English Women's Amateur Championship

The event was initially organised by the National County Golf Alliance, an organisation formed in 1911, separate from the Ladies Golf Union, with the intention of running county and national events. The first English Ladies Championship was held at Prince's Golf Club, Sandwich in April 1912. 32 players qualified for the match-play stage, after an 18-hole stroke-play round.^[1] The final was over 18 holes and was won by Margaret Gardner who beat Beryl Cautley at the 20th hole. Gardner had been 5 up with 5 holes to play, but lost them all and the match went to extra holes.^[2] The second event was held in April 1913 at Notts Golf Club and was won by Winifred Brown by one hole, the final being extended to 36 holes.^[3]

In 1914, the Ladies Golf Union wanted to organise their own English Ladies Championship and a dispute arose with the National County Golf Alliance, leading to possibility of there being two competing events. However, the Alliance was disbanded in early 1914 and the Ladies Golf Union organised the event at Walton Heath Golf Club in June.^[4] The event continued to be restricted to English golfers, using the same format as in 1913.^[5] Cecil Leitch beat Gladys Bastin 2&1 in the final.^[6]

The Ladies Golf Union continued to run the event until the English Women's Golf Association was founded in 1952. The English Women's Golf Association merged with the English Golf Union in 2011. The English Golf Union was later renamed England Golf.

From 2012 to 2018 the event was run as a 72-hole stroke-play event. It returned to match-play in 2019 with an 18-hole final. Since 2020 the event has been played concurrently with the men's event. From 2020 the final has been played over 36 holes, although the 2023 final was reduced to 18 holes by bad weather.

Source:^[89]