Howard Walton

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Howard Francis Walton (23 July 1916 – 14 December 1989) was a British tennis player who competed mainly in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He also represented England at the World Table Tennis Championships.

Born in Birmingham as the youngest of six children to Percival Walton and Florence Bargery, Walton developed a distinctive cramped playing style from practicing in cramped attics in Manchester, where his father turned two attics into a court and there was little room for forehands.

He began tournament tennis while serving in the RAF, winning the Warwickshire county title four times and appearing regularly at Wimbledon after the war. By his last Wimbledon appearance in 1963 he and Geoffrey Paish were the only English players who had not missed a main draw during that era.

In 1948 he was called up to the Great Britain Davis Cup team for a tie against India in Harrogate. He played two singles rubbers but lost both, while Britain won the tie and advanced to face Norway, though Walton was later replaced by Headley Baxter.

Walton married Betty Green in 1964.

Grand Slam results: French Open 2nd round in 1950; Wimbledon 2nd round in 1947, 1948, 1951 and 1952.