miss Curtois: Circle’s 15-time champion
As we celebrate 100 years of Circle Tennis Club, an old wooden honours board hanging in our clubhouse has revealed the story of a quite remarkable player.
Her name was Miss M. Curtois.
She first became Circle Ladies’ Champion in 1936. She won again in 1937. And again in 1938.
Then came the Second World War and, for six years, the championship disappears from our honours board.
When competition returned in 1945, so did Miss Curtois.
She won in 1945, 1946 and 1947, giving her three consecutive championships immediately before the war and three immediately afterwards.
And she was only getting started.
Miss Curtois dominated the early 1950s, winning five consecutive championships between 1950 and 1954. She returned to win another three consecutive titles in 1956, 1957 and 1958.
Then, four years after her previous victory, her name appears on the board one final time.
1962: M. Miss Curtois.
It was her 15th Circle Ladies’ Championship, an extraordinary 26 years after winning her first.
Our research strongly suggests that our champion was Margaret Curtois, a Harborne resident born in 1907. If we can confirm that identification beyond doubt, Margaret would have been around 29 when she won her first Circle title and 55 when she won her last.
And remarkably, her sporting life appears to have continued long after tennis.
Records from the Croquet Association show a Miss Margaret Curtois living at 16 Margaret Road, Harborne, who later became involved with Edgbaston Croquet Club and continued playing croquet into later life.
There is still a missing piece to this story.
Our surviving Circle championship boards end in 1970, and we would love to discover more about Miss Curtois herself. Did she hold office at the club? Did she play league tennis for Circle? Are there photographs of her? And does anyone remember watching or playing against her?
Perhaps somewhere in Harborne there is an old photograph album, newspaper cutting or box of Circle memorabilia containing the answer.
So we’re asking our members, former members and the wider Harborne community:
Do you remember Miss M. Curtois?
If you do, we’d love to hear from you.
Because 100 years of Circle isn’t simply the history of our courts and clubhouse. It’s the history of the people who played here.
And with 15 championship titles spanning 27 years, Miss Curtois certainly deserves her place in that history.
