Tennis clubs had their own Professionals from the early 1800s; as with most private Tennis courts in the great estates, such as Petworth, Canford, Hatfield House, Hardwick House etc, it was the custom to employ a Professional, whose job it was to play with his patron and his guests, make the balls, and generally be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the court. Petworth has benefited from the expertise of several major figures from the tiny world of Tennis Professionals, as follows:

ARTHUR “TENNIS” SMITH (Professional 1902 to 1914) is the first recorded Professional at Petworth. He entered Lord Leconfield’s service on 7th September 1902. He was born on September 13th 1870, and became an assistant at Lord’s in the Rackets court on December 23rd 1883. Smith’s father was a friend of George Lambert, who made the introduction to Lord’s. In May 1890, Smith moved to the Lord’s Tennis court under Jimmie Fennell, who had just been made head Professional in the place of George Lambert. While Smith was at Lord’s he marked all the major public matches from 1893 to 1902.

Smith featured in challenge matches against Cecil “Punch” Fairs at Prince’s Club (Brighton) in May 1894, and the return match at Lord’s in 1895. He gave competition a miss from then until January 1909, when he defeated the reigning Rackets champion C. Williams by 3 sets to 1.

HENRY CHARLES “HARRY” LAMBERT was born on 18th April 1876. He was the second son of George Lambert, and had been assistant Professional at Lord’s for many years. Harry Lambert was a member of a great Tennis family, of whom ten were Professionals; Harry’s grandfather was Professional at Lord’s from 1849 to his death in 1902.

Lamberts had also been Professionals at Oxford and Hampton Court. His uncle, Joseph, was Professional at Hatfield House from 1849-1905 and was still playing in his eighties. Joseph’s father, George, was an outstanding player who claimed the World Championship in 1871, and then dominated the game to such an extent that he remained unchallenged for fourteen years, eventually losing to Tom Pettitt of the USA by 7 sets to 5 at Hampton Court. Harry was thus steeped in the game of Tennis.

Harry had visited Petworth several times before 1918, and in fact was turned down for the Professional job in 1916. But he was appointed Professional at Petworth in November 1918, and the court was well used in that period. It is alleged that as Lord Leconfield had some difficulty in getting his shots over the high points of the net, it was lowered by six inches at each end whenever he played.

FRANK “EMILE” LATHAM was the son of Peter Latham, the World Tennis Champion 1895-1907, and the World Rackets Champion 1887-1902, and the only player to hold both titles simultaneously. Frank had the nickname “Emile” and this is believed to acknowledge the fact that Real Tennis was dominated at that time by Pierre Etchebaster, and it was considered fashionable amongst some Professionals to adopt a French name.

Frank trained initially at Lord’s and in July 1920, he went to be Professional in Paris. It is not known exactly when Latham was first employed at Petworth, nor for how long, but there is no record of Tennis being played after 1941, as the court was being used as a storage facility. It is known however that Latham was a Professional at Lord’s from 19297 to 1937. In 1933 he won the Browning Cup at Leamington playing under the Lord’s banner. But in 1939 he is listed in the Browning Cup draw as being at Petworth, so presumably his service at Petworth was from about 1938 to 1940 only.