Henry Alan Leeke
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | 15 November 1879 Weston, Stafford, England |
Died | 29 May 1915 (aged 35) Aldershot, England |
Sport | |
Sport | Athletics |
Event | Hammer throw / Shot put |
Club | London Athletic Club |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Henry_Alan_Leeke_Grave.jpg/220px-Henry_Alan_Leeke_Grave.jpg)
Henry Alan Leeke (15 November 1879 – 29 May 1915) was a British track and field athlete who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.[1]
Biography
[edit]Leeke was the only son of Henry Leeke, also an athlete, and grandson of William Leeke, a Waterloo veteran.[2] He was born in Weston, Staffordshire.[3]
As his father did before him, Leeke represented Cambridge University in the hammer and shot put, and was English Amateur Champion for both events.[4] He was associated with the London Athletic Club.[3] In 1898 he married Catherine Herbert, younger daughter of Charles G. Fullerton. They had one son and one daughter, and resided in Hill, Warwickshire.[4]
He finished third in the hammer throw event behind Tom Kiely and Ernest May at the 1901 AAA Championships[5][6] and finished runner-up behind Tom Nicolson in the hammer throw at the 1903 AAA Championships.[7]
One of the first British athletes to throw the discus, he set a British record in 1908.[3] During the 1908 Olympic Trials, Leeke threw the javelin 135-81⁄2 (41.37m) in the freestyle event.[3]
In 1908 Leeke participated in the shot put event, in the discus throw competition, in the Greek discus throw event, in the freestyle javelin throw competition, in the javelin throw event, and in the hammer throw competition but in all these competitions his final ranking is unknown.
Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Leeke joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, he was granted a commission as a temporary lieutenant on 22 September 1914,[8] and placed in charge of machine guns for D Company, 9th Battalion. He died of fever at the Thornhill Isolation Hospital, Aldershot on 29 May 1915 aged 35.[4] He is buried in Aldershot Military Cemetery.[9][10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Henry Alan Leeke". Olympedia. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ "A Notable Athlete", The Times Thursday, 23 February 1922, p. 15, col. 4
- ^ a b c d "Henry Leeke". Olympics at Sports Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
- ^ a b c "Biographies and Services", The Times, Wednesday 2 June 1915, p. 8 col. 4
- ^ "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
- ^ "The Amateur Championships". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 8 July 1901. Retrieved 31 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "The Amateur Championships". Leeds Mercury. 6 July 1903. Retrieved 3 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "No. 28972". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 November 1914. p. 9243.
- ^ "Casualty Details—Leeke, Henry Alan". Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
- ^ "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
External links
[edit]- profile
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Henry Leeke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011.
- 1879 births
- 1915 deaths
- British male discus throwers
- Olympic athletes for Great Britain
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1908 Summer Olympics
- Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers officers
- British Army personnel of World War I
- British military personnel killed in World War I
- Burials at Aldershot Military Cemetery
- Military personnel from Warwickshire
- English male discus throwers
- English male hammer throwers
- British male hammer throwers
- English male shot putters
- British male shot putters
- Sportspeople from Warwickshire
- English male javelin throwers
- British male javelin throwers