The club was closed during 1915 due to the number of members away on war service. However, it could still be used by members if they made the courts ready for play themselves. Robert Paisley was president and Rev John Seaton was secretary and treasurer.

There was no official world champion at the time but one of the best players was Anthony Wilding, a New Zealander living in the UK. He won all three top tournaments in 1913: the Hard Court Championship in Paris, the Grass Court Championship at Wimbledon and the Covered Court Championship, played in Stockholm that year (it moved around Europe).

Wilding joined 2nd Royal Naval Armoured Car Division, commanded by Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, which used fortified Rolls Royces. He was killed by a shell on 9th May 1915 at the Battle of Aubers Ridge, leaving his fiancee Maxine Elliott, actress and theatre owner, grief-stricken for life. He last saw her on her barge in Belgium in which she distributed aid to around 350,000 Belgians.