TUG OF WAR was part of the athletics programme at every Olympics from 1900 to 1920. Originally clubs represented nations and a country could enter more than one club which explains why Great Britain won gold, silver and bronze in 1908 courtesy of the City of London Police, Liverpool Police and Metropolitan Police K Division teams. Members of the London police force made up most of the British team that won the silver medal in 1912 and also the team that won gold again in 1920.
As Great Britain won the last tug if war competition in 1920, they are the reigning Olympic champions!
For further details visit the Teams Who Have Represented Great Britain section.
The 1908 City of London Police team that wn the gold medal in 1908. (Back row - left to right): Merriman, Shepherd, Mills, Ireton, Goodfellow, Humphreys. (Front row - left to right):Barrett, Duke (Captain), Hirons
Britain's Gold Medallist:
BARRETT, Edward “Ned”
Born 3 November 1877, Ballyduff, Kerry, Ireland
Died: Not known
Olympics competed in: 2 (1908, 1912,)
Olympic medals won:
1908 - Gold (Tug of War)
1908 -
Bronze (Freestyle wrestling - Heavyweight)
Irish born Ned Barrett was a true all-round sportsman.
He was a member of the London GAA team that won the Senior All-Ireland hurling title for the one and only time when they Cork in 1901. But it was at the 1908 London Olympics that he proved his true all-round ability.
He was a member of the City of London Police team that won the tug of war gold medal, and also took part in the heavyweight division of both the freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling competitions, winning a bronze medal in the freestyle version. In addition, he competed in the discus, shot put and javelin throwing events. His brother James also took part in the discus. Ned came fifth while James was unclassified.
Ned appeared in his second Olympics in 1912 restricting his activities to the Greco-Roman wrestling competition, but he failed to add to his medal collection.
Little more is known about Barrett except he was still living in the London area in 1925 but nothing was known about him or his later sporting successes - if any.
Top of the page
CANNING, George
Born: 23 August 1889, Bermondsey, London
Died: Not known
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals won: 1920 - Gold –Tug of War)
Canning was a member of the City of London Police tug of war team that was chosen to represent Great Britain team at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. They were the outstanding team of the tournament and beat their three opponents in two straight pulls each time to win the gold medal.
Canning remained in the police force until 1935, after more than 24 years service.
Top of the page
DUKE, John Henry
Born: 1867, Everton, Lymington, Hampshire, England
Died: not known
Olympics competed in: 1 (1908) as team captain and coach of the London City Police team.
Chief-inspector Henry Duke was the non-pulling captain and coach of the 1908 gold medal team but, had it not been for his age, he could well have made the team and, at 16 and a half stone, he would have been the heaviest member of the team.
He was so meticulous in his approach to the Games that he spent five months coaching the team and reserves prior to the Games, and their splendid team-work was all down to Duke's training.
Duke was an Honorary Secretary of the London Police Athletic Club, and just three weeks after guiding the team to Olympic glory he again captained the side that won the City Police Sports tug of war title in front of a large crowd at the Crystal Palace.
An all round sportsman, he was twice the police heavyweight wrestling champion and in 1907 he was chosen as one of a four man relay team to swim the English Channel.
Duke was presented with a Humane Society certificate in 1912 after saving a young girl and a woman from drowning off the coast of Shanklin, Isle of Wight during the August Bank Holiday the previous year. Duke lived at Shanklin at the time and was bathing nearby whilst recuperating whilst on sick leave from the police. Shortly afterwards he retired from the force.
Top of the page
GOODFELLOW, Frederick William
Born: 1874, Ridge, Cambridge, England
Died: 22 November 1960, Croydon, Surrey, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1908)
Olympic medals won: 1908 - Gold (Tug of War)
Aged 34 at the time of the 1908 Olympics, Fred Goodfellow pulled in both the City of London team's two contests at the White City stadium including the final when, as the Great Britain and Ireland first team, they beat their own second team by two pulls to none.
Top of the page
HIRONS, William
Born: 1871, Bloxham, Oxfordshire, England
Died: 5 January 1958, Nottingham, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1908)
Olympic medals won: 1908 - Gold (Tug of War)
At the age of 36, Bill Hirons was the oldest member of the gold medal tug of war team in 1908. He died in 1958 at the age of 86.
Top of the page
HOLMES, Frederick William
Born: 9 August 1886, Cosford, Shropshire, England
Died: 9 November 1944, Smithfield, London
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals won: 1920 - Gold (Tug of war) Fred Holmes was born in Cosford, famous for RAF Cosford and its equally famous indoor running track. A policeman with the London City Police he was a member of the 1920 gold medal winning tug of war team. He died in 1944 at St Bartholemews Hospital in London, although he had retired to Hadleigh in Suffolk at the time.
Top of the page
HUMPHREYS, Frederick Harkness
Born: 28 January 1878, Highbury, London, England
Died: 10 August, 1954, Isleworth, Middlesex, London
Olympics competed in: 3 (1908, 1912, 1920)
Olympic medals won:
1908 - Gold (Tug of War)
1920 -
Gold (Tug of War)
1912 -
Silver (Tug of War)
When he won his second gold medal in 1920, Fred Humphreys became the oldest man to win a tug of war Olympic gold medal at the age of 42 years and 203 days. Team-mate Edwin Mills was also 42, but was just over three months younger than Humphreys at the time.
