Martha Guthrie

Martha Guthrie (1894 – August 17, 1941) was an amateur tennis player in the early part of the 20th century.[1] She was ranked No. 8 in the United States in 1916.

A white woman playing tennis, wearing a long buttoned skirt and a short-sleeved blouse.
Martha Guthrie, from a 1919 publication.

Guthrie was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She reached the semifinals at the 1915 U.S. National Championships before falling to future International Tennis Hall of Fame enshrinee Molla Bjurstedt Mallory, 6–3, 2–6, 2–6. She also was a quarterfinalist in doubles that year.

She was a semifinalist at the 1915 U.S. Clay Court Championships, again falling to Mallory. She was a singles finalist, women's doubles winner and mixed doubles winner (with William McEllroy) at the 1915 Ohio State championships. She also won the Allegheny County Championship twice (1914, 1916); the Western Pennsylvania Championships six times (1916, 1919, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1929).

At the tournament in Tri-State Championships in Cincinnati, she won the singles title and the doubles title in 1916.[2] She also played impressively and lost in the final match[3] at the Women's Metropolitan Championships in Forest Hills that year.[4] In 1917, before she married, she won the Florida Women's Tennis Championship in Palm Beach.[5]

As Martha Guthrie Snowden after her marriage in 1917, she continued competing in tennis tournaments, as both a singles and a mixed doubles player.[6][7]

Personal life

Martha Guthrie married lawyer Felix B. Snowden (or Snowdon) in 1917.[8] They had a daughter born in 1931, also named Martha Guthrie Snowden. They divorced in 1937, with Felix Snowden publicizing his wife's excessive drinking as the cause.[9] She married again in 1937, to Edwin S. Hingst. Martha Guthrie Snowden Hingst died in the Ohio River near Sewickley, Pennsylvania in 1941,[10] in a houseboat fire. She was 47 years old.[11]

References
  1. Ballin, Florence A. (1919). Tennis for Girls. American sports Publishing Company. pp. 20. tennis.
  2. "Miss Martha Guthrie Wins Tennis Honors". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh. September 17, 1916. p. 20. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Miss Guthrie's Defeat". The Pittsburgh Press. May 22, 1916. p. 24. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Pittsburg Girl Star of Metropolitan Tourney". The Sun. New York. May 16, 1916. p. 9. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Miss Guthrie Gains Title". The Evening Star. Washington, D.C. March 3, 1917. p. 9. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Garland Beats Alexander in Patriotic Tennis Match". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh. September 29, 1917. p. 9. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Crowd Witnesses Classy Matches". The Pittsburgh Press. September 30, 1917. p. 23. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Martha Guthrie, A Noted Tennis Player, to Wed". The Indianapolis Star. December 30, 1916. p. 42. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Wife's Two-Fisted Drinking Shamed Him, Clubman Says". The Pittsburgh Press. May 2, 1937. p. 47. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Mrs. Hingst Former Local Tennis Champion". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. August 18, 1941. p. 15. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Ex-Socialite Dies in Houseboat Fire". The Pittsburgh Press. August 18, 1941. p. 1. Retrieved July 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
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