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History: An 1804 Depiction of

The modern game of badminton originated in the mid-19th century among British expatriates in India, evolving from the earlier game of battledore and shuttlecock. The sport gained popularity quickly, with the first official rules established in 1873 and further revisions leading to the formation of the Badminton Association of England in 1893. The All England Open Badminton Championships, the first major competition, was launched in 1899, marking the formal establishment of the sport.

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33 views2 pages

History: An 1804 Depiction of

The modern game of badminton originated in the mid-19th century among British expatriates in India, evolving from the earlier game of battledore and shuttlecock. The sport gained popularity quickly, with the first official rules established in 1873 and further revisions leading to the formation of the Badminton Association of England in 1893. The All England Open Badminton Championships, the first major competition, was launched in 1899, marking the formal establishment of the sport.

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tracanin
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© © All Rights Reserved
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History

An 1804 depiction of battledore and shuttlecock

An 1854 depiction of battledore and shuttlecock by John Leech


Games employing shuttlecocks have been played for centuries across Eurasia,[a] but
the modern game of badminton developed in the mid-19th century among the
expatriate officers of British India as a variant of the earlier game of battledore and
shuttlecock. ("Battledore" was an older term for "racquet".)[4] Its exact origin remains
obscure. The name derives from the Duke of Beaufort's Badminton
House in Gloucestershire,[5] but why or when remains unclear.[citation needed] As early as
1860, a London toy dealer named Isaac Spratt published a booklet
entitled Badminton Battledore – A New Game, but no copy is known to have
survived.[6] An 1863 article in The Cornhill Magazine describes badminton as
"battledore and shuttlecock played with sides, across a string suspended some five
feet from the ground".[7]

The game originally developed in India among the British expatriates,[8] where it was
very popular by the 1870s.[6] Ball badminton, a form of the game played with a wool
ball instead of a shuttlecock, was being played in Thanjavur as early as the
1850s[9] and was at first played interchangeably with badminton by the British, the
woollen ball being preferred in windy or wet weather.

Early on, the game was also known as Poona or Poonah after the garrison town
of Poona (Pune),[8][10] where it was particularly popular and where the first rules for the
game were drawn up in 1873.[6][7][b] By 1875, officers returning home had started a
badminton club in Folkestone. Initially, the sport was played with sides ranging from 1
to 4 players, but it was quickly established that games between two or four
competitors worked the best.[4] The shuttlecocks were coated with India rubber and, in
outdoor play, sometimes weighted with lead.[4] Although the depth of the net was of
no consequence, it was preferred that it should reach the ground.[4]
Charles Gleyre, Odysseus and Nausicaa (with badminton
rackets)
The sport was played under the Pune rules until 1887, when J. H. E. Hart of
the Bath Badminton Club drew up revised regulations.[5] In 1890, Hart and Bagnel
Wild again revised the rules.[6] The Badminton Association of England (BAE)
published these rules in 1893 and officially launched the sport at a house called
"Dunbar"[c] in Portsmouth on 13 September.[12] The BAE started the first badminton
competition, the All England Open Badminton Championships for gentlemen's
doubles, ladies' doubles, and mixed doubles, in 1899.[5] Singles competitions were
added in 1900 and an England–Ireland championship match appeared in 1904.[5]

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