| No. 5, March, 1911 | Price 1/6 per annum to any part of the world. Single Copies 1d |
The Billiard Monthly Portrait Gallery
V - MAJOR WILLIAM BROADFOOT
The average spectator of a public billiards match is very apt to forget some of the more important of the many forces which govern the game that he watches. To him, the two players are naturally the main thing. He accepts the referee, marker, and spot boy as being indispensable, but apart from an occasional interrogative remark regarding the rules, he goes no farther. Yet, as the initiated know full well, the body of men who have in their hands the organization and legislative control of the game are every whit as important to billiards as, say, the stage manager and his assistants are to the theatre. No game has suffered more from associations which were not always reputable, and from the absence of enlightened control by a council representative of all its best interests.
These drawbacks, however, have been outlived, and if billiards stands upon a higher pedestal to-day than ever before, some credit is distinctly due to the subject of our portrait this month—Major William Broadfoot. Though for many years his interest in the game had to be subordinated to the work of his profession, on retirement from the Service in 1881 he devoted much time and labour, first, to the improvement of his play and the acquisition of knowledge of the game, and, second, to the simplification of its rules.
The advancement of billiards, both as a profession and a pastime, has always been the desire of the subject of our sketch.
As a constructive billiards politician—if the term may be used—Major Broadfoot has rendered useful service, and a standing monument of his influence in this direction may be seen in the rules of the game published under the authority of the Billiards Control Club. They were based on the code which, with the assistance of Messrs. Rimington- Wilson, Dudley Pontifex, A. H. Boyd, and many other distinguished amateurs, he had prepared, and no greater tribute could be paid to his success than to say his work was stamped with the approval of the Council, which is composed of all-round sportsmen of the very highest standing.
"Who's Who" tells us that Major Broadfoot was born in 1841, and was educated privately and at Addiscombe College. Was appointed a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1860, promoted to Captain in 1874, and to Major on his retirement in 1881. He served with the Hazara Field Force (Black Mountain) in 1868, received the medal and clasp; served in civil capacity in Irrigation Department of Punjab 1864-1868; Assistant Secretary to Punjab Government 1868-1878. Since his retirement in 1881, the Major has been engaged in literary work, contributing articles on scientific geography, the study of small arms, ammunition and bullet wounds, municipal management and public health. Was a Councillor of the Borough of Paddington in 1902 for three years, and is a referee of the Royal Geographical Society on Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and India.
Major Broadfoot wrote "Billiards" for the Badminton Library in 1896, and revised it ten years later—a treatise which is accepted everywhere as a standard work on the game.