Lady Doris Rhodes was Britain's leading female bridge player until the arrival of Rixi Markus

Rixi Markus

Rixi Markus MBE was an Austrian and British international contract bridge player. She won five world titles, and was the first woman to become a World Grand Master within the World Bridge Federation...

.

Life in bridge

With her husband, Sir John Rhodes, and a Mrs Bosworth, she started a school for contract bridge in 1931; it was called the Lady Rhodes Bridge School, in Tite Street, Chelsea

Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

. Hubert Phillips

Hubert Phillips

Hubert Phillips was an economist, puzzleist, bridge player and organiser, journalist, broadcaster, and an author who wrote some 70 books.- Life :...

 claimed that she and Mrs Bosworth were the first two registered teachers of the Culbertson

Ely Culbertson

Ely Culbertson was an entreprenurial American contract bridge personality dominant during the Thirties and Forties. He played a major role in the early popularization of the game, and was widely regarded as "the man who made contract bridge"...

 system in Britain. Rhodes became Culbertson's chief representative in Britain; Terence Reese

Terence Reese

John Terence Reese was a British bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields...

 mentions that she taught his mother, and gave her a Culbertson Teacher's Certificate.

Her career as an international player started in 1932 with matches against the Dutch and German teams at Grosvenor House Hotel

Grosvenor House Hotel

Grosvenor House is a large and luxurious hotel. The iconic Mayfair, London hotel is owned by the Sahara Group. The name has also been licensed to a property in Dubai....

, and against Denmark in Copenhagen. Also in 1932, she won the BBL Pairs Championship. In 1933 she played in one of the most famous matches in bridge history for 'Pops' Beasley

Henry Beasley

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mountifort Beasley DSO , known as 'Pops', was a British Army officer and a leading contract bridge personality in the early days of the game.-Life:...

's team against the Culbertson

Ely Culbertson

Ely Culbertson was an entreprenurial American contract bridge personality dominant during the Thirties and Forties. He played a major role in the early popularization of the game, and was widely regarded as "the man who made contract bridge"...

 team for the Schwab trophy.

After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Rhodes played five times in the European Women's team championship. She was Rixi Markus

Rixi Markus

Rixi Markus MBE was an Austrian and British international contract bridge player. She won five world titles, and was the first woman to become a World Grand Master within the World Bridge Federation...

' first partner in the British team: Markus described her as "A more than satisfactory partner [and] a good friend." Rhodes and Markus won the European title in 1951 and 1952, and in 1953 toured America in a British women's team. The pair twice defeated an American ladies team on this tour, and also won the prestigious Two Stars event. Rhodes also represented Britain in the women's team at the Olympiad of 1960.