POLO was a full Olympic sport five times between 1900 and 1936 and Great Britain took part in each edition, winning medals in all of them including gold at the inaugural competition in Paris in 1900 when, as a combined USA/GBR team they won gold under the name Foxhunters Hurlingham. The Roehampton Club won gold in 1908 and a representative British team won the gold medal in 1920.
The GB Medal Tally (left) is for British teams that contained British players, and the list of gold medallists below contains the names of all Britons who won polo gold medals even though some played for the mixed USA/Great Britain team that won the gold in 1900.
Four Britons have each won two polo medals: Frederick Barrett (below) gold 1920, bronze 1924; John Wodehouse (below) gold 1920, silver 1908; Walter Buckmaster, silver 1900, silver 1908; Frederick Freake, silver 1900, silver 1908. They are the only men in Olympic history to win two polo medals.
The Great Britain gold medal team of 1908 was represented by the Roehampton Club. For further information see the entry for the Roehampton Club in the British Sports Club and Teams who have won Olympic Gold Medals section
Britain's Gold Medallists:
BARRETT, Frederick Whitfield
Born: 20 June 1875, Cork, Ireland
Died: 7 November 1949, Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Olympics competed in: 2 (1920, 1924)
Olympic medals:
1920 Gold - Polo
1924 Bronze - Polo
Frederick Barrett, nicknamed "Rattle", was captain of the Great Britain side that beat the USA to win the 1914 Westchester Cup in front of 30,000 New Yorkers, it would be their last win over the Americans for 83 years. He was also on the losing side in 1921 but a year earlier he was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning team at Antwerp and in 1924 at Paris he won a bronze medal making him one of only four British players to win two Olympic polo medals.
A former steeplechase rider he had to give up the sport following a bad fall so he turned to training steeplechasers and he obtained his National Hunt licence in 1929. Barrett trained horses for King George V, Edward VIII and George VI. The Barrett-trained Marconi gave both Edward VIII and George VI their first winners as owners.
Probably the best horse Barrett trained was Annandale for Lady Glenap. Three weeks after finishing third in the Aintree Grand National in 1931 Annandale won the Scottish National at Bogside by 10 lengths.
Barrett served with the Army in the 15th (King's) Hussars during World War One attaining the rank of Captain.
Top of the page
BERESFORD, John George THIS ENTRY IS CURRENTLY UNDER REVISION
Born: 10 June 1847, Dover, Kent, England
Died: 8 May 1925, Washington DC, USA
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold - Polo
The son of an Irish-born British Army captain, John Beresford followed his father and was a captain with the 7th Hussars.
He won his Olympic gold medal in 1900 as a member of the Foxhunters Hurlingham combined USA/British team. He played just one game when he replaced the American all-round sportsman Foxhall Keene in the 6-4 semi-final win over the Bagatelle Polo Club from Paris.
Top of the page DALY, Denis St. George
Born: 5 September 1862, Athenry, Galway, Ireland
Died: 16 April 1942, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold - Polo
The illegitimate son of the second Baron Dunsandle and Clanconal, neither Denis Daly or his older brother William could inherit the title on their father's death in 1893 as his parents were not married at the time of their birth.
Daly served as a Major with the 18th Hussars until the late 19th century but returned to the Army at the outbreak of World War One. In between, he won his Olympic gold medal as a member of the Foxhunters Hurlingham combined team in 1900, playing in all three of their matches.
In 1925 he became joint Master of the Heythrop Hunt, a position he held for ten years. He was also the Deputy Lieutenant of County Galway and was a Justice of the Peace for Oxfordshire. Daly's sons also served as Majors in the Army.
Top of the page LOCKETT, Vivian Noverre
Born: 18 July 1880, New Brighton, Cheshire, England
Died: 30 May 1962, Norwich, Norfolk, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals: 1920 Gold - Polo
Vivian Lockett appeared on the losing 1913 and 1921 Westchester Cup teams but was on the 1914 team that had a memorable win in the United States. In the team that won the cup back were Frederick Barrett and John Wodehouse who were also in the British team alongside Lockett that took the gold medal at the 1920 Olympics.
