The BACC introduced qualifying for the first time. If necessary, they would select players from the entrants to play in the qualifying event, the winner to advance to the competition proper. With nine entries, Bill Withers and Fred Davis were chosen to play a qualifying match, the winner to join the main event. The Championship proper was played at Thurston's Hall over a four-week period from 22 February and 20 March. The first match of the competition proper was between Horace Lindrum and Sydney Lee. Lindrum took an 8–2 on the first day which was extended to 15–5 after two days, just one frame from victory. Lindrum won the first frame on the final day to win the match 16–5. The final score was 20–11. The second match of the first week was between Willie Smith and Tom Newman. This was a closer contest with the score level at 5–5 after the opening day and Newman taking an 11–9 lead after the second day. On the final day Newman led 14–13 but Smith won the next two frames to lead 15–14. Newman made a 57 break in the next frame to level the match but Willie Smith won the last frame 85–23 to win the match. Sidney Smith met Alec Brown in the first match of the second week. The score was level at 5–5 after the opening day but Smith won eight frames on the second day to lead 13–7. Brown won three of the afternoon frames on the final day but still needed to win all six frames in the evening to win the match. Brown won the first evening frame but Sidney Smith won the second by 87–29 to win the match 16–11. The final score was 18–13. Joe Davis met Bill Withers in the last quarter-final. Davis won the first two frames before Withers made a 47 break in the third. Withers led by 36 with just the colours left but, with 16 points in penalties, Davis managed to level the score with just the black left. Withers, however, doubled the black to win the frame. This was to be Withers last frame as Davis won the next 14 to win the match 16–1. Davis then won the remaining 14 "dead" frames to win 30–1, having won 28 frames in succession. Davis made breaks of 97 and 99 on the final afternoon. The five official afternoon frames having been completed quickly, the players played an exhibition frame during which Davis made a new record break of 135 beating the 133 scored by Sidney Smith during the 1936 Daily Mail Gold Cup earlier in the season. Davis's break was a total clearance during which he took the 15 reds, 8 blacks, 4 pinks, a blue, 2 browns and then all the colours. Lindrum and Willie Smith met in the first semi-final. Lindrum led 6–4 after the first day, extending this lead to 14–6 after two days, Although Smith won the first two frames on the final day, Lindrum won the next to lead 15–8. In the next frame, Smith led 57–9 but Lindrum made a 50 clearance to win the frame 59–57 and the match 16–8. Lindrum finished the match 20–11 ahead. In the second semi-final Joe Davis led 6–4 against Sidney Smith after the first day but Smith had the best of the second day to level the match at 10–10. Davis took a narrow lead after the final afternoon session, taking the last frame to lead 13–12. In the evening Davis won the first three frames to win the match 16–12, the final score being 18–13. The final between Joe Davis and Lindrum was a repeat of the 1936 final. The first day was level at 5–5 but Lindrum led 11–9 and extended this to 17–13 at the half-way stage. The fourth day started with a break of 103 by Davis in frame 31. Davis fouled on his first visit to the table and, after a break of 29 by Lindrum, Davis cleared the table on his second visit. Davis reduced the deficit to 21–19 on the fourth day and then won eight frames on the fifth day to lead 27–23. After the final afternoon session Davis still led 29–26, with Lindrum needing to win five of the six evening frames. Lindrum won the first two but Davis won the next two to win the match 31–28. The last two frames were shared to give a final result of 32–29.
Main draw
Sources:
Final
Qualifying
Withers and Fred Davis played at Thurston's Hall from 7–9 January. Joe Davis was playing Tom Newman in a 71-frame handicap match on the same days which meant that the Withers/Fred Davis match was played earlier in the day than usual with two sessions at 11:30am and 5:15pm. Withers took a 16–13 lead on the final evening; the match ending with him 17–14 ahead.
