Major Ritchie

Major Josiah George Ritchie, known as Major Ritchie, was a British tennis player who lived from 1870 to 1955. Major was his first given name and not a military rank. Born in Westminster and educated at Brighton College, he won the men's singles gold medal at the 1908 London Olympics and also took silver in the men's doubles and bronze in the indoor singles at the same Games. He won the Wimbledon doubles title with Anthony Wilding in 1908 and 1910, reached the all comers final at Wimbledon in 1902, 1903 and 1904, and lost the 1909 Challenge Round to Arthur Gore. He was a repeated champion of Germany and Austria, a member of the British Davis Cup team in 1908, and he also played table tennis and wrote early books on that game and on lawn tennis.