What is the derivation of the idiom "English on the ball"?

Question

Why do they use the word "English" to mean spin?

Answer 1

Maybe the English discoverd it they call it side-spin Top or bottom english I have no idea

52 years ago i was told to put a little english on a shot sometimes and I just went from there

                           Later Johnny

Answer 2

Oddly enough it was a Frenchman, Captain Mingaud, who invented the leather cue tip which enabled him to impart different forms of spin onto the cue ball.  He worked on his leather tip during his prison term and actually requested an extension of his prison sentence to finish his invention.  The word "English" itself refers to sidespin placed on the cue ball, or striking the cue ball left or right of the vertical axis.  Although they may not have invented sidespin, the English people popularized the practice worldwide.  Of course, in England they don't refer to it as English, they call it "side".  M.D.-BCA Instructor/Referee.