Agnes Davies


Agnes Davies was a Welsh snooker and billiards player. She was known for having a competitive playing career spanning 64 years, during which she won the Women's Professional Snooker Championship in 1949, and was runner-up in 1940, 1948, 1950, and 1980.

Biography

Davies learned how to play billiards in her father's billiard hall in Saron, which he had set up using his compensation payment for pneumoconiosis caused by working as a coal miner. She first won the Welsh women's amateur championship in 1939, and won the following two years as well.
Davies, then still known as Agnes Morris, was runner up in the 1940 Women's Professional Snooker championship and the winner in 1949. She was married to Dick Davies in 1940, and took a break of some 30 years from competitive snooker. Returning to competition in the late 1970s, she won three tournaments before reaching another World [Women's Snooker Championship|world championship] final in 1980. In 1985 Davies was Voted Life President of the World Ladies' Billiards and Snooker Association.
In 1998 she qualified for the Ladies Welsh Open at Newport, Wales at the age of 77 – sixty years after winning as a 17-year-old and was ranked 46 in the Embassy Ladies World Rankings for 1997/98.
Until 1999, Davies played in the home international series for Wales. She also played in the Amman Valley league until 2001.
Davies died in 2011.

Legacy

In 2012, Women's World Snooker held the Agnes Davies Memorial tournament, which was won by Jaique Ip.
In June 2025 a Purple Plaque in Davies' memory was unveiled at Saron's Hall in Saron. The plaque, organised by Purple Plaques, was intended to highlight remarkable women in Wales.

Titles and achievements

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponentScoreRef.
Winner11937Welsh Ladies' Snooker Champion
Winner21938Welsh Ladies' Snooker Champion
Winner31939Welsh Ladies' Snooker Champion
Winner41939Welsh Ladies' Billiards Champion
Winner51939Women's Amateur Snooker Championship
Runner-up61940Women's Professional Snooker ChampionshipRuth Harrison2–11
Runner-up71948Women's Professional Snooker ChampionshipRuth Harrison14–16
Winner81949Women's Professional Snooker ChampionshipThelma Carpenter16–15
Runner-up91950Women's Professional Snooker ChampionshipThelma Carpenter10–20
Winner101977Pontins Ladies' Bowl ChampionSue Foster3–1
Winner111978Women's Amateur Snooker Championship
Runner-up121979Pontins Ladies' Bowl ChampionMaureen Baynton0–3
Runner-up1319801980 Women's [World Open (snooker)|Guinness World Women's Snooker Championship]Lesley McIlrath2–4
Winner141982Pontins Ladies' Bowl ChampionSue Foster3–0
Runner-up151999Ladies Regal Scottish Masters seniors' finalMary Hawkes0–2
Runner-up162003Ladies Regal Welsh Championship seniors' finalMaureen Twomey1–2