“While serving at Jubbulpore in 1875 Chamberlain developed a new variation of black pool by introducing coloured balls into the game. It was dubbed snooker—a derogatory nickname given to first-year cadets studying at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich that Chamberlain had heard about from a young Royal Artillery subaltern visiting the mess. Chamberlain later retorted to a fellow player who had failed to pot a coloured ball: “Why, you’re a regular snooker”. While explaining the term to his fellow officers Chamberlain, to mollify the officer concerned, remarked that they were all “snookers at the game” and the name snooker or snooker’s pool immediately stuck”.
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Introduction
Born in 1856, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sir Neville Chamberlain couldn’t envisage what an impact he would make on the world of cue sports. Who would have thought that a future British Army Colonel, would devise a game called snooker? A game that surged in popularity over the years and made so many players champions. Devised in a British Army hill station in India in 1875 and named after the nickname for army cadets (snookers), snooker has become a global sport, played in many far flung countries and popular in so many.
Early Life
Chamberlain was born into a military family and was the son of Charles Francis Falcon Chamberlain and his wife Marianne Ormsby Drury. A nephew of Neville Bowes Chamberlain, a distinguished British military officer in India, he was educated at Brentwood School and later went to the famous army training college, Sandhurst.
Military Career
Neville was a natural for military service and quickly worked his way up the ranks. Commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant in the 11th Foot regiment in 1873, he was soon promoted to Lieutenant in 1874. In 1878, he joined the staff of Field Marshal Sir Fredrick Roberts, Commander-in Chief of the British Army during the Second Anglo-Afgan War and fought in Afghanistan. He was slightly wounded in the Battle of Kandahar. He also served with Roberts at Ootacamund between 1881 and 1884.
In 1885, Chamberlain was promoted to the rank of Captain, then to Brevet Major in 1885 and to Brevet Major in November of the same year. In 1890 he became Military Secretary to the Kashmir government. He was promoted to Brevet Colonel in 1894 while his actual rank was still that of Captain. He then became an official Colonel when he was appointed to the staff in Delhi.
Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War, Neville rejoined Lord Roberts in South Africa in 1899 and was highly commended by Roberts, receiving the Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1900.
Royal Irish Constabulary
In 1900 Chamberlain was appointed Inspector-General of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and at the time this was under the British administration in Ireland, based in Dublin Castle. This was the eyes and ears of the UK government and was responsible for intelligence gathering. Neville resigned from the British Army in 1901. Following his resignation, Chamberlain received a shower of awards including the Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Knight of Grace in the Venerable Order of Saint John and the King’s Police Medal.
Neville was one of the first people to warn of a possible uprising by the volunteers, fighting for Irish independence. However his prediction was ignored. A fatal move because subsequent to this, the bloody Easter Rising happened on Easter Monday, 1916, lasting six days and the destruction of most of O’Connell Street by artillery fire. Chamberlain was forced to resign as a result, following a backlash of criticism over intelligence handling.
Later Life and Snooker
After his retirement, Sir Neville Chamberlain lived in Ascot and during this period he wrote a letter to The Field, a letter that was published. In it, he claimed that he claimed to have invented snooker at the officer’s mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in Jubbulpore, India in 1875. His claim was supported by the author Compton Mackenzie in a a letter to the Billiard Player in 1939 and has been accepted ever since. Chamberlain passed away on the the 28th May 1944, aged 88.
