Origins of the Sport of Badminton
a: First letters about Badminton in The Field
The first known references to the Game of Badminton are to be found in the 'Country Gentleman's Magazine'.
The Field May 31 1873.
Among pages of ‘sporting’ articles they had a regular column headed “Country House Notes & Queries”, and it was in this obscure place that the actual game of Badminton is first mentioned. A somewhat plaintive query, that goes:
THE BADMINTON GAME OF BATTLEDORE. - I hear that this game is a favourite one in India at the present time. Can any of your readers give me particulars as to the manner in which it is played, what implements are required, etc.? - K
The inquirer was obviously not asking about the ancient game of Battledore and Shuttlecock which had been played for centuries, but about a new development carrying the name of Badminton. He got his reply in the following week’s issue - The Field June 7 1873 - in the same column:
THE BADMINTON GAME OF BATTLEDORE. - In answer to K, I beg to state that Badminton, as I have seen it played, is very little more than ordinary battledore and shuttlecock, with four players. All that is required is to make as it were two “courts”, by stretching a piece of string across the middle of the room in which you intend playing, about four feet or more from the floor. The players then enter their respective courts, and the game goes on just like tennis or racquets. The game is fifteen, and of course the shuttlecock must always be hit over the string, and never allowed to touch the floor, or you are put out. K. will find it a good plan to hang some sheets of paper from the string, as that will prevent any disputes as to whether the shuttlecock was returned over or under the string or line; or a net may be used for the same purpose. In fact, the game consists in one side so striking the shuttlecock over the “line” into their adversaries’ “court” that they are unable to return it. - J.H.F.W.
This is a description of a game remarkably similar to today’s Badminton. J.H.F.W. clearly points out the vital difference between the new game, in which the sides are “adversaries”, and the old game of battledore and shuttlecock where the players were partners cooperating to keep the rally going.
The reference is to Royal Tennis, not lawn tennis which was not yet generally being played.
Another significant point is that he visualises the game being played indoors, in a ‘room’.
How did the correspondence go on from there?
The Badminton Game of Battledore 1873