William Cook (billiards player)

William Cook (15 June 1849 – 30 June 1893) was a professional player of English billiards in the 19th century. He won the World Championship on five occasions.[5][6]

William Cook
Born15 June 1849[1]
Sandy, Bedfordshire[1][2]
Died30 June 1893[3]
Brompton Consumption Hospital[3]
Sport countryEngland
Highest break936[4]

William Cook began playing billiards at about the age of eleven, and played a lot with the professional Alfred Bowles. But because he did not leave school until sixteen, and was a chorister at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, then later at St Saviour's, Paddington, he could not devote the majority of his time to billiards until 1865.[1]

Cook beat John Roberts Jr, son of the dominant player of the time, John Roberts Sr, in a match in 1869,[7] and then challenged Roberts Sr for the title.[8] As this was the first match for the World Championship, five players, which included Cook, with Roberts taking the chair, formed a committee to draw up a special set of rules for the game. The committee also involved representatives from three leading billiard table manufacturers.[9] The committee were persuaded by Roberts that the highest test of a champion would be a table on which the greatest accuracy was needed when playing pots. Cook was an expert at the spot stroke.[1][10] The pocket width was reduced to 3–inches[lower-alpha 1] (from the original 35⁄8–in), and the "D" and spots were adjusted so that Cook's spot stroke strength, derived from his proficiency at consecutively potting the red ball from its spot was weakened.[13][14] Cook was nonetheless considered the favourite, and the 20-year-old had improved much from his win over Roberts Jr the previous year.[15] Before the match he wrote a letter to the Sporting Life, stating that he believed that the smaller pockets would not affect his game.[16] At 1:38 a.m. on the morning of 12 February 1870, Cook defeated Roberts 1,200-1,083 to win the title,[17] and won a newly created trophy, £100 and a Maltese cross.[18] The Prince of Wales attended the match at St. James's Hall. This match ended the dominance of Roberts Sr, as the wave of new players took over the game.[19][20]

Roberts Sr did not challenge for the championship again. But Cook was to meet his match in the son, John Roberts Jr, who beat him 1,200-552 in a challenge match for the Championship in April 1870.[11] William Cook won the championship on four further occasions between 1871 and 1874, by beating Roberts in three finals, and Joseph Bennett in another.[1][5] On 24 May 1875 he was beaten again by Roberts,[21] who would go on to dominate billiards for the next thirty years.[20]

Notes
  1. All official matches for the championship up to and including 1885, were played on tables with pockets of this size.[11][12]

References
  1. "William Cook (The Billiard Champion)". Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. London: Thomas Fox. 7 March 1874. p. 33. Retrieved 13 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  2. "A Dead Billiard Player". Ripon Observer. 3 July 1893. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Death of William Cook". Glasgow Herald. 3 July 1893. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "The Last 24 Hours". Bristol Mercury. 4 July 1893. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. Cook, William (1884). Payne, A. G. (ed.). Billiards. London: Burroughes & Watts. p. 332. Retrieved 14 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  6. "Billiards". The Sydney Mail. Vol. LXI, no. 1855. 25 January 1896. p. 10. Retrieved 15 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  7. Roberts, John (1869). Buck, Henry (ed.). Roberts On Billiards (2nd ed.). London: Stanley Rivers and Co. pp. 311–314. Retrieved 13 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  8. "Billiards". Morning Post. 3 January 1870. p. 2 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Billiards. The Billiard Conference". Illustrated Sporting News and Theatrical and Musical Review. 15 January 1870. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. Roberts, John (1902). Hotine, F. M. (ed.). Modern Billiards (2nd ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson. p. 262. Retrieved 14 October 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  11. "Billiards (1899), by Joseph Bennett". 14 April 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2023 – via English Amateur Billiards Association.
  12. "Billiards". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 17806. 13 April 1895. p. 10. Retrieved 13 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  13. Ainsworth, Peter. "The Professional Championship (February 1870) – First Contest". Retrieved 13 October 2023 – via World Billiards.
  14. Bradfoot, William (1896). Billiards. London: Longmans, Green & Co. pp. 367–368. Retrieved 13 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  15. Bradfoot, William (1896). Billiards. London: Longmans, Green & Co. p. 28. Retrieved 13 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  16. "The Champion Billiard Match At St. James's Hall". Bell's Life In Sydney and Sporting Chronicle. Vol. XXVII, no. 701. New South Wales. 21 May 1870. p. 4. Retrieved 13 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. Roberts, John (1902). Hotine, F. M. (ed.). Modern Billiards (2nd ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson. p. 267. Retrieved 14 October 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  18. Roberts, John (1902). Hotine, F. M. (ed.). Modern Billiards (2nd ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson. p. 261. Retrieved 14 October 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  19. "The Professional Championship". The English Amateur Billiards Association. 14 April 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  20. Everton, Clive (16 October 1986). History of Snooker and Billiards. Haywards Heath, West Sussex: Partridge Press. ISBN 1-85225-013-5.
  21. Roberts, John (1902). Hotine, F. M. (ed.). Modern Billiards (2nd ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson. p. 283. Retrieved 14 October 2023 – via Internet Archive.


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