English Amateur Championship
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| Established | 1916 |
| Organisation(s) | English Association of Snooker & Billiards |
| Format | Amateur event |
| Recent edition | 2016 |
| Current champion(s) |
 Jamie Bodle |
The English Amateur Championship is an annual snooker competition played in England and is the highest ranking and most prestigious amateur event in England. It is the oldest and longest-lasting snooker tournament in the world having been established back in 1916, 11 years before the World Snooker Championship.
Five winners of the tournament later went on to become world champions including John Pulman, Ray Reardon, John Spencer, Terry Griffiths and Stuart Bingham. A further three losing finalists, Joe Johnson, John Parrott and Ronnie O'Sullivan, would all also go on to become future World Champions.
The first Championship was held at Orme's Rooms, Soho Square, London starting on Monday 28 August and finishing on Tuesday 6 September, with no play at the weekend. The event was promoted by the Billiard Association in aid of the Sportsman's Motor Ambulance Fund. Matches consisted of three frames with all frames played out. The winner was based on the aggregate points over the three frames. The winner of a frame received an additional 12½ points. 21 players entered. Except on the last day, there were three matches per day, two in the afternoon and one in the evening. The first semi-final was on the evening of 5 September and resulted in a win for H. Sefton. Sefton won convincingly and his opponent conceded after two frames. In the second semi-final, played the following afternoon, Charles Jaques also won easily, again playing only two frames after his opponent conceded. In the final Jacques won two of the three frames and won by a score of 202 to 140½. The highest break reported during the championship was a 30 clearance. Despite the fact that the event was raising money for a war-time cause, a few of the competitors chose to play under an alias, including the winner, who played as "E A Jay".
The second Championship was again held at Orme's Rooms in Soho Square. It was held from Monday 19 February to Wednesday 28 February, with no play at the weekend. The event took the form of a "challenge" event with the winner of the qualifying event challenging the reigning champion, (Charles Jaques). As in 1916 the winner was based on the aggregate points. Early matches were over three frames. However, unlike the previous year, there was no bonus for winning a frame. 20 players entered. The final of the challengers' competition was played over five frames on 27 February between "T N Palmer" and F Donohue. "Palmer" won 280 to 211, winning four of the five frames. "T N Palmer" was an alias used by Harry Hutchings Lukens (1883-1941), an American businessman who worked for DuPont. Lukens had also played in the 1916 event, losing in the quarter-finals. The final was played over seven frames, with four frames in the afternoon and three in the evening. Jaques won five of the seven frames, winning by a score of 330 to 296, despite Lukens winning the last frame 60 to 29. The highest break reported was where "Cooke once took all the pool balls in a break of 27." There was sufficient interest that a photograph of Jacques appeared in the "Daily Mirror".
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