All England Women's Hockey Association (AEWHA) Collection

DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

The material is presented in the order given below. It covers the period from c1895 to 2003.

Section A, All England Women's Hockey Association (AEWHA), contains material relating to the organisation, activities and day to day management of the governing body for women's hockey in the UK from its formation in 1895 until it was superseded by the English Hockey Association in 1997. It includes minutes of meetings, affiliated club lists, rulebooks, newsletters and associated publicity. It also includes a small amount of material relating to territorial (West and South) women's hockey associations.

Section B, International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA), documents the internationalisation of women's hockey as player nations cooperated to improve and promote the game worldwide. As well as more general administrative papers relating to UK participation in the management of IFWHA, the section also contains material relating to the organisation of a series of triennial IFWHA conferences and tournaments between 1930 and 1983.

Section C, Events, is the largest section in the catalogue, comprising a chronological sequence of programmes, flyers and handbills relating to local, regional, national and international hockey events of all types between 1905 and 1998. The section also contains material relating to the Women's Hockey World Cup between 1974 and 2002.

Section D, Scrapbooks, albums, photographs & negatives, contains a range of material assembled by prominent and well-known hockey players and advocates of the sport. Over sixty scrapbooks and albums covering the period from 1898 to 1961 offer a uniquely personal perspective on the early days of women's hockey in the UK. An extensive collection of photographic prints and negatives, many donated by Pat Ward, editor of Hockey Field, record hockey-related events as well as the changing visual identity of the sport of hockey.

Section E, Hockey Association (HA), comprises material, including minutes of meetings, handbooks and annual reports, relating to the governing body for men's hockey in the UK. Although women's hockey, governed separately by the All England Women's Hockey Association (AEWHA) until 1997, is the primary focus of the Collection, the material in this section forms a useful point of comparison between the sport as played and managed by men and by women.

Section F, Press cuttings, contains several collections of press cuttings relating to both women's and men's hockey dating from 1931 to 2001.

Section G, National Hockey Centre (Milton Keynes), comprises minutes of meetings, correspondence and architectural plans relating to the development and construction of hockey's first national playing headquarters between 1988 and 1998.

Section H, English Hockey Association (EHA), contains correspondence and papers relating to the formation in 1997 of a new association to jointly govern both women's and men's hockey in England. The EHA was dissolved in 2002 and shortly afterwards England Hockey was established as the national governing body of the sport.

BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF WOMEN'S HOCKEY IN THE UK
The earliest origins of hockey are unclear but pictorial evidence from as far back as 2000 BC is often cited to suggest that some form of the game was played by the ancient Egyptians. Whatever the details of its long and complex ancestry, the modern sport of hockey does not appear to have been played widely by women until the 1880s. The first known UK women's hockey club was established in East Molesey, Surrey, in 1887 and from this date the popularity of women's hockey, both in the UK and around the world, grew rapidly. The Ladies' Hockey Association, later the All England Women's Hockey Association (AEWHA), was formed in 1895 by a small group of dedicated amateur players. Over the next century the AEWHA oversaw the expansion, development and governance of hockey in the UK played by women, authorising changes to the rules, organising tournaments and international tours, selecting players for the national team and presiding over a country-wide network of affiliated clubs. The AEWHA was replaced by the English Hockey Association (EHA), established to govern men's and women's hockey jointly, in 1997.

The official records of the AEWHA that form the core of the Collection are complemented by the personal collections of pioneering players and supporters of the sport. Individuals like Gwendoline Parr (1878-1956) who led the Irish team in the early 1900s, Hilda Light (1890-1967) who in 1924 captained at county, territorial and national level before serving as AEWHA president, Marjorie Pollard (1899-1982) the legendary goal-scorer who went on to become a respected sports journalist and author, Mary Russell Vick (1922-2012) who excelled at golf, cricket and tennis as well as hockey and many others. These player collections, in combination with the AEWHA records, offer a well-rounded and unparalleled insight into the beginnings and growth of women's hockey, documenting its transformation from a pass-time for the leisured classes into a competitive, mass participation, Olympic sport.

• SECTION A ALL ENGLAND WOMEN'S HOCKEY ASSOCIATION (AEWHA)
• SECTION B INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S HOCKEY ASSOCIATIONS (IFWHA)
• SECTION C EVENTS
• SECTION D SCRAPBOOKS, ALBUMS, PHOTOGRAPHS & NEGATIVES
• SECTION E HOCKEY ASSOCIATION (HA)
• SECTION F PRESS CUTTINGS
• SECTION G NATIONAL HOCKEY CENTRE (MILTON KEYNES)
• SECTION H ENGLISH HOCKEY ASSOCIATION (EHA)

Not all the material in this collection may yet be available for consultation. Enquiries should be addressed in the first instance to:

The Archivist The Library University of Bath Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY

Email: E.Richmond@bath.ac.uk

Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383464

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are very grateful to England Hockey, Adrian Weston, Ian Wilson, Robin Elliott, Eilish MacBean, Nevill and Barbara Miroy, Cyril Dashwood, Katie Dodd, Mike Smith and The Hockey Museum for their assistance in making this material available.

A catalogue providing full details of the archival (unpublished) material is available in PDF format on the University of Bath Archives and Research Collections website.

Over 200 published works are associated with the archival material. These are catalogued separately on the University of Bath Library Catalogue.

Enquiries should be addressed in the first instance to:

The Archivist The Library University of Bath Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY

Email: E.Richmond@bath.ac.uk

Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383464

PROVENANCE

The main body of the material was received in 2005 on deposit from England Hockey, the governing body for hockey in the UK. At that time the Collection comprised material assembled over several years from various different sources. Smaller supplemental donations of publications and papers have subsequently been made by private individuals. The Collection remains in the ownership of England Hockey.

There are two complementary field hockey collections at University of Bath Archives and Research Collections these are Betty Fairgrieve Hockey Collection and the Edith Thompson Hockey Collection .

The University of Bath Archives and Research Collections works with the support and collaboration of The Hockey Museum (THM) to collect additional material.