Camkin cue from brum

[cocked hat]

I'm interested to find out if anyone knows anything about this firm of cue makers as I've never heard of them.

As can be seen from the pics the firm is/was based at Birmingham when this was made,it is at least sixty years old.

Despite the fact that this cue has a factory splice it feels very nice in quality and plays very well,I suspect that this was quite expensive when first sold.

Any information would be appreciated,the owner isn't interested in selling,

cheers

[ADR147]

i have owned a fair few camkin cues, some very very nice handspliced cues. from memory: his name was bill camkin he lived in birmingham and promoted billiards exhibitions in the 1920's he was heavily involved in the snooker/billiards world in the midlands at that time and his club held the first ever world snooker championship he was friendly with joe davis and the two of them basically came up with the idea. the cues were made elsewhere i believe and not by him although he also supplied tables etc.

[cocked hat]

Hi ADR,
Thanks for that,you are certainly knowledgeable on your subject.My mate will be interested to hear what you say.

[100-uper]

Camkin was something of a billiards and snooker entrepreneur being a match promoter, player manager, as well as running a number of billiard halls and a manufacturing facility in the Birmingham area. He was active in these areas from the early twenties until his death in 1959.

As far as I can tell the manufacturing side started seriously in 1925 when he formed W. Camkin Ltd. This quickly became a subsidiary of Orme & Sons with Camkin remaining as Managing Director. However, in 1928 Orme's themselves formed a partnership with Wright & Co. and within a year Camkin had resigned his position with the company which carried his name and established Birmingham Billiards Ltd. This company endured at least into the 1960s although I have no exact date for its eventual closure.

Perhaps his greatest claim to fame was as promoter of the first "world" professional snooker championship in 1926, the semi-finals and final of which were staged at his Rooms in John Bright Street, Birmingham. It seems that snooker matches were more popular than billiards in the Birmingham area as he wrote of one of these promotions: "I know there are real billiard enthusiasts in Birmingham, but I should be chary of promoting matches here for profit. What is required is a hall to hold thousands, admission about 6d; and cigarettes and drinks provided. I am sure we should get a full house."

Another of his great achievements as a promoter was to pull off a major coup by signing up Walter Lindrum for a tour of England and the USA in the 1930-31 season. I believe that the family were recently selling off some valuable memorabilia from this period.

Like any good entrepreneur he was not afraid to try new innovations, and in a match between Lindrum and Davis in 1937 introduced a snooker rule which permitted a coloured ball to be potted as many times as its value in points (yellow 2, etc.)

[cocked hat]

Great information,many thanks 100-uper.