Prince's Skating Club

Last updated

Prince's Skating Club
Womens Social and Political Union (WSPU) Fife and Drum band marching, 1909. (22735619410).jpg
advertising a suffragette exhibition
Prince's Skating Club
Location Knightsbridge, London
Owner Prince's Club
SurfaceIce
Opened7 November 1896 (1896-11-07)
Closed1917
Tenants
Princes Ice Hockey Club (1896–1914)
London Canadians (1902–????)

Prince's Skating Club was an ice rink in the Knightsbridge area of London, England. It saw a number of firsts for ice hockey in Britain and Europe.

Contents

The rink was opened on Montpelier Square on 7 November 1896 by the Prince's Sporting Club. It operated on a membership-only basis and was aimed at the elite of British figure skaters who wished to practise on uncrowded ice. [1]

Prince's was the second large rectangular rink in Britain after Stockport, its ice measuring 210 by 52 feet (64 by 16 metres). This made it an ideal venue for the developing sport of ice hockey.

The rink closed in summer 1917. The building was later used by Daimler Hire, and ultimately demolished in the mid-1970s.

Ice hockey

The Princes Ice Hockey Club was founded at the rink at the end of 1896. It began playing challenge matches in early 1897, initially against the three existing teams in England: Niagara, Brighton and the Royal Engineers.

In March 1900, the rink hosted the first Ice Hockey Varsity Match, won 7–6 by Oxford, although Oxford insisted on playing with bandy sticks and a lacrosse ball. [2] The next year, another Varsity Match was held, this time using a puck and hockey skates.

In 1902, London Canadians was founded as a second ice hockey team at the rink. They and Princes participated in Europe's first ice hockey league, which they contested against Argyll and the Amateur Skating Club, both based at Hengler's Ice Rink, and Cambridge University. The league started in November 1903 and was completed in February 1904 after eight games. Canadians won the tournament, with Princes taking second place.

The league was not repeated, as Hengler's closed. Instead, Princes began undertaking annual European tours (as did London Canadians' successors, Oxford Canadians), while teams such as Sporting Club Lyon, Brussels Club des Patineurs and C. P. P. Paris came to play the London-based teams. The 1908 match with Paris was the first under Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace (international) rules in Britain; it was also notable as Thomas Sopwith played in goal.

In March 1910, the first England-Scotland ice hockey match was held at the rink, but the sport was suspended at the start of World War I. Despite this, the British Ice Hockey Association was founded at the rink in 1914.

Figure skating

In October 1908, the figure skating events of the Olympics were held at the rink the first ice sport ever included in the Olympics and the only occasion Olympic ice events have been held in Britain. [3]

Exhibitions

The rink was also used for art exhibitions. The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers held its annual exhibition there in 1898 and 1899. [4]

The Women's Exhibition hosted by the Women's Social and Political Union and funded by Clara Mordan was held at the Prince's Ice Rink in May 1909. [5] [6] Its organisers included Amy Katherine Browning and Sylvia Pankhurst. [7]

Related Research Articles

Bandy Ballgame on ice played using skates and sticks

Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.

Hockey Sports played with hockey sticks

Hockey is a term used to denote various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium.

Ice hockey Team sport played on ice using sticks, skates, and a puck

Ice hockey is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hockey sticks to control, advance and shoot a closed, vulcanized, rubber disc called a "puck" into the other team's goal. Each goal is worth one point. The team which scores the most goals is declared the winner. In a formal game, each team has six skaters on the ice at a time, barring any penalties, one of whom is the goaltender. Ice hockey is a full contact sport.

Ice skating Self-propulsion of a person over ice, wearing bladed skates

Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be performed on naturally frozen bodies of water, such as ponds, lakes, canals, and rivers, and on man-made ice surfaces both indoors and outdoors.

Montreal Victorias 1870s–1939 ice hockey club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. The club was winners of the Stanley Cup in 1895 and held it until 1899, except for a period in 1896. The club remained amateur, splitting from the ranks of teams turned professional in 1908. The club was the first winner of the Allan Cup and continued to play until 1939, when it folded after its 65th season. The club often also fielded junior and intermediate teams.

Ice rink Place for ice skating and sports

An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ice skating during the 1800s marked a rise in the deliberate construction of ice rinks in numerous areas of the world.

Princes Club

The Prince's Club was a socially exclusive gentlemen's multisports club in London, England. The original 'Prince's Club' was founded in 1853 in Chelsea by George and James Prince and its main sports were rackets and real tennis. Cricket, croquet and lawn tennis were also played. After most of its ground was lost to building developments it closed in 1887. Its successor, the 'New Prince's Club', located in Knightsbridge, opened in 1888 and kept its focus on rackets and real tennis, but no longer had any outdoor sports. In 1896 the Prince's Skating Club was opened. The Prince's Club was in operation until the 1940s.

Victoria Skating Rink Former indoor ice skating rink in Montreal

The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor ice skating rink located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened in 1862, it was described at the start of the twentieth century to be "one of the finest covered rinks in the world". The building was used during winter seasons for pleasure skating, ice hockey and skating sports on a natural ice rink. In summer months, the building was used for various events, including musical performances and horticultural shows. It was the first building in Canada to be electrified.