The fifth son of Charles and Catherine Lockett, Vivian was born in New Brighton, then Cheshire. He went to Cambridge, where surprisingly he never won a polo Blue, and after Cambridge he went to the Sandhurst Military Academy. From there he joined the 17th Lancers (later 17th/21st Lancers), becoming the Commanding Officer in 1927, taking over from his Olympic team mate Tim Melvill. He played in nine of the Lancers 10 wins in the Inter-Regimental Cup between 1920-30.
Lockett was the last surviving member of the 1920 gold medal winning team.
Top of the page MELVILL, Teignmouth Philip "Tim"
Born: 13 February 1877, Cape Town, South Africa
Died: 12 October 1951, King's Lynn, Norfolk, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals: 1920 Gold - Polo
Born in South Africa, Teignmouth Melvill moved to England as a youngster and lived in Cornwall, before moving to Hampshire. Like his 1920 team mate Vivian Lockett, Tim Melvill also went to Sandhurst before being commissioned, firstly into the Leicester Regiment, and then the South Wales Borders Regiment.
Tim was later transferred to the 17th Lancers and was appointed the Commanding Officer of the Lancers at the age of 39. He was awarded the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) and the French Croix du Guerre in 1918 following service in France.
A member of the successful 1920 Olympic polo team, "Shabash" as Tim was known to his team mates, made his one and only Westchester Cup appearance in 1924, but was on the losing side to the Americans at Meadowbrook, New York.
For many years, after his military and playing days, Melvill was the polo correspondent for The Field, the world's oldest country and field sports magazine.
His late father, also named Teignmouth served in Tim's old regiment, the South Wales Borders, and was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross in 1879 for his bravery at the Battle of Isandlwana in the Anglo-Zulu War.
In later life Tim enjoyed his two pastimes of hunting in Leicestershire and shooting in his adopted county of Norfolk, where he died in 1951.
Top of the page MILLER, Charles Darley
Born: 23 October 1868, Marylebone, London, England
Died: 22 December 1951, Putney, London, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1908)
Olympic medals: 1908 Gold - Polo
Charles Miller took up polo whilst working in India for the family business and he made sure he continued playing regularly when he visited Britain, and in 1901 he found the area of land on which the Roehampton Club was formed on 1 April the following year.
Six years years later, Charles helped Roehampton win the polo competition at the London Olympics. His finest achievement prior to that was playing on the 1902 Westchester Cup team, captained by his brother George, who beat the Americans at Hurlingham.
After finishing his term in India he became managing director of the Roehampton club, a position he held until the year before his death.
During the First World War, Miller served with the Army in France and left in 1919 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Top of the page MILLER, George Arthur
Born: 6 December 1867, Kensington, London, England
Died: 21 February 1935, at sea in the West Indies
Olympics competed in: 1 (1908)
Olympic medals: 1908 Gold - Polo
The older brother of Charles Miller, the pair of them played with the Roehampton team that won the 1908 Olympic gold medal.
George took up polo in 1892 and captained England to victory over the United States to win the Westchester Cup (International Polo Cup) at Hurlingham in 1902 in which his brother Charles also played. A bad riding accident caused George to quit polo in 1913.
Between 1895 and 1901 he assisted his brother Edward with the management of the Ranelagh Club. Miller died whilst on a cruise in the West Indies in 1935 and is buried in Bermuda. He left an estate worth around £2 million in today's terms.
Top of the page NICKALLS, Patteson Womersley
Born: 23 January 1876, Widdington, Essex, England
Died: 10 September 1946, Rugby, Warwickshire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1908)
Olympic medals: 1908 Gold - Polo
Patteson Nickalls was the only member of the successful 1908 Roehampton team to have been a University polo Blue having played for Oxford against Cambridge three times. He had also played in the successful 1902 Westchester Cup team that beat the Americans. But was on the losing side in 1909.
Nickalls joined the Durham Light Infantry during the Boer War and was involved in the Relief of Ladysmith in 1899-1900. Shortly afterwards Nickalls became a member of the Stock Market like his father Sir Patteson Nickalls who did not endear himself to fellow members in 1901 after a pro-Boer War speech at Maidstone.
Patteson junior returned to the Army in 1914 when the War broke out and served on the Western Front with the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. He won a DSO (Distinguished Service Order) in 1918.
A keen hunter, Nickalls once recalled in a book how he used to organise fox hunting behind enemy lines in a village valled Harbarque at Arras in northern France during World War One.
