The 1935 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament held at Thurston's Hall in London, England from 8 to 27 April 1935. It was the first edition of the Championship to incorporate "world" in its name, being called the World's Professional Snooker Championship. Joe Davis won the title for the ninth time by defeating Willie Smith by 28 to 21 in the final, having achieved a winning margin at 25–20. Davis recorded the first century break in the history of the championship, a 110 in his semi-final match against Tom Newman.
There were five entrants, including Conrad Stanbury, who became the first ever Canadian to enter the championship. For the 1934 championship, only Davis and Newman had entered. Stanbury was drawn to play Smith, with the winner meeting Alec Mann in one semi-final, and Davis was drawn to play Newman in the other semi-final. All the matches in the 1935 tournament took place at Thurston's Hall, whereas in previous years players had been required to arrange venues for some matches themselves.
From July to November 1934, Davis had been in Australia, and from 29 October to 6 November he played an 81-frame match against Horace Lindrum which was reported as being the unofficial world championship. Davis won comfortably against Lindrum, taking a winning 41–22 lead. The match ended 46–29.
Background
The World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. The sport was developed in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India. Professional English billiards player and billiard hall manager Joe Davis noticed the increasing popularity of snooker compared to billiards in the 1920s, and with Birmingham-based billiards equipment manager Bill Camkin, persuaded the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC) to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season. In 1927, the final of the first professional snooker championship was held at Camkin's Hall; Davis won the tournament by beating Tom Dennis in the final. The annual competition was not titled the World Championship until the 1935 tournament, but the 1927 tournament is now referred to as the first World Snooker Championship. Davis had also won the title every year from 1928 to 1934.
Unofficial World Championship
In late June and early July 1934, Joe Davis had travelled to Australia to play in the World Billiards Championship. Davis left Tilbury on 26 June and started his tour playing Clark McConachy in an exhibition billiards match in Sydney starting on 9 July. Davis received a bye to the final of the Billiards Championship and played Walter Lindrum, the defending Champion, in Melbourne, from 14 to 27 October. Walter Lindrum won a close match 23,553–22,678.
Davis had been due to leave Australia on 30 October but accepted an offer of a snooker match against Horace Lindrum, delaying his departure until 7 November. An 81- snooker match was arranged to be played at the Tivoli Billiard Theatre, Bourke Street, Melbourne from 29 October to 6 November with two of five frames played each day. Davis insisted on using the same table that had been used for the World Billiards Championship final. The match was reported in both The Age and The Glasgow Herald as being the unofficial world championship.
Lindrum won the first two frames of the match, but Davis led 6–4 at the end of the first day. Davis made a of 56 in the fifth frame. Davis extended his lead to 12–8 on the second day and then won eight frames on the third day to lead 20–10. Davis made breaks of 56 and 54 on the third day. Davis extended his lead to 27–13 on the fourth day but Lindrum won 6 frames on the fifth day to leave Davis 31–19 ahead. On the Saturday, the sixth day, Davis won 8 frames to lead 39–21, including a 50 break. Davis won frames 1 and 3 on the Monday afternoon to take a winning 41–22 lead. With the result decided the match became more open and Lindrum had breaks of 54 and 80, the highest of the match. The final Tuesday afternoon session was abandoned, because it clashed with the Melbourne Cup. After a final evening session of 5 frames Davis finished 46–29 ahead.