A badminton-like game was known in ancient Greece and Egypt - a game called battledore and shuttlecock - in which two players hit a feathered shuttlecock back and forth with tiny rackets.
The game was played in India during the 18th Century, at which time it was called 'Poona'. In the 1860s it was adopted by British Army officers stationed in India. The officers took the game back to England, where it became a success at a party given by the Duke of Beaufort in 1873 at his estate called 'Badminton' in Gloucestershire.