Ringette Team sport played on ice, using sticks, ice skates, and a rubber ring, with off-ice variants

Ringette is a non-contact winter team sport using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. The sport is played on ice hockey rinks using both the ice hockey markings and some markings specific to ringette; the objective is to score more goals than the opposing team. Ringette is among a small number of organized team sports created exclusively for women.

Princes Ice Hockey Club were one of the most influential early European ice hockey teams and is sometimes considered the first ice hockey club in Britain.

Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club Universitys ice hockey club

Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, is one of the oldest ice hockey teams in the world.

Oxford University Ice Hockey Club Universitys ice hockey club

The Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC) is home to the Men’s and Women’s Blues ice hockey teams of the University of Oxford, England. The Men's Blues, also known as Oxford University Blues, is one of the world's oldest ice hockey teams. Tradition places the origin of the team in 1885, when a match is said to have been played against Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club in St Moritz, Switzerland. This date is recognised by the Hockey Hall of Fame, and prior to the 1985 Ice Hockey Varsity Match, the International Ice Hockey Federation formally recognised the 1885 game as the first ice hockey match played in Europe. However, there is no contemporary evidence that this match took place, and Oxford now claims that this was a bandy match.

The Ice Hockey Varsity Match is a longstanding competition between the Cambridge and Oxford University Ice Hockey Clubs.

Crystal Palace (Montreal)

The Crystal Palace was an exhibition hall built for the Montreal Industrial Exhibition of 1860, originally located at the foot of Victoria Street between Sainte-Catherine and Cathcart Streets, then relocated to Fletcher's Field. It was used for temporary exhibitions, and in winter, housed an ice skating rink.

Rideau Skating Rink

The Rideau Skating Rink was an indoor skating and curling facility located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Consisting of a curling rink and a skating rink, it was one of the first indoor rinks in Canada. The Rideau Rink was scheduled to open on January 10, 1889, but unseasonably mild weather postponed the grand opening to February 1. It opened on January 25, 1889 for select V.I.P.s although this was a misunderstanding and should not have denied entry to season ticket holders. It was located on Theodore Street, at Waller Street, at the present location of the Arts Hall of the University of Ottawa, near the Rideau Canal.

Major Bethune Minet "Peter" Patton was an ice hockey player and administrator. He is credited with bringing ice hockey to Britain and helping to spread the sport to Europe. He was a founding member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 1908 and was the inaugural president of the British Ice Hockey Association (BIHA) in 1914. He is a member of both the IIHF Hall of Fame and the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.

Ice hockey in the United Kingdom

Ice hockey has been played in the United Kingdom since the beginning of the twentieth century, and it was a game between English Army veterans played in Canada that is the first recorded use of a sawed-off ball, which led to the use of the puck in hockey. The Great Britain men's national ice hockey team enjoyed worldwide success through the 1920s and 1930s, achieving bronze at the 1924 Olympics, and gold twelve years later. They also won medals at the World Championships in 1935, 1937 and 1938, though never won the tournament. The national team has struggled since the Second World War, and has not finished better than twelfth in the World Championships since 1962. Ice hockey is played professionally in the United Kingdom in the Elite Ice Hockey League, an eleven-team league which was founded in 2003.

St. Nicholas Rink Former arena in Manhattan, New York

The St. Nicholas Rink, also called the St. Nicholas Arena, was an indoor ice rink, and later a boxing arena in New York City from 1896 until 1962. The rink was one of the earliest indoor ice rinks made of mechanically frozen ice in North America, enabling a longer season for skating sports. It was demolished in the 1980s.

The Israel Roller Hockey League is the biggest Roller Hockey Clubs Championship in Israel.

Hunter Ice Skating Stadium

The Hunter Ice Skating Stadium is an ice sports and public skate centre, opened in 2000 and located in Warners Bay, a suburb of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium serves as the home ice rink of the Newcastle Northstars who compete in the Australian Ice Hockey League and East Coast Super League.

References

  1. [s.n.] (June 2004). The Establishment of Artificial Ice-rinks. News off the Edge, news bulletin of the Ice Skating Association of Queensland. 39. Archived 17 June 2005.
  2. "Club Heritage". The Oxford Ice Hockey Trust. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015.
  3. Theodore Andrea Cook (1909). The Fourth Olympiad, being the Official Report: The Olympic Games of 1908. The British Olympic Association. p. 39, p. 284. Accessed September 2013.
  4. The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers: Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951. Glasgow University|. Accessed September 2013.
  5. "Clara Mordan". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  6. [Sheila Stowell, A Stage of their own: Feminist playwrights of the suffrage era (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992), p. 53]
  7. Joanna Dunham, 'Browning , Amy Katherine (1881–1978)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 19 November 2017

Further reading

Coordinates: 51°30′04″N0°09′58″W / 51.5010°N 0.1660°W / 51.5010; -0.1660