Alfred Flaxman

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Alfred Flaxman

| image =

| caption =

| nationality = British (English)

| sport = Athletics

| event = discus, javelin, high jump, hammer, pole vault

| club = South London Harriers

| birth_date = 1 October 1879

| birth_place = Wombwell, England

| death_date = 1 July 1916 (aged 36)

| death_place = Gommecourt, Pas-de-Calais, France

| height =

| weight =

}}

Alfred Edward Flaxman (1 October 1879 – 1 July 1916) was a British track and field athlete who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fl/alfred-flaxman-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418042300/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fl/alfred-flaxman-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Alfred Flaxman |accessdate=3 August 2015 |work=Sports Reference}}

Biography

Flaxman was born in Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of a Yorkshire vicar. He studied violin at the Royal Academy of Music but became an all-round athlete.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055433/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War |accessdate=3 August 2015 |work=Sports Reference}}

Flaxman represented Great Britain at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London,{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000648/19080612/187/0008 |title=Olympic Games, Britain's team of athletes |work=Liverpool Daily Post |date=12 June 1908 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=11 April 2025}}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/19080612/073/0003 |title=The Olympic Games, British Representatives |work=The Sportsman |date=12 June 1908 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=11 April 2025}} where he participated in the discus throw competition, the Greek discus throw event, the freestyle javelin throw competition, and the standing high jump event but in all these competitions his final ranking is unknown.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/69053 |title=Alfred Flaxman |work=Olympedia |access-date=12 March 2021}}

Flaxman became the British pole jump champion (as it was called at the time) after winning the British AAA Championships title at the 1909 AAA Championships.{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=11 April 2025}} He then became the British hammer throw champion after winning the British title at the 1910 AAA Championships.{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/aaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (men) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=11 April 2025}}

Flaxman was killed in action during the First World War in Gommecourt, Pas-de-Calais, France, serving as a second lieutenant with the South Staffordshire Regiment on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, aged 26. His remains were not recovered, and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/752193 Flaxman, Alfred Edward], Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 28 September 2008

References

External links

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Alfred Flaxman

Biography

References

External links

See also