15 Facts About Frank Stoker

Francis Owen Stoker was an Irish tennis and rugby union player.

Frank Stoker was a member of the pair that won the Wimbledon doubles title in 1890 and 1893 and is the only rugby international to have been a Wimbledon champion.

Frank Stoker was born at Dublin on 29 May 1867, the youngest of the five sons of Edward Alexander Stoker, FRCSI, and his wife Henrietta, nee Wisdom, of Rutland Square in that city.

The father, himself the son of Dr William Frank Stoker, was "one of the most distinguished of Irish anatomists" and, apparently on account of his prowess in the hunting field, acclaimed "a fine sportsman".

Frank Stoker was a member of the Second XV of Dublin's Wanderers FC from 1883 onward.

Frank Stoker played for Irish Schools at their annual meeting with English Schools in 1885, and for Dublin United Hospitals in the following year when a student at Jervis Street Hospital.

Frank Stoker was in Wanderers' First XV by the beginning of 1886, was second in the club's drop-kick contest shortly afterwards, and was elected its captain for the following season.

Frank Stoker played in the Irish international team that met Scotland in 1886 and again in 1888.

Frank Stoker was named as a reserve for his country's match against England in 1887, played for Ireland against both Wales and the New Zealand touring side in 1888, and appeared once more against Scotland in 1889.

Frank Stoker subsequently found a new doubles partner in Joshua Pim, a fellow member of Dublin's Lansdowne Club, and the pair began to compete in the annual Irish Championships at Fitzwilliam Square.

In 1894, shortly before their victory in the Northern Championships, Frank Stoker was admitted a Licentiate in Dental Surgery by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Frank Stoker was a winner of the County Dublin Championships and the Fitzwilliam Purse, was runner-up in many singles tournaments, and during the whole of 1892 was the only player to win a match against the reigning Wimbledon champion, Wilfred Baddeley.

Frank Stoker was licensed to practice medicine and surgery by the Irish Royal College in August 1892 but, wishing to specialise in dentistry, obtained a place at the recently established Dental School of Guy's Hospital in 1893.

Frank Stoker took up golf, playing at and for the Portmarnock and Royal Dublin clubs and competed, unsuccessfully, in the Irish Amateur Open Championship in 1907.

Frank Stoker died at St Vincent's University Hospital, St Stephen's Green, Dublin, on 8 January 1939, aged 71.