Maureen Baynton (born Maureen Barrett in 1937) is an English former snooker and billiards player. She held the record for winning most Women's Amateur Snooker Championships after winning eight times between 1954 and 1968, and also won seven Women's Amateur Billiards championships between 1955 and 1980. She was runner-up in the 1983 World Women's Snooker Championship.
Biography Baynton began to play snooker and billiards at Peckham Health Centre, teaching herself, from the age of 11. Three years after taking up the games, she was the girls champion at both snooker and billiards.
After a highly successful playing career in which she won a record eight Women's Amateur Snooker Championships between 1954 and 1968, and seven Women's Amateur Billiards championships between 1955 and 1980, she retired from competition for several years. When the World Women's Snooker Championship was staged in 1976, Baynton entered, reaching the semi-final, where she lost to Muriel Hazeldene. In the 1983 tournament she went one stage further, reaching the final, where she lost 5–8 to Sue Foster.
Throughout her career, she used the cue that she received, aged 10, for winning the Schoolgirls Championship in 1947. It is now on display at the Billiards and Snooker Heritage Collection in Liverpool.
Titles and achievements
Snooker Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent Score Ref. Winner 1 1954 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship Winner 2 1955 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship Winner 3 1956 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship Winner 4 1961 Women's Amateur Snooker Champion Thea March 4–0 Winner 5 1962 Women's Amateur Snooker Champion Rita Holmes 4–1 Winner 6 1964 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship Winner 7 1966 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship Winner 8 1968 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship Runner-up 9 1983 Women's World Snooker Championships Sue Foster 5–8
Billiards
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent Score Ref.Runner-up 1 1954 World Women’s Billiards Championship Helen Futo 430–448 Winner 2 1955 World Women’s Billiards Championship E Morland-Smith 451–401 Winner 3 1956 World Women’s Billiards Championship Winner 4 1957 World Women’s Billiards Championship E Morland-Smith 553–334 Winner 5 1964 World Women’s Billiards Championship Rae Craven 649–336 Winner 6 1966 World Women’s Billiards Championship Vera Youle 514–319 Winner 7 1968 World Women’s Billiards Championship Rae Craven 434–265 Runner-up 8 1978 World Women’s Billiards Championship Vera Selby 319–366 Winner 9 1979 World Women’s Billiards Championship Vera Selby
References