There are not many milestones left for Serena Williams to pass but when the American returns to The Championships next summer she will have the chance to break one of the oldest records in All England Club history.

By beating Angelique Kerber in the 2016 final, Williams equalled Blanche Bingley-Hillyard’s record for the longest span between Wimbledon titles. Bingley-Hillyard won the first of her six titles in 1886 and her last in 1900, a 14-year gap. Williams won her first All England Club title in 2002, when she beat her sister Venus in the final.

Bingley-Hillyard, who died 70 years ago this week, is one of the all-time greats of the sport. In the 139-year history of The Championships only five players have won more Ladies’ Singles titles: Martina Navratilova (nine), Helen Wills-Moody (eight), Steffi Graf (seven), Dorothea Lambert-Chambers (seven) and Williams (seven). Bingley-Hillyard is joined on six titles by Suzanne Lenglen and Billie Jean King.

During the early years of The Championships no player was as consistently successful over such a long period. Bingley-Hillyard played in the very first Ladies’ Singles event in 1884, when she lost to the eventual champion, Maud Watson, in the semi-finals, and appeared for the last time in 1913. At the age of 48 she was still good enough to reach the last four, beating 20-year-old Elizabeth Ryan, who went on to win 19 doubles titles at The Championships, in three sets in the quarter-finals in 1912.

Blanche Bingley was born in Greenford, Middlesex in 1863. Her father was a highly successful tailor and she grew up in a household which reportedly included eight servants, including a footman and a cook. She was a member of the Ealing Lawn Tennis and Archery Club.

Bingley had a powerful and accurate forehand, which compensated for her appreciably weaker backhand. Patricia Campbell Warner, writing in her book “When The Girls Came Out To Play”, reported that Bingley wore gloves in order to get a better grip on her racket and had such a vigorous follow-though on her forehand that her left shoulder was often a mass of bruises.  She was also quick around the court and had an excellent temperament.

At the age of 20 she was one of 13 entries for the very first Ladies’ Singles competition at The Championships in 1884. Twelve months later she reached the final for the first time, Watson again getting the better of her. With her game improving all the time, she finally beat Watson 6-3, 6-3 in the 1886 Challenge Round; the Challenge Round was the only match the defending champion had to play, against the winner of the All-Comers’ Final. 

When Bingley returned to defend her title in the Challenge Round in 1887 she confronted Lottie Dod, who was to become her greatest rival. At the age of just 15 years and 10 months, Dod won 6-2, 6-0 to claim the first of her five All England Club titles. One week after the final Bingley married Commander George Hillyard, another whole-hearted if less successful tennis player who went on to become Secretary of the All England Club between 1907 and 1925.

Dod beat Bingley-Hillyard in a total of five Wimbledon finals, in 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892 and 1893. The last of their meetings was the closest Bingley-Hillyard ever came to beating her at the All England Club, Dod eventually winning 6-8, 6-1, 6-4. It was Dod’s last appearance at The Championships; thereafter she turned to other sports and became a hockey international, a British golf champion and an accomplished archer and skater.

Bingley-Hillyard won five more singles titles at The Championships, in 1889, 1894, 1897, 1899 and 1900. The 1889 final was one of her finest triumphs and demonstrated her great resilience. Lena Rice, who one year later would become the only Irishwoman to win the Ladies’ Singles at The Championships, had three match points when she served at 5-3 in the second set but Bingley-Hillyard went on to win 4-6, 8-6, 6-4.

In 1894, when Dod did not return to defend her title in the Challenge Round, Bingley-Hillyard triumphed for the loss of only five games, beating Edith Austin 6-1, 6-1 in the All-Comers’ Final. In the Challenge Rounds of 1897, 1899 and 1900 Bingley-Hillyard beat Charlotte Cooper on each occasion, though she was twice taken to three sets.

Cooper finally earned her revenge in the 1901 Challenge Round, winning 6-2, 6-2 in 37-year-old Bingley-Hillyard’s last appearance in a final at the All England Club. In the 17 editions of The Championships between 1885 and 1901, the only times when Bingley-Hillyard did not reach the All-Comers’ Final or play in the Challenge Round were in the years when she did not enter the tournament.

Her record of 13 appearances in Ladies’ Singles finals has never been broken. Navratilova, who is the only other lady to have won the singles title in three different decades, played in 12, while Williams has appeared in nine so far.

However, Bingley-Hillyard’s career was by no means over as she continued to compete at The Championships until 1913, when she lost 6-4, 2-6, 0-6 to Edith Hannam in the second round. Bingley-Hillyard’s longevity was even more emphatic at the South of England Championships at Eastbourne, where she won the singles title 11 times between 1885 and 1905. She also won three Irish championships and two German titles. 

Blanche and George Hillyard had a son and a daughter. Having given birth to Jack in 1891, Blanche became the first mother to win the Ladies’ Singles title three years later. Their daughter, Marjorie, was born in 1896, after which Blanche won the title three more times.

The family’s estate in Leicestershire included a tennis court and a private golf course. Their house parties, attended by many of the great champions of the day, became highlights of the social season.

Bingley-Hillyard died at her home in Pulborough, Sussex on 6 August 1946 at the age of 82, three years after the death of her husband.