View source for Charles Read (squash player)

{{Short description|English squash player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Charles Richard Read''' (1 March 1889<ref>Charles R. Read, lawn tennis coach in Wembley, London; ''1939 England and Wales Register''</ref> – date of death unknown) was a professional [[squash (sport)|squash]] player from [[England]], where professional squash began in 1907. Read was based at the [[Queen's Club]] in [[London]], and beat C. Bannister of the [[Bath Club]] 15–5, 15–13 at the Bath Club to win the first English professional championship title. Read then defended his title as English champion three more times until 1928.

Read was born in [[Kensington]], London to Alfred, a [[whitesmith]], and Clara Read.<ref>''1891 England Census''</ref> When the [[British Open Squash Championships|British Open]] men's championship was instituted in 1930, Read was officially designated the first title holder, and thus played in the first final as the 'defending champion'. The 41-year-old Read, however, lost the inaugural final series, played in home and away legs, 6–9, 5–9, 5–9 and 3–9, 5–9, 3–9 in December 1930 to the 25-year-old challenger [[Don Butcher]], a professional player from the [[Conservative Club]] in [[London]].

Read was a versatile sportsman, having also been British professional champion at [[Tennis|Lawn Tennis]] and [[Racquets (sport)|Rackets]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051228215533/http://www.worldsquash.org/history1.html History of Squash article at Worldsquash.org]

{{British Open squash men's singles champions}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Charles}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:Year of death missing]]
[[Category:People from Kensington]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea]]
[[Category:English male squash players]]
[[Category:English male tennis players]]
[[Category:British male tennis players]]
[[Category:Professional tennis players before the Open Era]]


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