Untold: The rich aunt, Wimbledon and the inventor husband

Photo: Supplied

In 1922 Marjorie Bain set sail on the trip of a life-time to the motherland, became the first woman to represent New Zealand at Wimbledon, and spent a magical winter on continental Europe.

But when her year's leave was up she wasn't ready to return to New Zealand, and eloped with an Australian she met on the grass courts.

She was the envy of her friends, but little did they know the hardships she would come to face before she was rescued from poverty, and returned to New Zealand 13 years later.

Unfortunately Tennis NZ archives are sporadic at best and Marjorie's Wimbledon appearance is not widely known but it's what happened to her after the prestigious tournament that really shaped her.

Marjorie's granddaughter Penny O'Connell said details had been pieced together over the years.

Marjorie Helen Bain was born in 1897 and grew up in Christchurch, where her family were of modest means but in the background was a wealthy widowed aunt, who lived in Queensland.

Marjorie flourished at tennis, playing for Christchurch Girls' High, Canterbury University, and at the national lawn championships.

In her twilight years, Marjorie wrote a book for her family, full of her memories, and recounted going to Auckland to see US Davis Cup players compete against New Zealand "and our own Anthony Wilding who was so soon to be killed in France."

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Marjorie wrote about the black influenza that swep