Like most of his tug of war team-mates, Humphreys served in the London City police force, as did his two brothers.
Humphreys was an all-rounder and took part in the heavyweight division of both the Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling competitions at the 1908 Games.
Along with fellow Britons Edwin Mills and John Shepherd. Humphreys has won a record three tug of war Olympic medals.
Top of the page
IRETON, Albert
Born: 15 May 1879, Baldock, Hertfordshire, England
Died: 4 January 1947, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 - 1908
Olympic medals won: 1908 - Gold (Tug of War)
Albert Ireton was the lightest member of the City of London police tug of war team that took the gold medal at the 1908 Olympics.
Ireton also too part in the heavyweight boxing competition at the London Games - three months after he won his tug of war gold. Unfortunately he was knocked out in his only bout by the reigning ABA champion Syd Evans who went on to win the silver medal, losing in the final to Ireton's fellow London City policeman Albert Oldman.
Top of the page MERRIMAN, Frederick Harris
Born: 18 May 1873, Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire, England
Died: 27 June 1940, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 – 1908
Olympic medals won: 1908 - Gold (Tug of War)
One of seven children, Fred Merriman was, at 16st 5lbs, the joint heaviest puller in the 1908 British tug of war team team, along with Fred Humphreys.
Top of the page
MILLS, Edwin Archer
Born: 17 May 1878, Stretton Baskerville, Warwickshire, England
Died: 12 November 1946, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England
Olympics competed in: 3 (1908, 1912, 1920)
Olympic medals won:
1908 - Gold (Tug of War)
1920 -
Gold (Tug of War)
1912 -
Silver (Tug of War)
Edwin Mills is one of three men to have won three Olympic tug of war medals – fellow Britons John Shepherd and Fred Humphreys being the other two.
He won his first gold at London in 1908, a silver in Stockholm in 1912, and a second gold at Antwerp in 1920. At the time of winning his second gold medal Mills was aged 42 years and 3 months.
Top of the page SEWELL, John
Born: 23 April,1882, Halfmorton, Dumfries-shire (now Dumfries & Galloway), Scotland
Died: 18 July, 1947, Cambridge, England
Olympics competed in: 2 (1912, 1920)
Olympic medals won:
1920 - Gold (Tug of war)
1912 -
Silver (Tug of War)
Before taking up competitive tug of war. John Sewell was a top wrestler and was the English Cumberland and Westmoreland style heavyweight champion every year from 1907 to 1910.
A member of the City of London police team he won a silver medal at the 1912 Olympics and gold in 1920 when Great Britain beat Netherlands in the final by two pulls to nil.
Sewell continued wrestling throughout his tug of war career and in 1922 he lost to fellow City of London police member, and tug of war team-mate, John Shepherd in the final of the England Cumberland and Westmoreland heavyweight championship at Stamford Bridge.
Top of the page
SHEPHERD, John James
Born: 2 June 1884, Bicknor, Kent, England
Died: 9 July 1954, Aston Kingsland, Herefordshire, England
Olympics competed in: 3 (1908, 1912, 1920)
Olympic medals won:
1908 - Gold (Tug of War)
1920 - Gold (Tug of War)
1912 -
Silver (Tug of War)
Like his 1912 and 1920 team-mate John Sewell, Shepherd was an exponent of the Cumberland and Westmoreland style of wrestling, winning the English heavyweight title in 1922 and 1923, beating Sewell for the title in 1922.
Shepherd is one of three men to win a record three Olympic tug of war medals (two gold and one silver). Fellow City of London colleagues Edwin Mills and Fred Humphreys being the other two.
Top of the page
STIFF, Harry Joseph
Born: 23 October 1881, Oxted, Suffolk, England
Died: 17 April 1939, Addenbrooks Hospital, Cambridge, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals won: 1920 - Gold (Tug of War)
Harry Stiff, along with George Canning and Ernest Thorne, were the only members of the gold medal winning City of London police team making their Olympic tug of war debuts at the 1920 Games. Stiff was 38 at the time.
After leaving the police force, Stiff became the landlord of the Horse and Groom Public House, Cornish Hall End, near Finchingfield, Essex where he lived up to the time of his death at the age of 57 in 1939.
Top of the page
THORN(E) Ernest Arthur
Born: 7 June 1887, Streatham, London, England
Died: 18 November 1968, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals won: 1920 - Gold (Tug of war)
Ernest Thorn(e) made his one and only Olympic appearance in 1920 and won the tug of war gold medal as part of the Great Britain team, represented by the London City Police force.
Some sources cite Thorn without the ‘e' and some with it although his birth records at ancestry.co.uk indicate it is Thorne with the ‘e'. Top of the page
Return to SPORTS index | Go to CONTENTS page
www.gbolympics.co.uk is the copyright of Ian Morrison © 2013 and permission to use any of the information must first be obtained in writing and this website should also be accredited when using material from it. Webmaster and copyright owner: igmsantaponsa@atlas.com.es
|