Melbourne Inman

Melbourne Sydney Inman ( born July 15, 1878 in Brentford, † August 11 1951 in Farnborough ) was an English billiards and snooker player.

Family

He was born as the son of Robert Withy Inman (1844-1919) and Annie Cross ( 1852-1938 ). On 19 May 1905 he married Florence Ambler ( 1885-1971 ). With her he had a son, Sydney Melbourne Inman, Jr. (1909-1947), who died before him.

Inman grew up in a family pool. His father, two uncles and three brothers were already billiard players.

Career

His father ran in the London "The Twickenharn Club". There Inman began at the age of 14 years with the billiard games. Already in 1908 he won his first title at the Professional Championship. This title he won again in 1909, 1912-14 and 1919.

It was known his rivalry with Tom Reese, a high-class, but inconsistent players. Because Inman's defensive and tactical game, it never succeeded Reese to beat him.

At that time it was customary to also participate in other billiards variants. So he could beat the 1914 American Karambolagespieler Willie Hoppe 602:304.

In 1927 he took part in the first World Snooker Championship. In the first round he was able to win 8-5 against Tom Newman, but lost in the quarterfinals Tom Carpenter with 3:8.