Arthur O'Hara Wood
Full nameArthur Holroyd O'Hara Wood
Country (sports) Australia
Born10 January 1890[1]
Melbourne, Australia
Died6 October 1918(1918-10-06) (aged 28)
Saint-Quentin, France
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenW (1914)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenF (1914)

Major Arthur Holroyd O'Hara Wood (10 January 1890 – 6 October 1918) was an Australian male tennis player and Royal Air Force pilot who was killed during the First World War.

O'Hara Wood was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and attended Trinity College, Melbourne University in 1908.[2]

O'Hara Wood won the men's singles tennis championship of NSW in 1913 and of Victoria in 1914.[3] In 1914 he reached the final of the Australasian Championships, played in Melbourne, where he faced his compatriot Gerald Patterson.[4] O'Hara Wood used a variety of pace and spins to beat Patterson in four sets.[5] Arthur's brother Pat O'Hara Wood was also a tennis player and won the Australasian Championships in 1920 and 1923.

In 1915, after the outbreak of the First World War, O'Hara Wood joined the Royal Flying Corps. He saw service in France and did instructional work in England in 1916. He was temporarily transferred to the Australian Flying Corps in France, then on 17 July 1918, when he celebrated his third anniversary at the war, he was appointed to an important post at flying school in England.[6]

In 1918, Major O'Hara Wood was in command of 46 Squadron[7] when during a patrol over Saint-Quentin on 4 October 1918, another aircraft flew into his. He died on 6 October 1918, at the 37th Casualty Clearing Station from multiple injuries.[3] He is buried at the Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery in Bray-sur-Somme.[8]

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 title)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Win1914Australasian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Gerald Patterson6–4, 6–3, 5–7, 6–1

Doubles (1 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss1914Australasian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Rodney HeathAustralia Ashley Campbell
Australia Gerald Patterson		5–7, 6–3, 3–6, 3–6

References

  1. ↑ Arthur Holroyd O'Hara Wood in Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificates, 1910–1950
  2. ↑ James Grant, Perspectives of a Century (Melbourne: Trinity College, 1972), pp. 147–49.
  3. 1 2 "Roll of Honour 1914 –1918". Melbourne Cricket Club. pp. 17, 18. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Collins, Bud (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis (2nd ed.). [New York]: New Chapter Press. p. 357. ISBN 978-0942257700.
  5. ↑ "Arthur O'Hara Wood". Grand Slam Tennis Archive.
  6. ↑ "Arthur O'Hara Wood's GS Performance Timeline & Stats". Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  7. ↑ O'Connor, Mike (2001). Airfields & Airmen of the Somme. Pen & Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 9780850528640.
  8. ↑ "O'Hara Wood, Arthur Holroyd". The War Graves Photographic Project. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
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