After the War he played little polo but maintained an interest as secretary of the Rugby club, a position he held until just a few weeks before his death at the age of 70.
Nickalls had two brother, Cecil and Morres, who were both good polo players.
Top of the page
RAWLINSON, Alfred 'Toby'
Born: 17 January 1867, Mayfair, London, England
Died: 1 June 1934, Clapham, London, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold - Polo
The son of Major-General Sir Henry Rawlinson, Toby Rawlinson won his Olympic gold in Paris as a member of the America/British Foxhunters Hurlingham team in 1900, playing in all his team's three matches including the 3-1 win over the BLO Polo Club from Rugby. In winning gold he became the first of many Old Etonians to become an Olympic champion.
After a distinguished military career during World War One, in which he attained the rank of Colonel, Rawlinson continued devoting his time to his first loves of motoring and flying. On 5 April, 1910 he received his international pilot's certificate, only the third person in Britain to hold one after Lord Brabazon and Charles Rolls, the co-founder of the Rolls Royce company.
Rolls became the first Briton to be killed in an accident involving a powered aircraft when he lost his life following an accident at a Bournemouth Aviation Show in July 1910. Two days later Rawlinson was also involved in a accident at the same show when his plane fell to the ground. He survived with serious leg, ankle and collarbone injuries.
Rawlinson was later responsible for developing a combustion engine from which he made a lot of money, but he spent it on aviation experiments. The National Probate Register of 1934 shows that he left effects valued at just over £115.
On the death of his eldest brother, Toby became the 3rd Baronet Rawlinson in 1925. He died in his flat in Clapham in 1934.
Top of the page WILSON, Herbert Haydon
Born: 14 February 1875, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia,
Died: 11 April 1917, Ypres, Belgium,
Olympics competed in: 1 (1908)
Olympic medals: 1908 Gold - Polo
Despite being a committee member of the Hurlingham Club, Major Herbert Wilson played for the Roehampton Club and was a member of their 1908 Olympic gold medal winning team.
A notable huntsman he rode with Leicestershire's three finest Hunts, the Quorn, Belvoir and Cottesmore.
Wilson won the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) following service in the Boer War andt in the First World War he served in France and Belgium but lost his life at Ypres in 1917 whilst serving as a Captain with the Royal Horse Guards. The Great War also claimed the life of one of his brothers, Gordon, while another brother Wilfred was killed during the Boer War in which a fourth brother was seriously injured. Gordon was married to Lady Sarah Churchill, sister of Randolph Churchill, son of Sir Winston.
Herbert Wilson was the son of Sir Samuel Wilson, an Irish-born landowner who moved to Australia in the mid-19th century with the purpose of mining for gold but he then turned to sheep grazing along with his brothers. He moved to England in 1881 and later became the MP for Portsmouth from 1886-92. He moved back to Australia in 1893 and returned to England in 1895 and died in London a few months later. He left an estate worth over £15 million in today's terms, a large amount of which was part of his inheritance.
Top of the page WODEHOUSE, John
Born: 11 November 1883, Witton, Norfolk, England
Died: 16 April 1941, Westminster, London, England
Olympics competed in: 2 (1908, 1920)
Olympic medals:
1920 Gold - Polo
1908 Silver - Polo
The Right Hon. John Wodehouse, third Earl of Kimberley, was a Cambridge polo Blue, captaining the winning team twice. He won a silver medal at the 1908 Olympics and a gold medal in 1920, to become the only Briton to win gold and silver medals at Polo. He also played on the losing Westchester Cup teams of 1909 and 1921.
The son of the second Earl he was known as Lord Wodehouse until succeeding his father in 1932 by becoming the third Earl. He served as an MP for Mid-Norfolk between 1906-10 and during the first World War he served with the 16th Lancers. He won the Miltary Cross, the French Croix du Guerre and the Italian War Cross.
After the war he served as the assistant private secretary to Winston Churchill, who was the Colonial Secretary in 1921-22. In 1925 Wodehouse was awarded the CBE.
Earl Kimberley lived in Norfolk but on one of his trips to London in April 1941 he was killed during a German attack on the capital during The Blitz.
Wodehouse was a distant relative of the writer, and creator of the character Jeeves, P G Wodehouse.
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
|